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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0825-9899

Date Available

5-1-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Hispanic Studies

Faculty

Haralambos Symeonidis

Faculty

Alan Brown

Abstract

This dissertation examines stabilized circular migration as a distinct sociolinguistic condition through a study of Mexican participants in the U.S. H-2A temporary agricultural worker program. Whereas much migration scholarship presumes linear settlement and cumulative immersion, the H-2A program institutionalizes repeated cycles of departure and return between specific origin and destination communities. This patterned mobility produces recurrent immersion in an English-dominant environment followed by re-centering in a Spanish-dominant community, creating conditions of cyclical activation and recalibration of linguistic repertoires.

The study investigates two interrelated questions: (1) how sustained participation in stabilized circular mobility shapes participants’ spoken repertoires, contact-induced features, and language ideologies; and (2) whether such linguistic shifts acquire public visibility within migrants’ sending communities. Data are drawn from multi-sited semi-structured sociolinguistic interviews conducted in both U.S. and Mexican contexts, complemented by linguistic landscape analysis in communities with sustained H-2A participation.

Findings suggest that circular mobility generates evolving, contextually mediated repertoires shaped by repeated exposure and ideological negotiation, while broader community-level inscription remains uneven. By foregrounding administratively stabilized circularity rather than settlement, this dissertation refines sociolinguistic models of migration and offers a framework for analyzing language change under conditions of patterned, cyclical mobility.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.254

Archival?

Archival

Funding Information

This study was supported by the University of Kentucky Hispanic Studies Department Dissertation Enhancement Award in 2026. 

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