Camilla Vasquez

Professor of Applied Linguistics

I am an applied linguist, with research and teaching specializations in the areas of discourse analysis, the language of digital media, sociolinguistics and pragmatics.  As Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of World Languages at USF, I currently serve as the Graduate Director for the LALS (Linguistics and Applied Language Studies) PhD Program.  I regularly teach courses such as Discourse Analysis (LIN 7885),  Sociolinguistics (LIN 6601),  and Qualitative Research Methods in Applied Linguistics (LIN 7638). I welcome inquiries from students who wish to pursue research in the areas of (digital) discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, or pragmatics.

For over a decade, I have been studying the language of online consumer reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Amazon and Airbnb. I am the author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews (Bloomsbury, 2014), which provides an in-depth analysis of the discourse features that are typical of this genre of digital communication.  My research on review language has also appeared in journals such as Current Issues in Tourism, Food & Foodways, Intercultural Pragmatics,  Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics and Society, and Visual Communication.

My second book is Language, Creativity and Humour Online (Routledge, 2019).  In it, I explore diverse forms of linguistic creativity on Twitter, Tumblr, and other digital platforms.  My research on linguistic creativity and various forms of self-expression online can also be found in journals such as Journal of Sociolinguistics, Narrative Inquiry and Discourse, Context & Media.  More recently, I edited Research Methods for Digital Discourse Analysis (Bloomsbury, 2022), a volume designed for graduate students interested in developing the research skills necessary for studying digital communication.

I am the grateful recipient of two Fulbright Awards, which have supported my scholarly activities in Thailand (2000) and Hong Kong (2013). In 2012, I served as a U.S. Department of State English Language Specialist in Montevideo, Uruguay. Prior to earning a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University in 2005, I taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Argentina, the Czech Republic, and Thailand.