Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Rachel Garza is a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Linguistics. She received a B.S. in Psychology with a secondary major in Spanish at Baylor University. She later received an M.A. in Spanish at the same institution. Rachel’s main research interest is in the phonological system of Spanish Heritage Speakers in the U.S. and its sociolinguistic variation, especially within the dialect of Spanish spoken in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. Rachel is likewise interested in Spanish as a heritage language acquisition and pedagogy.