Martha Mendoza

Dr. Martha Mendoza is a Professor in the Department of Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on linguistic politeness, grammaticalization, language contact, bilingualism, spatial language, and Indigenous languages of Mesoamerica, particularly Nahuatl and P'urhepecha. She has taught advanced courses in Spanish linguistics, semantics, and endangered languages.

Dr. Mendoza has held a Visiting Associate Professor position at UC Berkeley (2006) and delivered a keynote address at the I Jornadas Internacionales de Estudios Lingüísticos (Argentina, 2019). She currently leads a project compiling a bilingual P’urhepecha-Spanish dictionary. Her work bridges linguistic theory with applied studies in language contact and Indigenous language preservation.

Her research highlights include studies on P'urhepecha spatial language, Spanish-P'urhepecha contact dynamics, and politeness strategies in Mesoamerican languages. Notable publications examine morphological complexity in P'urhepecha, the semantics of texture terms, and metaphors in landscape conceptualization.

• Awards: Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Advising (2008).
• Grants/Advising: Ongoing dictionary project supported by institutional collaborations; advises on Indigenous language documentation initiatives.

Her academic contributions span theoretical linguistics, applied sociolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics frameworks, with a focus on understudied Indigenous languages.