About me

I'm a PhD candidate in Linguistics at Stanford University, currently advised by Rob Podesva (chair), Penny Eckert, Katherine Hilton, and Nandi Sims. I received my BA from Dartmouth College in Linguistics and Comparative Literature (2016) and my MA in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of New Mexico (2019). 

My research sits at the intersection of sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and discourse pragmatics. I examine how social meaning emerges across different levels of linguistic structure, focusing on how speakers construct distinctions through linguistic variation, style, personae, and other semiotic resources. For example, my dissertation analyzes how student border commuters use stance and constructed dialogue to capture the complexities of living in the US-Mexico borderlands. This work not only advances research in sociolinguistics but also represents a valuable contribution to fields in related areas, such as education, border studies, and linguistic anthropology.

At Stanford, I'm affiliated with the Interactional Sociophonetics Lab and the Voices of California project. I've held fellowships in Stanford's Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education program (EDGE), Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), Diversifying Academia, Recruiting Excellence program (DARE), and the Mellon Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Furthermore, my doctoral research has been supported by a Diversity Dissertation Research Opportunity grant (DDRO) and an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant (DDRI). 

You can contact me at efeliz[at]stanford[dot]edu.