Hi!

I'm Lillianna (she/her). I'm a proud first gen student in the first year of my MA in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Kansas, where I am advised by Dr. Lacey Wade. I am interested in sociolinguistics, sociophonetics, and raciolinguistics. I am specifically interested in how Asian/Asian American* Kansans negotiate their identity, relationships, and place through local Kansas speech features. I am affiliated with the Sociolinguistics Lab and the Phonetics Lab. I also co-run the Queer Linguistics reading group.

Current research

  • Asian/Asian American Kansans

    This work aims to understand how Asian/Asian American Kansans use non-local and local Kansas speech features (e.g. TRAP retraction, PIN-PEN merger, devoicing) to negotiate their identity, relationships, and place.

  • Description

    Can Asian Americans sound "Country"?: A matched guise study

    This project investigates how American listeners perceive “Accentedness” and “Countryness” when presented with visual cues, specifically phenotypically Asian and White faces.

  • Analyzing anti-trans legislation in the U.S.

    This research aims to analyze anti-trans legislation in the United States, especially the massive surge of anti-trans bills in recent years, using the discourse-historical approach of critical discourse studies.

Teaching and the Sociolinguistics Lab

I am fortunate enough to be the current online instructor for LING/ANTH 320: Language in Culture and Society. I also often spend my time in the Sociolinguistics Lab run by Dr. Lacey Wade.

  • What do I do as an instructor?
  • What do I do in the lab?

As an instructor, I spend my time communicating with students, grading assignments and providing feedback, and maintaining the accesibility of the course. I also have taken the opportunity to help restructure the course by collaboratively redesigning the final project.

In the Sociolinguistics Lab, I attend weekly meetings, professional workshops, conduct research, and help organize the Language Science at the Library project at the Lawrence Public Library. You can learn more about the Sociolinguistics Lab on our website by clicking the link below!

Here are some things I'm excited about!

I recently received the 2026 Frances Ingemann excellence in Graduate Teaching Award from the Linguistics Dept!
I was awarded the 2026 Summer Research Scholarship from the University of Kansas for my work on Asian American speech in Kansas!