J. Daniel Hasty

Contact J. Daniel Hasty

843-349-6685 jhasty@coastal.edu

Edwards 208

Fall 2023 Office Hours
Mondays/Wednesdays 2:00 - 3:00pm
Tuesdays 11:00am - 12:00pm
*Please email for an appointment. 

Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law." — Ferdinand de Saussure

Biography

J. Daniel Hasty is a Professor of Linguistics, joining the English Department at Coastal Carolina University in 2012. Daniel is a sociolinguist specializing in syntactic variation with a focus on Appalachian English and Southern United States English.

Daniel studies language variation, especially morphosyntactic variation, with the goal of better understanding how languages vary parametrically as well as how speakers use syntactic variants to construct social identities. 

A large part of his work has focused on the double modal construction of Southern English (e.g., I might could go to the store), looking at this morphosyntactic feature from a variety of approaches. From a theoretical standpoint, Daniel has published articles on the double modal’s structure as well as arguments for viewing this feature as an example of micro-parametric variation in English. From a sociolinguistic perspective, Daniel has written articles based on quantitative sociolinguistic analyses of double modal acceptance and usage in Northeast Tennessee and the broader South.

Additionally, Daniel studies language attitudes in the South, particularly in Appalachia. Because of this, he is interested in Southern and Appalachian identity construction, issues associated with the Standard Language Ideology, and representations of Southern and Appalachian English and Culture in literature and popular culture. He has published work on Southerners’ attitudes towards Southern English, work on attitudes and interpretations specifically of doctor’s usage of double modals, and most recently a large-scale project with Dr. Becky Childs looking at how young speakers in different parts of Appalachia perceive of and traditional features of Appalachian English to construct a linguistic identity. Daniel’s work has appeared in Lingua, American Speech, the Journal of Appalachian Studies, the Journal of English Linguistics, Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, and collections published by Oxford University Press, University of Alabama Press, West Virginia University Press, and Routledge.

Education

Ph.D. Linguistics, Michigan State University
M.A. English, Auburn University
B.A. English, Tennessee Technological University

Teaching Areas

Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Syntax

Research Areas

Sociolinguistics, Syntactic Variation, Language Attitudes

Website: http://ww2.coastal.edu/jhasty/