María Elena Placencia

María Elena Placencia is Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Spanish at Birkbeck, University of London.  Her current research is in the areas of digital pragmatics, with a focus on social media interaction, and variational pragmatics, with a focus on e-service encounters. Her latest project examines the language of exclusion on Twitter in the context of interethnic communication.

Past projects have looked at a range of topics including, among others, complimenting behaviour in social media, the discourse of bargaining in e-commerce, rapport management and small talk in service encounters, (im)politeness in familial contexts, addressing behaviour and discursive racism. María Elena has published extensively on these topics.

María Elena serves on the editorial/advisory board of various international journals, including  Journal of Pragmatics, Sociocultural Pragmatics, International Journal of Spanish Linguistics, Oralia, Análisis del Discurso Oral, Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, Discurso & Sociedad, Tonos Digital Revista Electrónica de Estudios Filológicos, Estudios Lingüísticos de la Universidad de Alicante (E.L.U.A), Revista de la Asociación Brasileña de Hispanistas, Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, Euroamerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, Revista Estudios Discurso Digital, Verbum et Lingua, Español Actual.

More information

Affiliation: Birkbeck, University of London

ORCID number: 0000-0002-5471-4661

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2ByUQ8gAAAAJ&hl=en

Academia profile: https://birkbeck.academia.edu/Mar%C3%ADaElenaPlacencia

Researchgate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Elena-Placencia-2

 

Contact: m.placencia@bbk.ac.uk

 

Research interests

  • Digital pragmatics
  • Variational pragmatics and regional pragmatic variation
  • Rapport management in (e-)service encounters
  • Discursive racism

Selected publications since 2010

1) Edited volumes and special issues

 

