Natalie Rangel, Ph.D

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Natalie Rangel, Ph.D

Postdoc Fellow, Modern Languages and Literatures

Contact

• natalie.rangel@utsa.edu

Bio

Natalie Rangel received her B.A. and M.A. in Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University – College Station and her Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Rangel specializes in sociolinguistics with a particular interest in South Texas/Borderland Spanish. She is also interested in Spanish as a heritage language and the relationship that South Texans have with their heritage language. She has done research on language attitudes in Laredo, which investigates Laredoan’s and Rio Grande Valley residents’ implicit attitudes towards English, Spanish and code-switching. Most recently she has investigated an intonational feature (uptalk) in Spanish and its social stratification in different areas of Laredo. Rangel plans to continue her work in South Texas to enhance scholarly research in this under-researched area. As a Laredoan and a Spanish heritage speaker herself, Rangel always advocates for the appreciation of heritage languages and Spanish heritage speakers’ linguistic awareness of the political and social nuances of Spanish in the U.S. and borderland context.