Research at the Department of Spanish

Professor Angela Bartens specializes in Contact Linguistics including creole languages and other minority minority/minorized languages and Afro-Luso-Hispanic language contacts; LPP (Language Policy and Planning), specifically language ideologies, vitality, and development including grammar writing; language variation and change; Spanish and Portuguese morphosyntax. She has also worked on Critical Discourse Analysis and NSM theory. Professor Angela Bartens is reviews editor of Sociolinguistic Studies. 

Since 2010, Angela Bartens has participated in the following research projects and networks:

• The APiCS (Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures), coordinated by Susanne Michaelis, Philippe Maurer, Magnus Huber, Martin Haspelmath, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 2006–2012. 
• “Procesos de gramaticalización en la historia del español (III): gramaticalización, lexicalización y tradiciones discursivas”, coordinated by José Luis Girón Alconchel, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2008–2011.
•  “Procesos de gramaticalización en la historia del español (V): gramaticalización, lexicalización y análisis del discurso desde el punto de vista histórico”, coordinated by Francisco Javier Herrero Ruiz de Loizaga, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2016–2019.
• “The World Atlas of Varieties of English”, coordinated by Bernd Kortmann and Kerstin Lunkenheimer, 2009–2012.
• Comparing and Contrasting Languages and Cultures (CoCoLaC), University of Helsinki, 28.02.2011– 
• Code-switching workgroup, School of Languages and Translation Studies, University of Turku, April 2013–
• DigIn-network, School of Languages and Translation Studies, University of Turku, 2014–
• LAMA (Lanuage Making network), coordinated by Philipp Krämer, Free University of Berlin.

University lecturer Hanna Lantto specializes in sociolinguistics, bilingualism and contact linguistics. She has published several studies on bilingual speech and on the effect of language ideologies on the language practices of Basque-Spanish bilinguals in the Basque Country.  Her international research co-operation includes projects on new (non-native) speakers, language ideologies, and usage-based approaches to language contact. Lately she has done research on the linguistic landscapes in the city of Turku, and she leads a research project Generation Z language ideologies: Language Making as textual performance. In the project funded by Emil Aaltonen foundation, the focus is on student essays (N = 27141) of the spring 2022, in which the students reflect on the topic of Finnish and other languages, multilingualism and language learning. The research group analyzes the essays as textual performances that reflect societal values, globalized language ideologies and established language hierarchies through the theoretical framework of Language Making.

University Teacher Sanna Pelttari’s research interests have mainly been in Applied Linguistics, specifically in Spanish learners' use of Spanish prepositions in written language from the perspective of contrastive linguistics (contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage). Her latest projects have been concerned with technologies in language learning and teaching (hybrid learning contexts, digital learning paths, digital learning profiles, attitudes and future visions), as well as with digital literacy and digital seeking paths of university students majoring in languages. In her Phd, she approaches aspects of persuasive communication and influencer marketing of Spanish Youtubers.

Lecturer Timo Toijala has done research on the interlanguage of university students of Spanish whose first language is Finnish, taking into account especially the factors which determine the choice of mood (indicative vs. subjunctive). He is also interested in issues within the field of Translation Studies from the point of view of Spanish and Finish as well as the media discourses and hate speech around the democratization process and regional politics of Spain. Timo Toijala is an authorized translator (Finnish–Spanish–Finnish).