2) Book chapters

  • Placencia, M. E. (2024). Racial slurs on Ecuadorian X/Twitter interactions: Old and new realizations, same underlying negative beliefs. In: Garcés Conejos-Blitvich, P.  and Bou-Franch, P.  (Eds.), Evaluating identities online. Case studies from the Spanish-speaking world. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 21-52.
  • Placencia, M. E., and Powell, H. (2024). Facebook. In: Placencia, M. E.  and Parini, A. (Eds.), Introducción al estudio del discurso digital (pp. 96-112). London: Routledge, pp. 96-112. ISBN9781003327097. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003327097
  • Placencia, M.E., and Powell, H. (2023) The role of location information sharing in e-service encounters on Mercado Libre. In: Parini, A. and Yus, F.  (Eds.), The discursive construction of place in a digital age. London: Routledge, pp. 210-232. ISBN 9781003335535. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003335535.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2021) Variación pragmática regional. In M. V. Escandell Vidal, J. Amenós Pons, & A. K. Ahern (eds.) Pragmática. Madrid: Akal, pp. 776-790.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Powell, H. (2021) Speech act research in Spanish. In: Koike, D.A. and Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (eds.) The Routledge handbook of Spanish pragmatics. Foundations and interfaces. New York: Routledge, pp. 37-53. ISBN 9781138316461.
  • Placencia, ME and Eslami, Z.R. (2020) Introduction. In: Placencia, ME and Eslami, Z.R. (eds.) Complimenting behavior and (self-)praise across social media: New contexts and new insights. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 1-18. ISBN 9789027207579.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Powell, H. (2020) “Tu masssss ❤ te amo”: responding to compliments on Instagram among Ecuadorian teenage girls. In: Placencia, M.E. and Eslami, Z.R. (eds.) Complimenting behavior and (self-)praise across social media: New contexts and new insights. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 99-120. ISBN 9789027207579.
  • Félix-Brasdefer, J.C., and Placencia, M.E.  (2020) Introduction. In: Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. and Placencia, M.E. (eds.) Pragmatic variation in service encounter interactions across the Spanish-speaking world. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 1-11. ISBN 9780367727109.
  • Placencia, M.E. and García, C. (2020) ‘No gracias amigo’: Refusals of bargaining offers in e-service encounters in Mercado Libre Ecuador and Mercado Libre Venezuela. In: Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. and Placencia, M.E. (eds.) Pragmatic variation in service encounter interactions across the Spanish-speaking world. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 55-76.  ISBN 9781138479593.
  • Powell, H. and Placencia, M.E. (2020) Interpersonal work in service encounters on Mercado Libre Argentina: a comparison between buyer and vendor patterns across two market domains. In: Félix-Brasdefer, C. and Placencia, M.E. (eds.) Pragmatic variation in service encounter interactions across the Spanish-Speaking world. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 209-229. ISBN 9781138479593.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2019) Los pedidos. In: Placencia, M.E. and Padilla, X.A. (eds.) Guía práctica de pragmática del español. London: Routledge, pp. 7-17. ISBN 9780815357728.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2019) Qué perfección: Complimenting behaviour among Ecuadorian teenage girls on Instagram. In: Ogiermann, E. and Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, P. (eds.) From speech acts to lay concepts of politeness. Multilingual and Multicultural Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 93-116. ISBN 9781107198050.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2019) Responding to bargaining moves in a digital era: Refusals of offers on Mercado Libre Ecuador. In: Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, P., Fernández Amaya, L., and Hernández López, M. (eds.) Technology mediated service encounters. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 173-198. ISBN 9789027202123.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Lower, A. (2017) Compliments and compliment responses in social media. In: Hoffmann, C. and Bublitz, W. (eds.) Pragmatics of social media. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 633-660. ISBN 9783110431070.
  • Schneider, K.P. and Placencia, M.E. (2017) (Im)politeness and regional variation. In: Culpeper, J., Haugh, M. and Kádár, D. Z. (eds.) Palgrave handbook of linguistic (im)politeness. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 539-570. ISBN 9781137375070.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2016) Las ofertas en el regateo en Mercadolibre-Ecuador. In: Bañón Hernández, A.M., Espejo Muriel, M.del Mar, Herrero Muñoz-Cobo, B., and López Cruces, J.L. (eds.) Oralidad y análisis del discurso. Homenaje a Luis Cortés Rodríguez. Almería: EDUAL (Editorial Universidad de Almería), pp. 521-544. ISBN 9788416642199.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2016) Variación pragmática. In: Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. (ed.) Enciclopedia de lingüística hispánica. London: Routledge, pp. 797-808. ISBN 9780415840866.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2015) Address forms and relational work in e-commerce: the case of service encounter interactions in Mercado Libre Ecuador. In: Hernández López, M. and Fernández Amaya, L. (eds.) A Multidisciplinary approach to service encounters. Leiden: Brill, pp. 37-64. ISBN 9789004260153.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2013) Language in interaction. In: Li, Wei (ed.) Applied linguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 91-111. ISBN 9781405193597.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Fuentes Rodríguez, C. (2013) Polémica y/o descortesía en programas televisivos de crónica social en Ecuador y España: El caso de Vamos Con todo y Sálvame Diario. In: Fuentes Rodríguez, C. (ed.) (Des)cortesía para el espectáculo: estudios de pragmática variacionista. Madrid: Arco/Libros, pp. 127-165. ISBN 9788476358566.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2012) Online peer-to-peer advice in Spanish Yahoo!Respuestas. In: Limberg, H. and Locher, M. (eds.) Advice in discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 281-306. ISBN 9789027256263.
  • Placencia, M.E. and García, C. (2012) Speech acts research. In: Chapelle, C.A. (ed.) The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Indianapolis: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405194730.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Mancera Rueda, A. (2011) Vaya, ¡qué chungo! Rapport-building talk in service encounters: The case of bars in Seville at breakfast time. In: Lorenzo-Dus, N. (ed.) Spanish at work: Analysing institutional discourse across the Spanish-speaking world. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 192-207. ISBN 9780230579101.
  • García, C. and Placencia, M.E. (2011) Estudios de variación pragmática (sub)regional en español: visión panorámica.  In: García, C. and Placencia, M.E. (eds.) Estudios de variación pragmática en español. Buenos Aires: Dunken, pp. 29-54. ISBN 9789870253716.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2011) “Estás full linda”. El impacto del nivel socioeconómico en la realización de cumplidos entre mujeres en Quito. In: Alcoba, S. and Poch, D. (eds.) Cortesía y publicidad. Barcelona: Planeta, pp. 115-136. ISBN 9788434413450.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2011) Regional pragmatic variation. In: Andersen, G. and Aijmer, K. (eds.) Pragmatics of society. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 79-114.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Mancera Rueda, A. (2011) “Dame un cortado de máquina, cuando puedas”: estrategias de cortesía en la realización de la transacción central en bares de Sevilla. In: Fuentes Rodríguez, C. and Alcaide Lara, E. and Brenes Peña, E. (eds.) Aproximaciones a la (des)cortesía verbal en español. Berne: Peter Lang, pp. 491-508. ISBN 9783034305228.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2010) (Des)cortesía, migración y comunicación intercultural. In: Orletti, F. and Mariottini, L. (eds.) (Des)cortesía en español. Espacios teóricos y metodológicos para su estudio. Rome: Universidad Roma Tre – EDICE. pp. 399-430. ISBN 9789197452151.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2010) El estuido de formas de tratamiento en Colombia y Ecuador. In: Hummel, M., Kluge, B. and Vázquez Lasop, M.E. (eds.) Formas y fórmulas de tratamiento en el mundo hispanohablante. Mexico: El Colegio de México. ISBN 9786074620641.

