Nicholas Henriksen

Nicholas Henriksen is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Professor of Spanish & Linguistics at the University of Michigan, specializing in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University (2010), an MA in Hispanic Linguistics (2006), and a BA in Spanish & Mathematics from Rutgers University (2003). His research focuses on laboratory phonology, sociophonetics, and sound change in Spanish dialects, with particular attention to bilingualism, second language acquisition, and intonational structure. He has received prestigious awards including the Linguistic Society of America’s 2021 Early Career Award and the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award.

Henriksen’s work explores language contact phenomena, such as Afrikaans-Spanish bilingualism in Patagonia, and has led projects like the Michigan Speech Production Lab and integrating gender-diverse language into Romance curricula. His grants include the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE Faculty Fellowship and a Humanities Collaboratory Project. He teaches courses on Spanish linguistics, phonetics, and sociolinguistics, emphasizing pedagogical innovation and undergraduate engagement.

His publications span experimental phonetics, dialectal variation, and bilingual speech production. Notable contributions include studies on intonation in Peninsular Spanish, sound change in Andalusian varieties, and the sociophonetic perception of linguistic variants. Collaborations with scholars like Andries Coetzee and Ryan Szpiech highlight interdisciplinary approaches to language dynamics and cultural identity.