Erin Mauffray
PhD Candidate & Dissertation Year Fellow
Welcome to my site! I'm Erin Mauffray, a PhD candidate in Spanish linguistics in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at UCLA.
Academics
September 2019-present
Ph.D., Hispanic Languages & Literatures (in progress)
University of California, Los Angeles
Advisor: Dr. Victoria Mateu
Committee members: Dr. Jesse Harris, Dr. Ji Young Kim, Dr. Carlos Quicoli
Awarded Dissertation Year Fellowship, AY 2023-2024
Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy (expected March 2024)
Awarded Rookie TA of the Year, AY 2020-21
August 2013-May 2015
M.A., Spanish Linguistics
University of Georgia
Advisor: Dr. Margaret Quesada
Committee members: Dr. Sarah Blackwell, Dr. Gary Baker
Thesis: The Acquisition of Discourse Markers through Study Abroad in Spanish L2 Learners' Oral Narratives: So and its Possible Spanish Equivalents
Program TA: UGA en Buenos Aires, Summer 2014
August 2007-May 2012
B.A., International Studies &Â Spanish
Croft Institute for International Studies
University of Mississippi
Advisor: Dr. Kate Centellas
Committee: Dr. William Schenck, Dr. John Sonnett
Thesis: Disaster Community: La Cultura SÃsmica of Chile
Awarded Best Thesis on a Latin American Topic
Croft Institute for International Studies
Honors Study Abroad Fellow, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College
Studied abroad at Pontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaÃso, Chile, July 2009-July 2010
Upcoming & Recent Events
May 2024: Talk to be presented at the 2024 Linguistics Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL) Morphosyntactic convergence with passives in heritage Spanish speakers. (with Victoria Mateu)
June 2024: Poster to be presented at the 15th Heritage Language Research Institute. Spanish heritage speakers' robust knowledge of periphrastic and se-passives: Evidence from within-language structural priming and receptive judgments.
Project spotlight: Comparing productive and receptive abilities of Spanish periphrastic and se-passives in second language learners
The Spanish periphrastic passive, but not the se-passive, has an analogous structure in English, but the se-passive is 8x more frequent than the periphrastic in Spanish. We ask: How accessible are periphrastic and se-passives for L2ers in production? And do L2ers’ productions reflect target-like representations of these structures? Preliminary results show that both L2ers and native speakers produce a comparable number of passives in immediate and delayed priming. However, results from an AJT reveal non-target-like performance by L2ers on se-passives, suggesting that transfer and age of acquisition play a greater role than frequency in L2 acquisition.
Mauffray, E. & Mateu, V. (2024). Comparing productive and receptive abilities of Spanish periphrastic and se-passives in second language learners. Talk presented at the 100th Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of America (LSA).
Teaching at UCLA
SPAN 3: Elementary Spanish 3 Summer Intensive
Summer 2023
SPAN 25: Advanced Spanish Composition
Spring 2023
SPAN 27: Advanced Spanish Composition for Heritage Speakers
Winter 2023
SPAN 27: Advanced Spanish Composition for Heritage Speakers
Fall 2022
SPAN M35: Spanish, Portuguese and the Nature of Language
Summer Session C 2022
SPAN 4
Spring 2022
SPAN 5
Winter 2022
TA, SPAN M35: Spanish, Portuguese, and the nature of language
Fall 2021
SPAN 2 (Asynchronous)
Summer 2021
SPAN 3
Spring 2021
SPAN 2
Winter 2021
SPAN 1
Fall 2020
Professional Experience
Selected Work History
August 2015 - May 2019
Spanish Teacher, Speech & Debate Coach, Softball Coach
Murrah High School
Jackson Public Schools
Jackson, MS
August 2014-December 2016
Spanish Tutor
Varsity Tutors
August 2012-August 2013
AmeriCorps, Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA)
Office of the Provost at the University of Mississippi's North MS VISTA Project
In partnership with the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement
University, MS
December 2007-August 2012 (seasonal)
Translator and General Assistant
Beach View Dental Clinic
Gulfport, MS
August 2011-May 2012
Spanish Tutor
FedEx Academic Support Center
University, MS
About Me
My Background
I was born and raised in Gulfport, MS. My experience in Hurricane Katrina informed my life path: I wrote my undergraduate thesis about "disaster community", which I observed in my experience in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the February 2010, 8.8 earthquake off the southern coast of Chile. After finishing my B.A., I spent a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, where my task was to fight poverty through education and build capacity for first year student retention at the University of Mississippi. I completed my M.A. at the University of Georgia and went on to become a Spanish teacher, speech & debate coach, and softball coach at Murrah High School in Jackson, MS. I now study Spanish linguistics at the University of California-Los Angeles in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. In my free time, I spend time with my husband and my dog, Olivia (pictured left), go to the beach, listen to music, and learn about and practice mutual aid.
Community Involvement & Interests
Gardening
Small plot in community garden
P-16 Community Engagement Council
Jackson Public Schools
January 2016-July 2018
Mutual Aid
Community Fridges
Peer SupportÂ
Los Angeles, CA
July 2020-Present
Mississippi Community Line
Spanish Hotline OperatorÂ
Southeast Immigrants Rights Network
September 2019-March 2020
"Necesito del mar porque me enseña: No sé si aprendo música o conciencia."