Carlos Soler Montes

Senior Lecturer in Spanish Linguistics

  • Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
  • Department of European Languages and Cultures
  • School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Contact details

Address

Street

Room 3.20

City
50 George Square
Post code
Edinburgh, EH8 9LH

Availability

  • My office hour for students is Fridays from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm. Outside this time, please email to arrange a meeting.

Biography

Background

Dr Carlos Soler Montes is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures where he  teaches Spanish Linguistics and advanced Spanish Language courses.  He started working at The University of Edinburgh as a Teaching Fellow and e-Learning Coordinator in 2015. In 2018, he was made Lecturer, and he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2022. He is currently Head of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies.  

Studying the Spanish language in Spain and Latin America has always been his passion and a source of inspiration. As a researcher, Carlos is particularly interested in the area of language variation from a pluricentric perspective and how this variation can be dealt with by native speakers, as well as learners of Spanish and new speakers of the language. This is reflected in his research trajectory in Spanish Linguistics as he has examined the ways in which Spanish grammar varies across different Hispanic regions, its particularities, cultural connections and social contacts with other languages.

Carlos is very committed to teaching. He has obtained a thorough training in language pedagogy and has worked as a Spanish language teacher throughout his career, teaching Spanish Language courses and Spanish Linguistics at The University of Connecticut, The University of Calgary and The University of New Mexico. Prior to joining The University of Edinburgh, he also worked for ten years at Instituto Cervantes (the Spanish National Cultural Institute) as academic coordinator, curriculum specialist, teacher trainer and quality evaluator. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Carlos is the winner of the 2017 Edinburgh University Students' Association Teaching Award for Best Feedback.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Applied Linguistics, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Spain
  • Advanced Studies Postgraduate Diploma in Hispanic Linguistics, UNED, Spain
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Language Education, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
  • Master of Arts in Hispanic Studies, The University of Connecticut, USA
  • Undergraduate Degree in Spanish Philology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Head of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
  • Chair, UK Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education (ELEUK)
  • Chair, Language Policy Committee, Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU)
  • Programme Director (Spanish and Portuguese), Bilingualism Matters
  • School Representative for the University Council For Languages (UCFL)
  • Review Editor, Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, Routledge, Taylor and Francis

Undergraduate teaching

Course organisation (2023/2024)

  • Spanish Year Abroad online language learning course

Teaching (2023/2024)

Semester 1

  • Bilingualism and Language Contact in the Spanish-speaking World 
  • Spanish 1B. History of Spanish Language

Semester 2

  • Colloquial Spanish. Social and Discursive Perspectives on Register, Style and Genre 
  • Dynamics of Language and Power. European Languages outside Europe
  • Spanish 1A. Introduction to Latin American Spanish

External Examining (2023/2024)

  • Spanish (BA Languages), University of Leeds
  • Spanish (BA Applied Languages, Translation, Global Business, Intl Business, Education), Dublin City University  
  • Spanish (Foreign Languages and Culture), Regent's University London

Postgraduate teaching

MSc in Applied Linguistics

School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

Carlos welcomes enquiries from PhD applicants interested in pursuing topics within the field of Spanish Language and Spanish Linguistics:

  • Sociolinguistics
  • Dialectology
  • Bilingualism and Language Contact
  • History of Language
  • Applied Linguistics
  • Second Language Teaching 

Current PhD students supervised

Principal supervisor of:

  • Ana Fernández Rodríguez (Hispanic Studies - Year 1): Teaching Spanish to Spanish Heritage Language speakers in the United Kingdom.
  • Wendy Xinran Gai (Hispanic Studies - Year 1): The acquisition of Spanish phonetics and phonology by native speakers of British English.
  • Verónica Márquez Moreno (Hispanic Studies - Year 2): Constructed realities in the narrations of the political exiled bilingual children from Chile.

Past PhD students supervised

Principal supervisor of:

  • Lourdes Barquín Sanmartín (PhD in Hispanic Studies): Plurilingüismo, intercomprensión y transferencia positiva: adquisición del modo y el aspecto en español como L2 y L3.
  • Mario Saborido Beltrán (PhD in Hispanic Studies): Creencias y actitudes lingüísticas de estudiantes universitarios de español en el Reino Unido hacia las variedades dialectales del español europeo: el caso del ceceo, del seseo y de la distinción entre /s/ y /θ/. 

Assistant supervisor of: 

  • Alina Kalamova (PhD in Russian Studies): Family norms negotiation: discourse analysis of a Russian talk show. 
  • Paula Teixeira Moláns (PhD in Linguistics): Galician colour semantics: An investigation of basic colour terms.

Research summary

Carlos' scholarly interests reside at the intersection of Applied Linguistics and Language Education. His publications are related to the fields of Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics and Second Language Pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on Language Variation, Second Language Acquisition, Language Contact and Social Bilingualism.

Since his research area reflects upon the limits of Spanish language norm, the different regional uses and how they manifest and vary,  he has always been interested in investigating the role of language acquisition and learning in processes of language change too. In some of his publications Carlos explains how the recognition of Spanish geographical features gives significant clues to a deeper understanding of the language and its characteristics from the language student perspective.

