Florida State University doctoral candidate, Stephanie Litka, working with the guidance of Dr. Michael Uzendoski, will undertake research on patterns of language use in multi-language contexts associated with cross-cultural tourism. As the tourist industry becomes more prevalent throughout indigenous areas in the world, it provides a research setting for understanding how multilingualism mediates social networks, inter-cultural relations, and identity.
The research will be carried out among tourist workers in the town of Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Tourists who visit this ancient Maya site have dramatically altered the economic landscape of this formally agricultural community just over the past few decades. The researcher will focus on the relationship between language use and settings characterized by different forms of exchange. She will examine, for example, the contrast between household (largely centered on interpersonal forms of exchange) and public spheres of interaction with tourists (largely centered on the market economy). Methods of data collection will include extensive observations of conversational content in each setting, semi-structured interviews of local attitudes and cultural beliefs, and surveys measuring linguistic abilities.
The resarch is important because it will look not only at how tourism affects local people, but also if language switching helps or hinders people as they try to reconcile indigenous values with foreign ones. This will contribute to sociolinguistic theory and to the development of culturally sensitive tourism planning. The award also supports the education of a graduate student.
