Contact Information
707 S. Mathews Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Hours
Biography
Robin grew up in Newport News, Virginia. She completed a Bachelor's Degree in French and Spanish at George Mason University in Fairfax and her Master's in Applied French Linguistics at the University of Alabama. At UIUC, she is working towards a Ph.D. in French Linguistics with a concentration in Romance Linguistics. She has completed graduate minors in Queer Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, European Union Studies, and Linguistic Anthropology.
Apart from her research and studies, she is also a committee member of EuroChambana, a graduate student-led initiative with the European Union Center to bring together community members with shared interests in European cultures, languages, and politics. Robin is a steering committee member for the Diversity, Decolonization, and the French Curriculum collective where she serves as co-organizer of the graduate student special interest group. She has recently joined the working group Jeunes chercheur·euses en Genre & Langage and is a Researcher-Member of the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network at Concordia University.
In Summer 2024, Robin conducted research in collaboration with the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF) at McGill University and the Just Feminist Tech and Scholarship Lab under the supervision of Dr. Alex Ketchum. This work was funded by the Graduate Student Scholarship granted by the International Council for Canadian Studies/Conseil international d'études canadiennes.
From 2017 until 2021, Robin co-hosted the GradLings podcast, a program dedicated to the promotion of graduate students working in all branches of linguistics and language study.
Research Interests
- Quebec Studies
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Sociology of language
- Historical sociolinguistics
- Linguistic anthropology
- Queer linguistics
- Raciolinguistics
- Linguistic Landscape
- Feminist critical discourse analysis
- Minoritized languages
Research Description
Robin's dissertation project, "Stigmatized trailblazers to celebrated deviants: Heteronormative Discourses of (homo)sexuality after the Québec Quiet Revolution, 1969-1977," delineates publicly circulating discourses that managed the reception of gay life and civil rights after the Québec Quiet Revolution (1960-1966) that conformed to political progressives’ heteronormative ideologies. She uses a transdisciplinary analytical lens informed by queer theory and feminist linguistic anthropology to explore language in mainstream media that imbricated (homo)sexuality within the new Québec of the 1970s, ostensibly more secular, liberal, and modern. This corpus draws on the coeval newspapers, literature, theatrical productions, and political manifestos centering cultural re/production of (homo)sexuality in both French and English, the dominant languages of Québec. This work will evince queer critical inquiry as crucial to a linguistic analysis that explicates how Montréal institutions manipulated discourses of medicalization, respectability politics, and citizenship to manage (homo)sexuality after the Quiet Revolution.
She is grateful for the financial support for her dissertation from the American Council for Quebec Studies, l’Association internationale des études québécoises, and the International Council for Canadian Studies/Conseil internationale des études canadiennes.
Education
Ph.D. French Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Concentration in Romance Linguistics
Graduate minors in Queer Studies; Gender and Women's Studies; European Union Studies; Anthropology - Linguistics track
M.A. Romance Languages, The University of Alabama
Concentration in Applied French Linguistics
B.A. Foreign Languages, George Mason University
Concentration in French
Concentration in Spanish
Minor in Linguistics
Additional Coursework & Training
NYI Global Institute of Cultural, Cognitive, and Linguistic Studies, 2024
Lavender Languages Institute. California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, 2024
Lavender Languages Institute. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 2023
Lavender Languages Institute. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 2022
Lavender Languages Institute. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 2021
Genevan Paleography Workshop. Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI, 2018
Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute. University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2017
Grants
Annual Meeting Travel Grant
American Historical Association, 2025
Anthropologist Support Award
American Anthropological Association, 2024
Knudson Fellowship
Department of French and Italian, UIUC Summer 2024
Presentation Support Award
L’Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie candienne (ACUFC)
Registration Grant
Quebec English-speaking Communities Research Network (QUESCERN), Concordia University 2024
Graduate Student Scholarship
International Council for Canadian Studies/Conseil international d’études canadiennes, 2024
Bourse de recherche
L'Association internationale des études québécoises and The American Council for Quebec Studies, 2022-2023
