Conversations with Betsy Sneller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Betsy Sneller. 

Hi Betsy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been an extrovert and love getting to know people. In college, I discovered there was a field (sociolinguistics) that would let me combine my love of people with my love of language and analysis. I’m now a professor at Michigan State, where I get to teach and do sociolinguistic research. On a basic level, this means that I analyze how people use language to express their identity, and how language is shaped by social factors and changes over time. 

My latest project (MI Diaries) has been collecting audio diaries from Michiganders throughout the pandemic and beyond, starting in April of 2020. I’ve been so struck by the generosity of people in Michigan, who continue to share their daily lives and experiences with us, and grateful to be working on a project that brings some joy to other people. And the linguistic research that comes out of this work is really cool too! We have a huge team of collaborators and students working on the MI Diaries project, and we’re learning a lot about Michigan English and how it’s changing. Every week, we hear from people all across the state of Michigan. On our website, we keep an archive of “selected stories” – each week we pick a handful of stories that we’ve heard to add to our archive. Anyone can check them out at our project website https://mi-diaries.org/. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t know of anyone who has had a very smooth road. One thing that’s very hard in academia is that it’s very normal to pack up and move to a brand-new institution every few years (after grad school, then again after doing a postdoc, then again on the job market). So, it can be very difficult to develop a community when you have to keep uprooting yourself. I moved to Lansing right after the pandemic started, so it’s been extra difficult in the last two years to make the kind of connections that sustain me. 

But even so, I do think I’ve been consistently very lucky – even as I’ve had to keep uprooting myself – to make connections with people in each new place who are supportive and life-sustaining. I wouldn’t have been able to start MI Diaries without an entire village of folks, including my collaborator Suzanne Wagner at Michigan State, a supportive administration, incredible students, and, again the generosity of participants who keep sharing their lives with us! 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a professor, part of my job is to teach and inspire the next generation. One of my great joys is seeing how students can start from a small idea and follow it up with investigation to learn something new about the world. We have a very active sociolinguistics research lab at Michigan State University, which I co-direct with Dr. Wagner. It’s a friendly and collaborative environment, and I’m very proud of all of the creative and engaging work that students — from undergrads to PhDs — are doing in it! 

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Lots of different things make me happy! But I think the core of my happiness comes from making connections – and I mean this both interpersonally (connecting to other people in a meaningful way) and academically (making new connections between ideas that can help us understand how language works a little better). 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://betsysneller.github.io/

Image Credits
Matthew Churgin
Erin Kirkland