30.1307, Rising Stars: Meet Loretta Gasparini!

Sat Mar 23 02:24:36 UTC 2019

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-1307. Fri Mar 22 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.1307, Rising Stars: Meet Loretta Gasparini!

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Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2019 22:21:18
From: LINGUIST List [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Rising Stars: Meet Loretta Gasparini!

Dear Readers,

This year we will be continuing our Rising Stars Series where we feature up
and coming linguists ranging from impactful undergraduates to prolific PhD
candidates. These rising stars have been nominated by their mentors for their
exceptional interest in linguistics and eager participation in the global
community of language researchers.

Selected nominees were asked to share their view of the field of linguistics:
what topics they see emerging as important or especially interesting, what
role they see the field filling in the coming decades, and how they plan to
contribute. We hope you will enjoy the perspectives of these students, who
represent the bright future of our field.

Today we are happy to share the work of Loretta Gasparini. Loretta is a
polyglot world traveler with an exceptionally strong interest in language and
how different groups and individuals use it. She is one of the most active
students in the highly selective EU-wide joint-degree EMCL+ Master's program
in clinical linguistics. Without further ado...

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I have always been interested in languages and studied both German and Italian
in secondary school, but my passion for Linguistics arose when I began
studying German through my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne. I
became fascinated with English and German�s common ancestry and how this can
be seen in the similarities of their vocabularies and so I completed a double
major in German and Linguistics/Applied Linguistics. I went on to undertake an
Honours degree in which I wrote a thesis under the supervision of Dr Barbara
Kelly, examining the narratives of 4- and 6-year-old Australian children and
how they temporally related, evaluated and structured events in their
narratives. During my Honours degree I also completed a coursework subject in
which we studied the application of qualitative methods in the context of
�communication in healthcare settings�. In my final paper I applied adapted
Conversation Analysis techniques to analyse the collected audio- recordings of
genetic consultations and explore how clinical geneticists overcome
asymmetrical knowledge states or differences in opinions with their clients,
the parents of children with undiagnosed developmental disorder. After support
from and collaboration with my teachers Professor Lesley Stirling and Dr Jean
Paul, in June 2017 I presented this paper at the Communication, Medicine and
Ethics (COMET) Conference at Indiana University � Purdue University
Indianapolis.

After graduating from my Honours degree in 2016 I worked as a Research
Assistant in the School of Languages and Linguistics (University of
Melbourne), transcribing and coding videos for research on family interactions
and pretend play in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as well as
transcribing interviews for sociolinguistic research on Irish and Chinese
migrants� adoption of Australian English. In 2018 I worked at the Murdoch
Children�s Research Institute as the Data Partnerships Research Assistant of
Generation Victoria (GenV), a longitudinal study planned to commence in 2021
as one of the world's largest birth cohorts, making use of existing
bio-specimens and health, education and social data. My tasks included
consulting with experts and finding relevant research articles to identify and
collate the core exposures and outcomes necessary for epidemiological
research. In order to determine how GenV could capture such data, I also
scoped and documented relevant state and federal government and health data
sources to gain an understanding in how different data sources and custodians
interrelate in the context of using population data for public-good research
and policy development.

These various experiences working amongst the intersections of language,
education, health, development and research ethics highlighted to me the
importance of interdisciplinary, holistic research. As such, in September 2018
I commenced the Erasmus+ Mundus Joint Master Degree programme in Clinical
Linguistics (EMCL+), which entails completing one semester each at the
University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, University of Groningen and University
of Potsdam respectively, followed by an internship at a partner institution.
During my first semester I gained skills in research methods, statistical
analysis, programming and speech analysis methods, and now in my second
semester we are focussing on agrammatic aphasia and language testing during
awake brain surgery. I am excited to continue this degree

as I pursue a career in academia. Currently my main interests include
pragmatic and discourse competence in individuals with language and
communication difficulties, such as ASD, schizophrenia or aphasia, as well as
understanding how semantic networks are cognitively represented with respect
to prelinguistic conceptual knowledge. I hope to continue working in research
in ways that inform speech and language therapists, educators and policymakers
who have the opportunity to create change in healthcare, education, childcare
and community.

In my personal life I have been able to take advantage of my interest in
languages, including living for a year in Berlin during my undergraduate
degree while I studied German, and a few years later traveling in South
America, in which time I challenged myself to learn Spanish. By doing so, I
was certainly able to gain more cultural and social opportunities that are
available when living or traveling in a foreign country. Indeed, recognising
how my access to languages and literacy over my lifetime has provided me with
various academic, professional and personal opportunities underpins my ongoing
motivation to work in areas that improve individuals� access to language and
literacy, whether that be through therapy, education, community resources or
otherwise. The field of Linguistics is in perfect stead to support such
initiatives, as the way to give a voice to oppressed individuals and groups is
to literally give them a voice. This can include conducting research in speech
and language disorders and developing therapy and educational programs to
assist affected individuals achieve communicative effectiveness for their
personal and professional lives; or supporting language revival projects,
especially for Indigenous communities worldwide (for example, Victorian
Aboriginal Corporation for Languages). While linguists have much to offer in
these areas, I believe it is important to remember that we also have a lot to
learn. I hope to see the research field continue to guide and be guided
(methodologically and content-wise) by other disciplines such as psychology,
medicine, statistics and philosophy, as well as non-academic expertise:
disability activists, Indigenous folks, community groups and others who have a
stake in our work.

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