 

3) Papers in peer-reviewed journals

  • Powell, H., and Placencia, M.E. (forthcoming). Expressing anger on Mexican Twitter/X: The case of Uber customer complaints.
  • Placencia, M.E., and García, C. (forthcoming). Insultos racistas en X/Twitter hacia mujeres afrodescendientes en el gobierno y la política:  el caso de Diana Salazar (Ecuador) y Rosangella Barbarán (Perú).
  • Pragmática Sociocultural, 12, 21-50. doi:https://doi.org/10.17710/soprag.2024.11.1powell2
  • Lower, A, and Placencia, M.E. (2022). Variación en el tratamiento nominal en español: una comparación de su empleo entre jóvenes ecuatorianas y españolas en Facebook. Filología, 54 https://doi.org/10.34096/filologia.n54.12241
  • Placencia, M.E. (2022). “Ándate al páramo”: prácticas lingüísticas de exclusión y prejuicios en contra de los indígenas en la interacción interétnica en Twitter (Ecuador). Oralia, 25(2), 125-153.
  • Powell, H. and Placencia, M.E. (2024). Rapport management in service complaints to taxi-cab companies on Twitter: The case of Uber in Mexico and Spain.
  • Fuentes Rodrٕíguez, C., Placencia, M.E., and Palma-Fahey, M. (2019) Operadores comprobativos y variación pragmática regional. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana (RILI), XVII (33), 57-81.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Lower, A. and Powell, H. (2016) Complimenting behaviour on Facebook: responding to compliments in American English. Pragmatics and Society 7 (3), 339-365. ISSN 1878-9714.
  • Fuentes Rodríguez, C. and Placencia, M.E. and Palma-Fahey, M. (2016) Regional pragmatic variation in the use of the discourse marker pues in informal talk among university students in Quito (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile) and Seville (Spain). Journal of Pragmatics 97, pp. 74-92. ISSN 0378-2166.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Fuentes Rodríguez, C. and Palma-Fahey, M. (2015) Nominal address and rapport management in informal interactions among university students in Quito (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile) and Seville (Spain). Multilingua – Journal of Cross-cultural and Interlanguage Communication 34 (4), pp. 547-575. ISSN 1613-3684.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Lower, A. (2013) “Your kids are stinking cute”: complimenting behaviour on Facebook. Intercultural Pragmatics, 10, 617-646.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Fuentes Rodríguez, C. (2013) Cumplidos de mujeres universitarias en Quito y Sevilla: un estudio de variación pragmática regional. Sociocultural Pragmatics: International Journal of Spanish Linguistics 1 (1), ISSN 2194-8313.
  • Placencia, M.E. and Fuentes Rodríguez, C. (2012) In between spectacle and political correctness: vamos con todo – an ambivalent news/talk show. Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association ISSN 1018-2101.
  • Mancera Rueda, A. and Placencia, M.E. (2011) Los marcadores del discurso en la construcción de habla de contacto en un contexto de servicio en el español peninsular. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana (RILI) 9 (18), pp. 145-171. ISSN 1579-9425.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2010) Yahoo!Respuestas como columna de consejos: algunos rasgos de un género híbrido. Tonos Digital – Revista Electrónica de Estudios Filológicos (20), ISSN 1577-6921.

 

4) Plenary talks and invited lectures:

  • (2024) Insultos racistas en X/Twitter hacia mujeres afrodescendientes en el gobierno y la política:  el caso de Diana Salazar (Ecuador) y Rosangella Barbarán (Perú) (with C. García). Paper presented at V Congreso internacional RECoD: En torno al discurso digital en español. Birkbeck, University of London, 5-6 September 2024. https://recod.org/
  • (2024) ‘Gente me pueden dar RT’: Address in service complaint interactions on X between Uber users and customer service personnel. Paper presented at V Congreso internacional RECoD: En torno al discurso digital en español. Birkbeck, University of London, 5-6 September 2024. https://recod.org/
  • (2023) Racial slurs and negative beliefs about Ecuadorian indigenous people on Twitter. Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Hate Studies: The Challenges of Hate in the 21st Century.  Spokane, WA, 22-23 April 2023. https://repository.gonzaga.edu/icohs/2023/
  • (2023) Racial slurs in conflict talk on Ecuadorian Twitter interactions: Same negative beliefs -old and new realizations. Paper presented at the Contacts and Contrasts 2023 Conference: Languages in Cultural Perspectives: Practices, Discourses, Cognition (Panel on Offensive Languages in Digital Perspectives), Konin, 27-29 March 2023. https://cc.pwsz.konin.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CC-2023-Conference-Programme-Final-Version-7.pdf
  • Placencia, M.E. (2022). Discriminación y racismo en Twitter. Latin American House, London, 4 May 2022 (Invited lecture).
  • Placencia, M.E. (2021). “Ándate al páramo”: Prácticas lingüísticas de exclusión y discriminación en la interacción interétnica ecuatoriana en Twitter. American Pragmatics Association (AMPRA) International Symposium, Buenos Aires (12-13 Nov 2021) [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2021). ‘Cortesía y variación pragmática regional,’ University of Princeton, 8 Nov 2021. [Invited lecture]
  • Placencia, M. (2021). ‘Avances en la investigación de los actos de habla en el mundo hispánico’, XIX Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina, 8-13 August 2021. [Invited talk]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2019) Variación regional en un contexto digital, Universidad de Sevilla, 11 Nov 2019. (Invited lecture).
  • Placencia, M.E. (2018). Complimenting and responding to compliments on Facebook, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, 27 Oct 2018 (Invited lecture).
  • Placencia, M.E. (2018). El estudio de prácticas comunicativas desde la perspectiva de la pragmática en el español ecuatoriano. 1st Symposium on Ecuadorian Spanish, University of Guelph, Canada (2-3 June 2018) [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2018). Variación pragmática regional y cortesía. VIII Coloquio Internacional del Programa EDICE (Estudios del Discurso Cortés en Español), Universidad de Sevilla (23-26 Oct 2018). [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2018). La cortesía en Mercado Libre’. Jornadas en torno a la comunicación digital, Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 5-6 Oct 2018 (Invited talk).
  • Placencia, M.E. (2018). Doing sociability on Facebook in an American network of friends and family, Goldsmiths, University of London, Mar 2018 (Invited lecture).
  • Placencia, M.E. (2017). Variación regional en el estudio de los actos de habla y otras actividades comunicativas. III Jornada de Estudos em Pragmática da Universidad de São Paulo, São Paulo (31 May – 2 June 2017). [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2017). Complimenting behaviour in social media. Lecture at Department of English and Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London, 21 Mar 2017.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2016). Address forms and discursive racism in an interethnic context. Invited lecture given at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Indiana University, 7 Nov, 2016.
  • Placencia, M.E. (2015). Address forms and relational work in an online marketplace. International Colloquium: Evolución y variación de las formas de tratamiento en español, University of Munich (3 Jul 2015). [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2015) Examining phatic talk on Facebook, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London, 26 Nov 2015. [Invited lecture]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2014) Discriminatory address behaviour in interethnic interaction: A case study. Department of Communication, University of Iowa, March 2014. [Invited lecture]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2013). Rapport-building and rapport-threatening bevahiour in service encounters. 1st Service Encounter and Cross-Cultural Communication Symposium, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville (31 Jan – 1 Feb 2013). [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2013). Regional pragmatic variation. Lancaster Pragmatics Summer School: 30 Years of Pragmatics at Lancaster, University of Lancaster, Lancaster 13-14 July 2013. [Invited lecture]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2012). Doing sociability on Facebook. University of Greenwich, 21 Feb 2012. [Invited lecture]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2011). Variación pragmática regional en el mundo hispanohablante. Espacio y lengua. Nuevos enfoques, Institute of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Berne, Berne (1 Dec 2011). [Plenary]
  • Placencia, M.E. (2011). ‘Ve hijita’. Address forms and discriminatory practices in interethnic interactions in Quito. Arizona State University, 5 May 2011. [Invited lecture]

 

Conference papers

Placencia, M.E. (2021) Ethnically motivated slurs and other insults against Ecuadorian indigenous leaders on Twitter. Paper presented at the 17th International Pragmatics Conference, Winterthur, Switzerland, 27 June-2 July, 2021.

