I am a sociolinguist interested in sociophonetics, language variation and change, and sociolinguistic cognition. My research explores the indexical relationships between sounds and social meanings in local contexts. I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in Linguistics at Brown University.
In 2023, I received my Ph.D. in Linguistics from Northwestern University. My dissertation focused on the ongoing apparent-time reversal of the Northern Cities Shift. In it, I found that Chicago-area high schools structure adolescents’ understandings of their social positions and, consequently, their use of local linguistic features for socially meaningful purposes.
Contact: jaime_benheim [AT] brown.edu
I pronounce my name [dʒeɪmi bɛnhaɪm]. The stress is trochaic.
Jaime Melissa Benheim 