Departmental Fellowship
Department of French and Italian, UIUC Summer 2022
Conference Presentation Award
Graduate College, UIUC Fall 2021
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship
U.S. Department of Education, European Union Center, UIUC AY 2020-2021
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship
U.S. Department of Education, European Union Center, UIUC Summer 2020 [declined]
Knudson & McPherson Fellowship
Department of French and Italian, UIUC Summer 2020
Student Participation and Travel Award
North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics Research incubator at KFLC, University of Kentucky 2020
H. Henry Meeter Center Genevan Paleography Fellowship
Calvin University 2018
Research & Travel Grant
The Graduate School, The University of Alabama 2018
Presentation Award
College of Arts & Sciences, The University of Alabama 2018
UA in France Graduate Assistantship
Department of Modern Languages & Classics, The University of Alabama 2017
Awards and Honors
Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Department of Gender & Women's Studies, UIUC 2023
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
Department of Gender & Women's Studies, UIUC 2022
Outstanding Asian & Asian American Graduate Student Leader Award
Asian American Cultural Center, UIUC 2022
Student Leadership Award
Department of Linguistics, UIUC 2022
K.A. Looney Senior Award for Excellence in Teaching French
Department of French & Italian, UIUC AY 2020-2021
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning's (CITL) Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students
- Fall 2018 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2019 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2020 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2020 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2021 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2021 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2022 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2022 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2023 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2023 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Spring 2024 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
- Fall 2024 (distinction for outstanding ratings)
Most Outstanding Graduate Student in French
Department of Modern Languages & Classics, UA 2018
Outstanding Service to the University of Alabama Language Conference
Department of Modern Languages & Classics, UA 2017
Courses Taught
FR 101: Elementary French I
FR 102: Elementary French II
FR 103: Intermediate French I
FR 205: Oral French
FR 207: Writing and Grammar Workshop
FR 213: French Phonetics
GWS 100/SOC 130: Introduction to Gender & Women's Studies
GWS/SOC 202: Sexualities
GWS/AAS 275: Politics of Fashion
GWS/ENGL 378: Fairy Tales & Gender Formation
Additional Campus Affiliations
External Links
Selected research presentations:
Turner, R. (2025, June). Contemporary understandings of territory and colonization through language in Quebec. 7th International Language and Territory International Symposium, University of Ottawa.
Turner, R. (2025, May). “That is not our version of feminism”: Examining modern discourses of feminism in Québec. Poster presentation at the 2025 Society for Linguistic Anthropology Biennial Conference, University of Chicago.
Turner, R. (2025, May). 'Attend ! On ne t'aime pas comme je t'aime': A survey of Québec French in global media. Panel presentation in "The Space to Play: Confluences of Language, Creativity, and Imagination" at the 2025 meeting of the Canadian Anthropology Society/La Société Canadienne d'Anthropologie, McGill University.
Turner, R. (2025, May). The modern semiotic landscape of Montréal identities. Paper presentation at the 2025 meeting of the Canadian Anthropology Society/La Société Canadienne d'Anthropologie, McGill University.
Turner, R. (2025, April). Media narratives of (homo)sexuality in Montreal after the Quebec Quiet Revolution (1969-1977). Paper presentation at the 7th Annual North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics Research Incubator, Online.
Turner, R. (2025, April). Queering history, queering knowledge. Transdisciplinary Colloquium of Gender and Queer Studies: New Directions in Queer, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Loyola University Chicago.
Turner, R. (2025, March). How do we effectively communicate researching positionality and accountability in language research? Graduate Research Roundtable presentation at the 2025 Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguisitics, Denver, CO.
Turner, R. (2025, March). A sociopolitical linguistic (re-)examination of Francisation in Québec. Paper presentation at the 17th Annual Western Interdisciplinary Student Symposium on Language Research, Western University.
Turner, R. (2025, January). Critical discourses around gay rights after the Québec Quiet Revolution (1960-1966). 138th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, New York City.
Turner, R. (2024, November). Deviance in the City: Discourses of sexuality, community, and language in Montreal during the Quiet Revolution. Flash presentation at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Tampa, FL.