The study Carlos conducted for his PhD focused on the potential of the description and systematisation of significant varying linguistic patterns of Spanish across the Atlantic, its implications within the Spanish native language use and its applications towards the full development of Spanish students’ second language sociolinguistic and communicative competence. Part of this work has already led to various research outcomes and publications.

Using the latest online instructional software and technologies has always been an ongoing professional commitment and a research interest too. Carlos has had the opportunity to design and develop innovative resources in different digital formats and lead research projects to provide Spanish language students with access to all kinds of learning possibilities.

Affiliated research centres

Research activities

View all 90 activities on Research Explorer

Project activity

Spanish in Europe: Linguistic Demography of Spanish in Europe. 

Spanish in Europe is the demographic study of Spanish speakers through the social, cultural, and educational spaces they create and inhabit in different European countries and regions. Beyond the Spanish-speaking areas, the contemporary evolution of the Spanish language is dependent on two processes: migration flows and the spread of Spanish as a foreign language (50 million foreign-language speakers, thereof 31 million in Europe).

The goal of this project is to describe and analyse how groups of speakers are shaped by these processes and how different social and linguistic environments determine their language competency and use. At the intersection of demography, geography, and the sociology of languages, this project focuses on the interactions between language speakers, learners, and the institutions surrounding them (family, school, higher education). Mapping these networks will allow us to describe the dynamics surrounding the transmission and use of the Spanish language. Additionally, spaces where Spanish is in contact with other languages in Europe can be identified. This will help us to better understand the construction of the multilingual repertoires of individuals that connect Latin America and Europe socially and communicatively. 

The project entails an international, interdisciplinar and cooperative network constituted by 11 research teams, distributed over 49 countries. Approximately 100 researchers are working together in this scientific collaboration that makes possible the analysis of the demolinguistic reality of the Spanish language in Europe and, for the first time, provides a quantitative description of the spaces of Spanish and its speakers throughout the entire continent.

The project is commissioned and financed by the Alexander von Humboldt Chair at the University of Heidelberg, The Heidelberg Centre for Ibero-American Studies, the University of Zurich and the Instituto Cervantes. 

Current project grants

UNA Europa Project Seed Funding (2021/2022): Linguistic variation in postcolonial contexts: historical, social and contact linguistic perspectives.

The purpose of the project is to bring together researchers working on postcolonial language studies and sociolinguistics within the UNA Europa university network in order to produce new insights into linguistic variation and change in postcolonial contexts, promoting new and long-lasting collaboration initiatives that lead to a better understanding of European languages outside Europe. In order to reach these goals, this project puts particular focus on lesser studied contact situations and varieties of European languages, such as the varieties of Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea and the Philippines, the Portuguese varieties of Angola and Mozambique, Dutch spoken in the Caribbean region and Surinam, and varieties of English from a global perspective. In addition to providing a venue for researchers focusing on particular languages in the postcolonial context, the project aims to enhance the dialogue between linguists working with different methodological and theoretical frameworks, leading to strong research projects that attract funding from third parties.

Past project grants

UCML Small Grant (2019/2020): University Council of Modern Languages.

Following targeted support to UCML representative groups in the devolved regions/jurisdictions, UCML makes available small-scale grant funding to facilitate projects that support the languages mission and values of the organisation. Indicative projects to be supported include: support for research events/workshops that relate to languages, literature and area studies, support for events that promote and develop university-school partnership for languages, etc.

AHRC Open World Research Initiative (2019/2020): Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community.

The OWRI project consists of four major research programmes, funded by the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This research strand, part of the ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’ project, funded as part of the AHRC‘s Open World Research Initiative (OWRI) initiative, is led by the School of Advanced Study’s Institute of Modern Languages Research (University of London). The aim of ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’ project is to explore and foreground the central role that languages play in relation to key contemporary issues, such as social cohesion, migration, health, business and diplomacy. The initiative seeks to have a significant impact on the study of modern languages in the UK.

Moray Endowment Fund (2018/2019): The University of Edinburgh.

The Moray Endowment Fund is intended to support original research in any discipline via an annual competition. The Fund supports pump-priming of research projects to attract outside support, topping-up funds for research projects, for which support has been exhausted, requests for equipment in the broadest sense of the word, etc.

Santander ‘Kick-start’ Research Fund (2018/2019): Centre for Contemporary Latin American Studies, The University of Edinburgh. 

This funding is aimed to assist and promote researchers across the University in developing collaborative and interdisciplinary research on contemporary Latin American studies, as well as to generate opportunities for engaging post-graduate students and early career researchers. The Santander funding scheme is aimed to the allocation of seed funding to collaborative and interdisciplinary project proposals, which demonstrate to be able to ‘kick-start’ and promote the development of further research.

UK - Mexico Visiting Chair Mobility Grant (2016/2017): Universidad de Guadalajara.

In an effort to increase research collaboration and strengthen relations between HEI's in Mexico and the United Kingdom, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in November 2015 to establish the UK-MX Visiting Chair. The MoU was signed during the dual year of the UK in Mexico and Mexico in the UK. The Visiting Chair provides successful applicants with mobility funding for a research visit of up to two weeks to visit a new potential collaborator in Mexico.

View all 34 publications on Research Explorer

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