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Benjamin Puterbaugh

Assistant Professor of Spanish

Education

University of South Florida (2026)
PhD., Applied Linguistics

Middlebury College (2014)
M.A., Spanish

Oberlin College (2011)
B.A., Politics

Research Interests

Situated within Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Anthropology, his research explores how semiotic, especially linguistic, ideologies mediate our social realities. He investigates how our embodied practices, i.e., the ways we look, speak, and act, work within semiotic schemas to make meaning. Often, this means examining how differences are constructed and (de)valued. He is also interested in the ways power and ideologies intersect to influence discourse across diverse contexts and modalities. In his dissertation, he worked with Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic to investigate how language is implicated in processes of racialization. Beyond this project, he has carried out analyses of discourse, both digital and in-person. This includes topics such as conversations about the recent linguistic innovations Latinx/e, the role of embodied signs in comedic performances, and the constructions of racialized Others on social media.

 

Course Taught 

Dr. Puterbaugh teaches a diverse range of courses including all levels of Spanish, Spanish Sociolinguistics, Spanish Linguistics, and Spanish for Health.

 

Publications

Puterbaugh, B. (2025). The Haitian Other: Interdiscursive webs and emergent narratives on Dominican social media. Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/17442222.2025.2585556

Puterbaugh, B & Medford, K. (2025). "The comedic performance of Mock Haitian in Dominican media: a raciosemiotic approach to enregisterment." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.70027

 Puterbaugh, B. (2025). Epistemics, interactional identities, and language ideologies in debates about Latinx and Latine on social media: How Spanish and “Latino” identity construction are leveraged to challenge gender inclusive identity labels. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 29: 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12692