Turner, R. (2024, August). Les langages de Rights Talk : la relation transnationale entre la langue et les droits des gais au Québec. Colloque du Réseau de la recherche sur la francophonie canadienne, University of Moncton.
Turner, R. (2024, August). “Speak white!”: Appropriation of colonization and enslavement narratives in reckoning with language conflict in Québec. Paper presentation at the 4th Annual Conference for Graduate Students in Language, Communication, and Culture, University of Alberta.
Turner, R. (2024, July) Transnational linguistic environments of (homo)sexuality. The 50th anniversary conference of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States, The University of Waterloo and Saint Jerome’s University.
Turner, R. (2024, May). Le progrès pour qui? : interrogation des récits sur les droits civils des homosexuels après la Révolution tranquille au Québec. Paper presentation at Women in Official Language Minority Communities Conference hosted by the Quebec English-speaking Communities Research Network (QUESCERN) and the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities (CIRLM), 91st meeting of Acfas, University of Ottawa.
Turner, R. (2024, April). A ‘new’ multilingualism: The case of neofalantes in Galicia. Multilingual European Cities Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2024, April). The realities and tensions of Francisation in Québec. French Studies Annual Graduate Conference, Louisiana State University.
Turner, R. (2024, April). What is next for Queer Linguistics?. Transdisciplinary Colloquium of Gender and Queer Studies: New Directions in Queer, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Loyola University Chicago.
Turner, R. (2023, May). Linguistic pasts and ideological futures. Paper presentation at Women’s and Gender Studies et Recherches Féministes Annual Conference, York University, Toronto.
Turner, R. (2023, April). Intimacies of recent past and identity of empire: Linguistic anthropological considerations. Paper presentation at Medusa Graduate Conference, University of Toronto.
Turner, R. (2022, July). A critical exploration of scale and chronotope in shifting discourses of oppression. Paper presentation at Sociolinguistics Symposium 24, Universiteit Ghent. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, May). Power dynamics of migrant linguistic strategies in Montreal. Paper presentation at the 18th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2022, May). Thinking with the past through discourse. Paper presentation at the 23rd annual Michicagoan graduate student conference in linguistic anthropology, University of Michigan and University of Chicago. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, May). “Violent enforcement of a category violently constructed”: The power of language as an agent of violence. Paper presentation at Language, Literature, Power, University of Niš. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2022, April). The Queer Archive as a Site of Intervention and Resistance. Paper presentation at the 2022 meeting of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2021, October). Les identités sexuelles et linguistiques marquées après la Révolution tranquille. Paper presentation at Colloque du réseau de la recherche sur la francophonie Canadienne, Université d’Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean. [cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic]
Turner, R. (2021, May). Ethics of the Queer Archive: Minoritized Language, Queer Time, & Archival Activism. Paper presentation at the 17th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2021, May). Publicly Circulating Discourses of Racialization in Quebec Media. Paper presentation at the 17th annual International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2020, March). Galician education influences on neofalante identity, attitudes, and language practices. Poster presentation at the Georgetown University Round Table 2020, Georgetown University.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Linguistic Constructions of Agency in the Grassroots Political Movement. Paper presentation at the twelfth annual meeting of Illinois Language and Linguistics Society, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Indexicalities of Community Membership in Multilingual Political Campaigning. Paper presentation at the second annual Sociolinguistic Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Selected pedagogical practices presentations:
Turner, R. (2022, November). A critical examination of bridging courses in university French curricula. Poster presentation at the 2022 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, Boston, Massachusetts.
Turner, R. (2022, April). Critical Reflections of Cultural Knowledges in French Bridging Courses. Paper presentation at the 2022 SLA Symposium, University of Wisconsin-Madison. [Accepted]
Turner, R. (2020, November). Bridging the Gap: Looking at language and literature courses in French program curricula. Paper presentation at Diversity, Decolonization, and the French Curriculum (DDFC) Conference. Online, Sam Houston State University & University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Turner, R. (2020, February). Authentic texts: What do you adapt and how do you use them?. Presentation at the Spring 2020 Language Teaching Share Fair, Center for Language Instruction and Coordination, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2019, November). Co-constructing a World: Global Simulation in the Elementary FL Classroom. Presentation at the 2019 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, Washington DC.
