Mary Bucholtz

Dr. Jennifer Kam studies the sociocultural aspects of language, emphasizing the inseparability of linguistic structure from its users. Her research highlights how understanding language necessitates understanding culture and society, and vice versa. In a world rich with diversity, language plays a key role in organizing social similarities and differences. Dr. Kam views linguistic features not merely as indicators of pre-existing identities but as resources that speakers use and shape according to their social and interactional needs. Her research delves into how linguistic forms acquire sociocultural meanings through their associations with specific speakers, settings, and activities, and how these associations can be reinforced or altered in various contexts. Using ethnographic and interactional methods, she examines speakers' perspectives on local identities, language ideologies, and how they engage in cognitive processes through embodied language use. Instead of focusing on a single linguistic feature, Dr. Kam investigates how multiple elements of language—from phonology to syntax to the lexicon—work together in interaction and are ideologically represented. This sociocultural approach reveals the real-world impacts of language as a tool for social power and identity and for cultural participation.

Education: Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (1997)