Anna Babel

Anna Babel is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at The Ohio State University's Department of Spanish and Portuguese, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and language contact, particularly in Bolivia and the US Latino context. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics and Anthropology from the University of Michigan (2010), following M.A. degrees in Anthropology and Linguistics (2007), and a B.A. in Linguistics, Spanish, and Russian from the University of South Carolina (2001).

Her work explores how language reflects social categories and identity, including studies on the Santa Cruz valleys of Bolivia and US Latino/a/x language dynamics. Notable publications include Between the Andes and the Amazon (2018) and co-editing Contact, Structure, and Change (2021). She has received the 2020 Public Outreach and Community Service Award from the Society of Linguistic Anthropology. Her teaching spans language variation, qualitative methods, and sociolinguistic theory.

Babel is active in public engagement, including TEDx talks, media interviews on language and immigration, and podcast discussions on topics like DACA and language pronunciations. Her research often bridges academic and community contexts, emphasizing language as a social action.