Powell, H. and Placencia, M.E. (2021) Customer complaints directed towards private taxi-cab companies on Twitter: a comparison of strategies used in Spain and Mexico. Paper presented at the 17th International Pragmatics Conference, Winterthur, Switzerland, 27 June-2 July, 2021.

Placencia, M.E. and Powell, H. (2020) Responding to compliments among teenage girls on Instagram. Paper presented at the 9th Symposium on Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics (EPICS), Seville, 4-6 November, 2020.

Placencia, M.E. (2019) “Hola amigo quiero la Hércules …” The use of address forms in e-service encounters from a variational pragmatics perspective. Paper presented at the 5th International Network of Address Research (INAR) Conference: Contrasting address, Sheffield, UK, 5-7 June, 2019.

Placencia, M.E. and Powell, H. (2018) Interpersonal work in service encounters on Mercado Libre Argentina: A comparison between buyer and vendor patterns across two market domains, 11th International Conference on Im/Politeness, Valencia, 4-6 July, 2018.

Placencia, M.E. (2017) ‘No gracias amigo’ Refusals of bargaining offers in service encounters in two subsidiaries of a virtual marketplace in Ecuador and Venezuela’. Paper presented at the 15th International Pragmatics Conference (IPRA), Belfast, 16-21 July, 2017.

Placencia, M.E. (2017) Refusals of bargaining offers in a virtual marketplace. Paper presented at the Third International Conference of the American Pragmatics Association (AMPRA), Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 4-6 November, 2017.

Placencia, M.E. (2016) La atenuación en el regateo en un mercado virtual. Paper presented at Primer Congreso Internacional de Atenuación Lingüística: Perspectivas semánticas y pragmáticas, Valencia, 15-18 June, 2016.

Placencia, M.E. (2015) Offers as bargaining moves on an Ecuadorian virtual marketplace. Paper presented at the first ADDA (Approaches to Digital Discourse Analysis) Conference, Universidad de Valencia, 19-20 November, 2015.

Lower, A. and Placencia, M.E. (2015) Addressing among young Ecuadorian and Spanish women on Facebook. Paper presented at the 3rd International Network on Address (INAR) Conference, Texas A&M University, Texas, 9-10 October, 2015.

Placencia, M.E. (2015) Peer evaluation among Ecuadorian teenage girls on Instagram. Paper presented at the 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, 26-31 July, 2015.

Placencia, M.E., Fuentes Rodríguez, C. y Palma-Fahey, M. (2015) Regional pragmatic variation in the use of the discourse marker pues in informal talk among university students in Quito (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile) and Seville (Spain). Paper presented at the 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, 26-31 July, 2015.

Powell, H. and Placencia, M.E. (2015) Rapport management in service encounters in MercadoLibre- Argentina, Paper presented at the 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, 26-31 July, 2015.

Placencia, M.E. (2014) Relational work in social networking sites: Responding to compliments on Facebook.  Paper presented at the 2nd American Pragmatics Association conference, UCLA, Los Angeles, 17-19 October, 2014.

Placencia, M.E. and Lower, A. (2013) Complimenting behaviour on Facebook among family and friends. Paper presented at the Linguistic Politeness Research Group Teaching and Learning (Im)Politeness Conference, SOAS, London, 8-10 July, 2013.

Placencia, M.E. (2013) (Pro)nominal address in commercial service encounter interactions in an Ecuadorian online market place.  Paper presented at Address(ing) (Pro)Nouns. Sociolinguistics and Grammar of Terms of Address International Conference, Freie Universiätt Berlin, Berlin, 30 May-1 June, 2013.

Placencia, M.E. and Lower, A. (2011) Doing sociability on Facebook.  Paper presented at the European Communication Research & Education Association Conference (Interpersonal Communication & Social Interaction Section), Belfast, 7-9 September, 2011.

Placencia, M.E. (2011) Vamos con todo: A pseudo-confrontational talk show. Paper presented at the 12th IPRA conference, Manchester, UK, 3-8 July, 2011.

Placencia, M.E. (2010) Yahoo! Respuestas ¿una columna de consejos?  Algunos rasgos de un género híbrido.  Paper presented at the III Spanish in Society International Conference, Limerick, Ireland, 13-15 July, 2010.

Mancera Rueda, A. and Placencia, M.E. (2010) Los marcadores interactivos en la construcción de relaciones familiares en contextos de servicio: el caso de los bares a la hora del desayuno en Sevilla. Paper presented at the 4th Symposium on Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics, Epics IV, Seville, March, 2010.