Turner, R. (2019, November). Global Simulation Strategies for the FL Classroom. Presentation at the 2019 Language Teaching Share Fair, Center for Language Instruction and Coordination, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2019, October). Global Simulation as a Vehicle for Oral Proficiency. Presentation at the 2019 ICTFL Fall Conference, Naperville, IL.
Roncoroni, F. & Turner, R. (2019, May). A Study of Global Simulation for Engagement, Intercultural Awareness, and Fluency in Spontaneous Speech of Intermediate II French Learners. Poster Presentation at the 11th Annual SLATE Graduate Research Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Workshops & Panels:
Turner, R. (2021, March). A Sociolinguistic Approach to Bilingual LGBTQ+ Communities & their Histories. Panel presentation at the Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, California Institute of Integral Studies.
Turner, R. (2020, April). Indexicalities of Queerness and Personhood in “Emergent” Bilingual Montréal. Workshop presentation at the North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS) Research Incubator, The Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Conference at the University of Kentucky.
Turner, R. (2019, September). Temporal Perspectives on Language and Queer Identities. Panel presentation at the Solidarities of Difference Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Invited talks:
Turner, R. (2024, April). How do we critique what "officially" does not exist?: Raciolinguistic research in a European framework. EURO 502: The EU in a Global Context, University of Illlinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2023, May). Practical Pedagogies and Linguistic Justice. Graduate Engineering Equity Committee, McGill University.
Turner, R. (2023, April). Resources for gender inclusive langauge in the French language classroom. Roundtable on Linguistic Discrimination, University of Iowa.
Turner, R. (2022, November). Le langage et la mode : Introduction à la théorie barthésienne. FR 337: Contemporary France, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2022, October). Pedagogical strategies for teaching and implementing gender-inclusive language in the world language classroom. FR 505: Teaching College and Secondary Foreign Language, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2022, February). Le Paris parlé. FR 156: Exploring Paris, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Turner, R. (2021, October). Technology and Community-building in Language Research and Education. WLLC 5000: Teaching and Learning Languages, University of Iowa.
Morgan, W.J., Robertson, W.B., & Turner, R. (2019, February). Navigating Linguistic Research and the Graduate Student-Faculty Dynamic. Panel presentation at The University of Alabama Languages Conference, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Turner, R. (2018, April). The Foundation of Emoji Social Semiotics. Presentation at The Mallet Assembly, The University of Alabama.
Highlighted Publications
Dees, J.A. & Turner, R.S. (Eds.). (2023). Studies in the Linguistic Science (SLS): Proceedings of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Illinois Language and Linguistics Society. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
MacDonald, J.E., Fagyal, Z., Beristain, A., & Turner, R.S. (Eds.). (2023). Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 18: Selected papers from LSRL 51. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Turner, R.S. (2022). Pronouns. In K. Strunk & S.A. Shelton (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. Brill.
Recent Publications
Blogs
Cipolla, S., Turner, R., & Zalewski, N. "Graduate Student Meeting with Professor Phillip M. Ayoub". EUC blog. European Union Center, 23 October 2020. http://eucenterillinois.blogspot.com/2020/10/graduate-student-meeting-w…
Turner, R. "Classroom Combatting Language Loss: a look at Basque in France and Spain". Linguis Europae, European Union Center.
Turner, R. "Engaging with Structuralism on its Own Terms". Response to Constantine Nakassis's lecture "Structuralism", Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series 2019, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, 23 September 2019. https://unitforcriticism.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/professor-constantine…
Turner, R. "'If it worked, we wouldn't need it': on the politics of deconstruction". Response to Geoffrey Bennington's lecture "Politics in Deconstruction", Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series 2018, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, 22 October 2018. https://unitforcriticism.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/geoffrey-bennington-o…