Susan Tamasi

Susan Tamasi

Director, Program in Linguistics
Teaching Professor, Program in Linguistics
Associated Faculty, Center for the Study of Human Health
Associated Faculty, Department of Anthropology

Ph. D. in Linguistics
University of Georgia, 2003

OFFICE: Modern Languages Bldg, Rm 208
PHONE: 404-727-7843
EMAIL: stamasi@emory.edu

Professor Tamasi, a specialist in sociolinguistics, began teaching in the Program in Linguistics in 2002. Her connection to Emory, however, goes back to the early 1990s when she was an undergraduate pursuing a major in Russian Language & Literature. A recipient of the Emory Williams Teaching Award and the Emory Award for Advising, she is widely recognized by students and colleagues as a stellar instructor. She currently serves as the Director of the Program in Linguistics.

Dr. Tamasi's scholarly interests lie in the fields of linguistic variation and health communication. She examines the structure and development of American English dialects and their connections with social and political issues. Her research explores the attitudes and perceptions that people have about variation in language and the role language plays in prejudice and discrimination. 

Her early research in health communication investigated the language used in physician/patient interactions and the effects of nonstandard dialectal variation in healthcare settings. Currently, she is working on two health-related research projects: The first, carried out through collaboration with GA Tech’s Institute for People and Technology & Emory’s Department of Anesthesiology, is the creation of an Augmented Reality (AR) simulation for training healthcare providers about decision making in the operating room. The second is an analysis of discussions about women’s health through social media platforms.

Books

Cover of book titles Linguistic Planets of Belief The cover of Tamasi and Antieau's book Language and Linguistics Diversity in the US. The book cover is white, the font is black. An image of a tree is in the center of the cover, each branch representing a language.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF format)

Courses Taught in Linguistics

LING 101 History of the American Languages
LING 242 Languages of the World (same as ANT 242)
LING 333 Language, Gender and Sexuality (same as ANT 325, WGS 333)
LING 340 Language and Social Interaction (same as ANT 340)
LING 350 Health Communication (same as HLTH 379)
LING 401 Language, Mind and Society