Estefania Tamayo Pineda

I am an applied linguist and doctoral researcher in Cognitive Linguistics with a particular interest in the conceptual structures that underlie grammar, language use, and communication. My research explores how meaning is constructed through language and how cognitive approaches can contribute to a deeper understanding of linguistic patterns, second language learning, and a wide range of social phenomena in which language plays a central role.

My research combines corpus linguistics, usage-based approaches to language as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis.

• Doctoral Research 

My doctoral project focuses on the acquisition of Spanish prepositional constructions by second language learners. Prepositions - linguistic particles that commonly precede a noun or pronoun and express a relation to another word or element in the sentence - are often challenging for second language learners due to their multiple meanings and uses. To tackle this challenge, I intend to apply concepts and principles from Cognitive Linguistics to develop methodologies to facilitate language acquisition. Cognitive Linguistics is a framework which proposes that language knowledge is embodied; that is, it is acquired thanks to our sensory experiences and interaction with the world. Research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) shows that cognitive-inspired language instruction can be beneficial in the acquisition of highly polysemous structures such as prepositions. 

My doctoral project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through its South, West and Wales Doctoral Partnership (SWWDTP). I am jointly supervised by Dr Susana Afonso (University of Exeter) and Dr Minna Kirjavainen-Morgan (University of the West of England -Bristol).

• Interdisciplinary Collaborations

Alongside my doctoral research, I am a member of the ClimateHopeAI project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Exeter and the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) exploring the role of Artificial Intelligence in identifying and supporting the analysis of narrative and linguistic patterns in climate communication. This project has been awarded an Initiator grant by the Exeter-UBCO Sustainability and Resilience Partnership.

I am also a recipient of the University of Exeter–UBCO Sustainability and Resilience Visiting Research Student Fellowship, supporting collaborative research at UBCO on AI, sustainability, and interdisciplinary approaches to climate communication.

• Background and research interests

I hold an MA in Applied Linguistics from University College London (UK) and a BA in Hispanic Philology from Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia).

My research interests include cognitive linguistics, semantics, corpus linguistics, second language acquisition, multilingualism and intercultural communication, large language models and cognition, as well as applied approaches to language.