www.PeterTheLinguist.com | www.DavisDiscourse.com
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Research
I am an applied sociolinguist and discourse analyst whose research centers on investigating written and spoken medical discourses, from public health policies to doctor-patient interactions. I draw on phonetic and corpus linguistic methodologies to complement and supplement the qualitative findings of discourse analysis with quantitative data, the synergy of which allows for a more in-depth understanding of discourse and its patterns. My dissertation, “The Nation’s Fix: The language of the opioid crisis,” seeks to address how the current opioid crisis is linguistically realized in the two most prominent settings in which the topic is discussed: in policies and medical interactions. I seek to uncover the language policymakers use in framing policies and how patients and physicians interpret, negotiate, and enact these policies in local medical interactions.
Faculty
Co-advisors: Vaidehi Ramanathan and Robert Bayley.
Dissertation Committee: Georgia Zellou
Qualifying Committee: Dr. Stephen Henry, M.D., M.Sc. (UC Davis Medical Center) and Jack Hawkins
Research Interests
Applied sociolinguistics, language policy, corpus linguistics, sociophonetics, discourse analysis, and interactional sociolinguistics.
Corpus-based and prosodic discourse analytic approaches
Linguistic anthropology, language variation, language socialization, language change, language and race, language and gender, language and social media, conversation analysis, Filipino
Teaching
Linguistics 1 | Intro to Linguistics
Linguistics 3/105 | Language and Body
Linguistics 5 | Global Englishes and Communication
Linguistics 160 | American Voices
Linguistics 165 | Applied Linguistics
Linguistics 182 | Multilingualism
Linguistics 1 | Intro to Linguistics
Education 198 | Seminar: Transfer Student Experience: Successful Transitions
Select Publication
Service
Fellowship and Grants
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Jan |
2022 |
External: Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Elizabeth Dayton Award in Sociolinguistics 🔗, 🔗 |
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Sep |
2021 |
Internal: UC Davis Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow–Professional Dev’t Facilitator ‘21-‘22🔗 |
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Aug |
2021 |
Internal: UC Davis Dissertation Year Fellowship 21-22 |
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Dec |
2020 |
External: LSA Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics (CEDL) Award 🔗 |
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Dec |
2020 |
External: Verilogue Racial Equity in Healthcare—Research for the Public Good Grant |
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Sep |
2020 |
Internal: UC Davis Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow–Digital Initiatives Lead ‘20-‘21🔗 |
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Aug |
2020 |
Internal: UC Davis College of Letters and Sciences Dean’s Summer Graduate Fellowship |
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Apr |
2020 |
Internal: UC Davis Professors for the Future Fellow ‘20-‘21 🔗 |
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Feb |
2020 |
Internal: UC Davis Graduate Student Association—Travel Award |
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Dec |
2019 |
Internal: UC Davis Graduate Studies—Graduate Student Travel Award |
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Sep |
2019 |
Internal: UC Davis Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow–Peer Facilitator ‘19-‘20 🔗 |
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July |
2018 |
Departmental: UC Davis Linguistics Steven Lapointe Award |
Select Academic and Service Awards
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May |
2020 |
Nominee, UC Davis Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award 2019-2020 |
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Feb |
2020 |
Top 10 Finalist, 2020 UC Davis Gradslam (Final round canceled due to COVID) 🔗 |
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July |
2019 |
Runner-up, LSA Linguistic Society of America Institute Three-Minute Thesis 🔗 |
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May |
2018 |
Runner-up, UC Davis Symposium on Language Research-Most Innovative Research 🔗 |
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Jun |
2015 |
Magna Cum Laude, UCLA Linguistics and Anthropology |
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Jun |
2015 |
UCLA Senior of the Year Award 🔗 |
News/Updates
Patients use a lower pitch and "creaky voice" when talking with doctors about pain and #opioids, @ucdavis linguistics study finds. “Being more attentive to shifts in the patient’s speech can help physicians navigate the conversation better.” — @petertorres https://t.co/WhG5pSr8rh
— UC Davis Letters and Science (@UCDLandS) November 17, 2021
New interdisciplinary research from #UCDavis analyzes doctor-patient conversations about #opioid use and #addiction. @UCD_CHPR @UCDLandS @UCDavisHealth @UCDavisMedCntr @petertorres https://t.co/tdDCS1g6vt
— UC Davis Research (@UCDavisResearch) November 16, 2021
2022 Annual Meeting Award Winners have been announced! Congratulations and thank you to these linguists for their service to the Society and the field. Meet the recipients here: https://t.co/m5sM9nFElj
— Linguistic Society of America (@LingSocAm) October 27, 2021
Join the Language editor @andries_coetzee, associate editors of the Public Policy section Cukor-Avila & Ramanathan, and others in a Webinar THIS FRIDAY to learn more about the role that linguistics plays in our collective understanding of public issues:https://t.co/sbdP0Fykxp
— Linguistic Society of America (@LingSocAm) June 2, 2021
Come listen to Peter Torres talk about drugs! Pro tip: Target about 150 Hz in your pitch frequency if you are aiming to obtain opiods from your doctor. #lingstitute2019 pic.twitter.com/zg30ZJcs6u
— 2019 LSA Summer Linguistic Institute (@LSA2019) July 14, 2019
Garifuna, an indigenous American language of the Arawak(an) family spoken in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, and more. Pam has been working with multiple consultants in her undergraduate field methods class at UCLA. Apparently, our own @petertorres was in the class.
— 2019 LSA Summer Linguistic Institute (@LSA2019) July 10, 2019
Graduate Student
Department of Linguistics
Associate Instructor and Teaching Assistant
Fellow | Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) Teaching Assistant Consulting (TAC)
Fellow | Professors for the Future
Co-chair | Cluster on Language Research 2019-2020
Chair | Linguistics Graduate Student Association 2016-2020
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