Roberto Mayoral Hernández

Roberto Mayoral Hernandez. Associate Professor of Spanish
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University Hall 3114
(205) 934-4652

Research and Teaching Interests: Corpus Linguistics, Subject Position, Language Variation, Argument Alternations

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:
  • Licenciatura (BA), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, English Philology
  • Graduate Diploma de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spanish Language
  • MA, University of Southern California, Linguistics (Hispanic Linguistics)
  • PhD, University of Southern California, Linguistics (Hispanic Linguistics)

Roberto Mayoral Hernández is an Associate Professor of Spanish. He was born and raised in Madrid, Spain, where he obtained his Licenciatura in Modern Philology (English) and the graduate Diploma de Estudios Avanzados. He completed his PhD in California.

Amongst his many interests within the field of linguistics, he specializes in the study of word order, especially subject position, verb types, and argument alternations, focusing on the use of online corpora. He also investigates the role of social factors in language variation. From a more applied perspective, he is exploring how theoretical linguistics can contribute to the teaching of Spanish as a second language.

He has presented his research in prestigious conferences, such as the Linguistic Society of America, West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV), and Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. His publications have appeared in international journals and peer-review proceedings. He is also author of The Locative Alternation as an Unaccusative Construction: Verb Types and Subject Position in Spanish.


  • Recent Courses
    • SPA 101: Introductory Spanish I
    • SPA 202: Intermediate Spanish II
    • SPA 304: Phonetics and Phonology
    • SPA 420/520: Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics
    • SPA 430/530: Spanish Sociolinguistics
    • SPA 440/540: History of Spanish Language
    • SPA 430/530: Spanish Sociolinguistics
    • FLL 350: Introduction to Romance Linguistics
    • FLL 485: Foreign Language Capstone Seminar
  • Select Publications
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto. "The Locative Alternation as an Unaccusative Construction. Verb Types and Subject Position in Spanish." LINCOM studies in Romance linguistics 78 (2015).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto. "Subject position in Spanish: a study of factor interactions with prototypical verbs." Perspectives in the Study of Spanish Language Variation: Papers in Honor of Carmen Silva-Corvalán. Verba 72. Eds. Enrique-Arias, Andrés; Manuel Gutiérrez; Alazne Landa; Francisco Ocampo. Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (2014).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto and Asier Alcázar. "Weight Effects across Verbal Domains: The Case of Spanish Subjects." Variation within and across Romance Languages. Eds. Marie-Hélène Côté and Eric Mathieu. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company (2014).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto. "El futuro del Hispanismo y los estudios interdisciplinares: La interfaz entre ELE y la lingüística teórica." Cincuentenario de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas. Ed. Rocío Barros Roel. A Coruña: Universidade da Coruña (2014).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto. "A Corpus Analysis of Subject Position in the Locative Alternation: The Case of ‘Swarm’ Verbs in Spanish." Lenguaje, Arte y Revoluciones Ayer y Hoy: New Approaches to Hispanic Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Studies (2011).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto. "The Locative Alternation: On the Symmetry between Verbal and Prepositional Locative Paradigms." Probus: International Journal of Latin and Romance Linguistics 22.2 (2010).
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto and Asier Alcázar. "Technological Applications to Linguistic Research: A Multifactorial Analysis of Frequency Adverbials." Selected Proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2007). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla, 2009.
    • Mayoral Hernández, Roberto and Asier Alcázar. "A Diachronic Analysis of Frequency Adverbials: Variation in Peninsular and Latin American Spanish." Selected Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla, 2008.
  • Academic Distinctions and Professional Societies
    • The Linguistic Association of the South West (LASSO)
    • American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)
    • Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
    • Alabama Association of Foreign Language Teachers (AAFLT)
  • Student Groups