Christian Puma Ninacuri focuses his research on the field of Sociolinguistics with an emphasis on language contact and change, language ideologies, diaspora studies, and linguistic landscapes. Puma Ninacuri explores the effects of language and dialect contact, and language ideologies in the Ecuadorian Andean Spanish (EAS) variety spoken in New York City (NYC) and Ecuador. At the same time, he investigates the role of social networks and cultural practices in the maintenance of .
Additionally, he is investigating how diaspora communities have (re)created new spaces through linguistic and semiotic resources and how those resources are displayed in the public space (the linguistic landscape). Through this, he aims to uncover the power dynamics between language(s) displayed in public signage, and how the presence of linguistic and semiotic resources re-creates a sense of locality in diaspora communities.
Puma Ninacuri has conducted fieldwork in the United States (NYC: Brooklyn and Queens), Spain (Madrid), and Ecuador (Ambato and Quito). He has documented the Ecuadorian Andean Spanish variety through ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods, such as interviews, questionnaires, linguistic tasks, and field notes. In addition, he has documented the Linguistic Landscape through photos and videos in each place.
15th Inti Raymi Celebration in Queens
Additionally, Puma Ninacuri is member of the interdisciplinary project called since 2013. The project aims to understand the complex situation of indigenous languages in Ecuador by taking into account viewpoints from different fields, such as linguistics, anthropology, sociology, literature, communication, , and . As such, the project aims to determine the condition of indigenous languages through ethnographic documentation and the development of community activities that create a space for intercultural exchange.
Selected Publications
Haboud, Marleen & Puma Ninacuri, Christian. Contactos lingüísticos en Ecuador y su diáspora en Nueva York. In: S. Chávez and J. L. Ramírez Luengo (Eds.). Panorama de estudios actuales del español de América. Medellín, Universidad de Antioquia (forthcoming).
Puma Ninacuri, Christian & Gubitosi, Patricia. “Ecuadorians in NYC: Language and cultural practices of a community in the diaspora.” Languages 9, no. 6: 193. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060193
Gubitosi, Patricia., Narváez, Daniela, & Puma Ninacuri, Christian. The Ecuadorian diaspora in Madrid and the conceptualization of sociolinguistic authenticity. In: A. Patiño and R. Marquez Reiter (Eds.). Language practices and processes among Latin Americans in Europe. Routledge.
Puma Ninacuri, Christian. 2022. La influencia del kichwa en el castellano andino ecuatoriano ambateño: el caso del morfema -ka. Boletín de Filología, 57 (1), pp. 209-231. DOI:
Puma Ninacuri, Christian. & Narváez, Daniela. 2021. Linguistic Landscape in Otavalo. Kichwa, Spanish or English? In: P. Gubitosi and M. F. Ramos Pellicia (Eds.). Linguistic Landscape in the Spanish-speaking world, 313-340. Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, vol. 35. Cambridge, MA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Gubitosi, Patricia., Puma Ninacuri, Christian. & Narváez, Daniela. 2020. Landscaping an Ecuadorian Neighborhood in Queens, NY. Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica, (36), 211-234. DOI:
Interviews
“Language, Migration, and Identity: Covid 19 and Transitions in Ecuadorian Andean Spanish”. Interviewed by Thakshala Tissera. Public Writing Fellows UMass Amherst, December 2023,
"Nunca pensé que iba a venir a EEUU": la violencia dispara la llegada de ecuatorianos a la frontera. Interviewed by Laura Galaup. Univision News, January 2024,
“The symbolic (re)constructions of Ecuadorian’s borders in an immigrant neighborhood of Queens, NY.” (with Patricia Gubitosi and Daniela Narváez). Linguistic Landscape 15: Fluidity and Fixity in Borderlands, Wellington, New Zealand. June 20 – 22, 2024.
“Movilización y elitización hacia la reconstrucción del paisaje lingüístico en Bushwick, Brooklyn.” International transdisciplinary conference the challenges to diversity (IV). Endangered languages and varieties: documentation-revitalization processes with social justice, Quito, Ecuador. September 12 – 15, 2023.
“Los retos de documentar la influencia del Kichwa en el español.” (with María Biezma). International transdisciplinary conference the challenges to diversity (IV). Endangered languages and varieties: documentation-revitalization processes with social justice, Quito, Ecuador. September 12 – 15, 2023.
“Reterritorialización de Nueva York: utopía ecuatoriana en el espacio público de la ciudad.” (with Patricia Gubitosi). Linguistic Landscape 14: Utopia and Distopia, Madrid, Spain. September 6 – 8, 2023.
“Object Focus Marking in Ecuadorian Andean Spanish.” 51st Virtual Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Cleveland, Ohio. September 22 – 24, 2022.
“Usos dinámicos de lenguas minorizadas en el paisaje lingüístico: El caso del kichwa en dos ciudades andinas ecuatorianas” (with Paola Enríquez Duque and Daniela Narváez). 51st Virtual Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Cleveland, Ohio. September 22 – 24, 2022.
“¿Cómo ser un auténtico ecuatoriano en Madrid? Prácticas lingüísticas y culturales en la negociación de la identidad ecuatoriana en Madrid” (with Patricia Gubitosi and Daniela Narváez). 50th Virtual Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. September 23 – 25, 2021.
“Describing the Linguistic Landscape in a Touristic and Multilingual Space: Commodification and Authentication of Language in Otavalo, Ecuador” (with Daniela Narváez). The Political Economy of Language and space/place. Linguistic Landscape Online Workshop 12, University of Gothenburg. September 1 – 3, 2021.
“Morfema Kichwa -ka en el Castellano Andino Ecuatoriano: ¿marcador de tópico o foco?” XIX Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina. Virtual conference. August 8 – 13, 2021.
“Ecuadorian Diaspora in the USA: Language and Identity Maintenance” (with Daniela Narváez). New Perspectives on Hispanic Cultures: Spanish and the Hispanic in the U.S. Over the Last 30 Years. Observatorio Instituto Cervantes Symposium. June 4, 2021.
Education
PhD, Hispanic Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
MA, Hispanic Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
BA, Applied Linguistics to Language Teaching, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito
