Cayenne chile flowers, summer 2016
Abigaël Candelas de la Ossa, 2018
Photo by Selena Phillips-Boyle.

Research areas

My research focuses on how language is used in public discourse about gender-based and racial violence. Using both quantitative corpus linguistics and qualitative discourse analysis approaches, I examine how violence prevention texts and survivor support resources define sexual consent and violence when addressing different sectors of the public. By focusing on linguistic features -- such as presupposition, pronouns, and modal auxiliaries -- I examine how guidance texts project beliefs and experiences onto different target audiences. More recently, I've also been working on the representation of anti-Latinx and anti-LGBTQ gun crime in US media.

I have a longstanding commitment to public scholarship, and evaluating policy proposals and making recommendations to strengthen violence prevention and survivor support resources is an important component of my work. My work has appeared in UK Parliamentary reports. I welcome opportunities to work with non-profit and public sector organization, developing prevention strategies, and supporting survivors of harassment, abuse, and trauma.

About

I earned my PhD at Queen Mary University of London. My doctoral dissertation was titled "Sexual consent in British institutional discourse: A corpus-assisted study of violence prevention and survivor support guidance". I also hold an MSc in Linguistics and an MA in Mind and Language from the University of Edinburgh, and a Texas teaching certification in Special Education for Grades EC-12.

From 2014-2016, I was a Visiting Scholar at Victoria University of Wellington and at York University. From 2016-2018, I served on the Linguistics faculty at the University at Buffalo, where I established and directed the University at Buffalo Sociolinguistics Lab. I taught Special Education for several years, working with young people who have support needs in the areas of behavior and communication. I use a culturally-responsive and neuro-affirming approach to academic and socio-emotional learning to support young people to succeed and thrive.

When I'm not at work, I can usually be found baking or windowsill gardening.

Abigaël Candelas de la Ossa, .