Sofía Bemposta Rivas holds a BA in English Philology at the University of Vigo. She completed an MA in Advanced English Studies at the same University, where she also wrote her Master’s dissertation on “A Corpus-Based Study of Complement Clauses and Need in the Recent History of English” under the supervision of Dr. Javier Pérez Guerra.
She is a member of the research group Language Variation and Textual Categorisation (LVTC) where she has obtained a four-year FPI research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Her research focuses on English historical syntax, specifically on non-finite complementation, using corpora and an empirical methodology.
Thanks to the financial support of the LVTC and the English Linguistic Circle (ELC), Sofía has developed three research stays. She developed a one-month research stay at the University of Edinburgh (UK) under the supervision of Dr. Graeme Trousdale (October 20 – Novermber 20, 2012). In 2014, she developed a two-month research stay at the University of KU Leuven (Belgium) under the supervision of Prof. Hubert Cuyckens (May 20- July 20, 2014). In 2015, she was a PhD visiting student under the supervision of Dr. Ann Taylor at the University of York (UK). As a FPI researcher, she is currently developing a three-month stay at Lancaster University under the supervision of Dr. Willem Hollmann.
Research projects
Sofía has worked as a full-time researcher in the projects "Empirical Analysis of Linguisctic Strategies of Micro-variation in English: Synchronic and Diachronic Inssues" ( FFI2013-44065-P; PI: Dr. Javier Pérez-Guerra) and “‘The art of writing English’: A corpus of schoolchildren’s writings” (Proxectos Emerxentes-EM2014/028; PI: Nuria Yáñez-Bouza).
She was contracted by the ELC research network on several occasions to carry out research activities in the “Early Modern English Medical Texts” corpus (November 11, 2014) and in the research projects: “Consolidation and Structuring of Units of Competitive Research (Research Networks)” and “Analysis of the English Non-copulative Clauses” (Period 1751-1800)
Publications
2016. (forthcoming) “Dared-headed blend constructions in Middle and Early Modern English”. SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics
2015. “Shall I dare shed light on the development of dare in English?: A corpus-driven study” In English and American Studies in Spain: New Developments and Trends, Alberto Lázaro Lafuente and María Dolores Porto Requejo (eds.). Alcalá: Universidad de Alcalá. 161 - 169
2014. “A Corpus-Based Study of Complement Clauses and Need in the Recent History of English” In New Alleyways to Significance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to English Studies, Moreno Álvarez Alejandra and Irene Pérez Fernández (eds.) Palma de Mallorca: Edicions UIB. 177 - 194
2014. “ A corpus-based study of infinitival complementation alternations governed by need in the recent history of English” In Building Interdisciplinary Knowledge: Approaches to English and American Studies in Spain, Esther Álvarez López (coord. and ed.), Emilia María Durán Almarza and Alicia Menéndez Tarrazo (eds.). Oviedo: KRK Ediciones. 285 - 294
Conference Presentations
“A Corpus Study on Durst and the Construction Dared and Bare Infinitive Clause in Middle English and Early Modern English”. at 39th International AEDEAN Conference. University of Deusto (Spain), 12-13th November, 2015.
“The Status of Dared in Middle English and Early Modern English: A Corpus-driven Study” at 48th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE 2015). Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL), (Netherlands), 2-5th September, 2015.
“A Corpus-driven Study of Dared in Middle English and Early Modern English” at Fourth International Postgraduate Conference on Language and Cognition (ELC4). University of Vigo (Spain), 4-6th February, 2015.
“Shall I dare shed light on the development of dare in English?: A corpus-driven study” at 38th International AEDEAN Conference. University of Alcalá (Spain), 12-14th November, 2014.
“I didn’t dare to make the smallest repartee, I need hardly tell you: A Corpus-based Study of the Infinitival Complements Governed by Need and Dare in the Recent History of English” ICEHL 18. Leuven 2014, (Belgium), 14-18th July, 2014.
“A Corpus-Based Approach to Infinitival Complementation Alternations Governed by Need in the Recent History of English” at 37th International AEDEAN 2013. University of Oviedo (Spain), 13-15th November, 2013.
“A Corpus-Based Study of Complement Clauses and Need in the Recent History of English” at ASYRAS 2013. University of Oviedo (Spain), 5-7th June, 2013.
“A Corpus-Based Study of Contact Clauses and Need in the Recent History of English” at ELC 17. University of Vigo (Spain), 19th December, 2012.
Conference Organization
Sofía has been involved in the organization of the conferences 7th Biennial International Conference on the Linguistics of Contemporary English (BICLCE 2017), Exploring Liminality in Anglophone Studies and ELC4: International Postgraduate Conference on Language and Cognition held at the University of Vigo (4th – 6th February, 2015). She has also volunteered at the conferences Englishes Today 2013: Theoretical and Methodological Issues (18-19 October 2013) and in the 28th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Applied Linguistics (AESLA) (30th – 31st November, 2009), both held at the University of Vigo.
Teaching
(2015-2016, Spring semester) Morphosyntax. Degree in Foreign Languages, 2nd year students; together with Dr. Elena Seoane Pose.
(01/09/2014 – 31/10/2014, Winter semester) Guest lecturer in the two English subjects based on teaching and didactics of the degrees of Primary School and Nursery School at the University of Vigo: Lingua inglesa e a súa didáctica and Apredizaxe de lingua estranxeira: Inglés.
