ROLES: SWVAL PI; Associate Professor; Director of Language Sciences Program; Co-Director of the Speech Lab; Department of English, Virginia Tech

ABOUT ME: I love how accents tell our own personal history as well as the broader histories of people over time and space. My favorite US English word is “lollygag” and my favorite NZ English/Māori word is “puku”. Despite my name, I confess I was too scared to go up to the top of Big Walker Lookout.

FROM: Christchurch, New Zealand

ROLES: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of English, Virginia Tech.

ABOUT ME: My research focuses on sociolinguistic variation and change in varieties of American English. I grew up in northwestern Vermont, and before coming to south central Appalachia, I lived in central North Carolina and western Oregon.

FROM: St Albans, Vermont

ROLES: Research Assistant, Undergraduate Student, Virginia Tech

ABOUT ME: I’m a math major with minors in linguistics and GIS. Since I joined the SWVAL project in fall 2025 I’ve had the pleasure of mapping and visualizing data for the Appodlachia project. 

FROM: Fairfax, VA

ROLES: Research Assistant, Undergraduate Student, Virginia Tech 

ABOUT ME: I became a research assistant for the SWVAL project in August of 2025. I grew up in Central Virginia. I am an English Literature and Human Development double major with a minor in Language Sciences, which is how I found out about the lab! 

FROM: Harrisonburg, VA 

ROLE: Research Assistant’ Undergraduate Student, Virginia Tech

ABOUT ME: I am from a small town on the outskirts of Appalachia, and I joined the SWVAL project as a research assistant in August of 2025. I study Psychology and Language Sciences at Virginia Tech, and am especially interested in prenatal development!

FROM: Berryville, VA

ROLES: Project Alum; Graduate Student in Speech Language Pathology at UVA

ABOUT ME: I became a research assistant for the SWVAL project in June of 2022 with hopes of seeing the practical applications of my language sciences studies. Since then, I have developed a profound interest in exploring various dialectal varieties and the cultures that surround them

FROM: Bristol, VA

ROLES: Project Alum; Graduate Student in Counselor Education, Virginia Tech

ABOUT ME: I grew up in rural Southwest Virginia where I was surrounded by Appalachian English. This is primarily what sparked my curiosity in linguistics, particularly sociolinguistics and how accents can affect people’s social perceptions of others. I am currently a graduate student studying to become a Counselor and look forward to incorporating this into my future career.

FROM: Lebanon, VA

ROLES: Interviewer; Owner of Early Bird Press & Produce

ABOUT: Tina Russell is a graduate of Virginia Tech in Industrial Design. She loves graphic design, gardening, travel, exploring the woods, drawing and reading.

FROM: Wytheville, VA

ROLES: SWVAL Collaborator; Postdoctoral researcher at the Language and Brain Lab at U. of Connecticut

ABOUT ME: I use neuropsychological (EEG) and behavioral methods to understand how cognitive, linguistic, and social factors interact during language processing. You can learn more at my website: hzaharchuk.com.

FROM: Hudson, New Hampshire

ROLES: SWVAL Collaborator; Distinguished Professor; Director of the Center for Language Science; Director of the Bilingualism and Linguistic Diversity (BiLD) lab; Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University

ABOUT ME: I grew up surrounded by different dialects and languages. This laid the foundation of my passion to unravel the neural and cognitive basis of language use in speakers of various dialects and languages.

FROM: Barneveld and Amsterdam, the Netherlands

ROLES: SWVAL Collaborator; Graduate Student in Cognitive Psychology and Language Science with a Specialization in Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience; Pennsylvania State University

ABOUT ME: I'm interested in understanding how our brains process language and how we communicate with each other using different languages and dialects. I joined this project in summer of 2023 and I'm excited to explore more of Southwest Virginia!

FROM: Lincoln, Nebraska