Joshua Raclaw, PhD

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of English and faculty in the Program in Linguistics at West Chester University. My research is situated broadly in conversation analysis and sociocultural linguistics and examines how language and the body are deployed as semiotic resources in social interaction. My current work examines language ideologies surrounding the use of non-binary pronouns in English, as well as the experiences of trans and nonbinary learners in Yiddish language classrooms; in recent years I have also looked at the sociopragmatic functions of discourse markers in English, the use of mobile technology in face-to-face conversation, and the way that speakers use bodily resources like gaze, laughter, and touch in the pursuit of social action.

In the past I have taught for the programs in Anthropology and Linguistics at the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Departments of Linguistics and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I received my PhD from the University of Colorado's department of Linguistics, where I was involved with the program in Culture, Language, and Social Practice and the Graduate Teacher Program, and I was a postdoc at the Center for Women's Health Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I am a cat person, enjoy cooking and baking, and am currently learning Yiddish. My pronouns are they/them.