Welcome, Brian!

The Department is proud to introduce its newest faculty member, Instructor Brian Salvador C. Baran. Read more about his background, research interests, and future goals in his Faculty Spotlight!

1. What got you into linguistics?

There’s a bunch of confounding reasons such as my interest in different foreign and Philippine languages and orthographies or my previous conlanging hobby, but the clearest point was when I was first introduced to phonetics by an English elective back in grade 7 and then it slowly snowballed from there with my being introduced to Youtubers who do features of a language’s grammar to more specific topics like aspect. During my late Junior High School days, I realized I was really interested in linguistics— or at least studying language—that I ended up deciding to enter the Humanities and Social Sciences Strand in Senior High School and then pick BA Linguistics as my first choice for my undergrad.

2. Can you tell us more about your background?

I grew up in Lapu-lapu City in Cebu and studied in a public science school (Science and Technology Education Center) from pre-school all the way to senior high school. I graduated with a degree in BA Linguistics from UP Diliman and during my undergraduate degree I focused my research on the Bisayan languages (Bantayanon and Cebuano in particular) because of my lineage and geographic background and I also majored in the Japanese language because of my weeb hobbies and for the lucrative economic opportunities. [Baran has published two studies in the UP Working Papers in Linguistics: “Pagkailab-ilab sa Binisdak: A Preliminary Analysis of the Phonological Processes in the Lexification of the Cebuano/Binisayâ Gay Lingo” and “Amini ang Linawis: A Grammatical Sketch of the Bantayanon Variety of Madridejos.”]

3. What are some of the highlights of your experience as an undergraduate student and RA?

I really enjoyed my time as an undergraduate student so there’s no shortage of highlights, but I particularly enjoyed doing my short fieldwork on Bantayan island and participating in the Philippine Linguistics Congress as both presenter and volunteer.

My two times being an RA were short, but I really found it fulfilling to assist and learn from the experts in the field and I’m thankful to Ma’am Divine and Weng (Dr. Rowena Garcia) for giving me the opportunity. It made me realize that there are so much more skills that I have to learn.

4. What is something that you look forward to in working as an instructor?

I look forward to helping students see their place in linguistics and to enjoy learning languages even more than I do. I also look forward to meeting the students and learning from their diverse linguistic experiences.

5. What are your ongoing projects or future research plans for your graduate studies?

I’m planning on expanding my undergraduate work on the grammatical description of the Linawis/Madridejos variety of Bantayanon. Specifically, I am planning on creating a dialectological description and mapping of Linawis across different barangays of Madridejos (Cebu Province) and if there is sufficient time and resources, I would also love to expand my research further to include the barangays in the neighboring municipalities and islands. Besides my main project, I’m looking into collaborating with other linguistic communities, especially in the Visayas.

6. Finally, what is something that you enjoy during your leisure time (e.g., hobbies, things that you are learning)?

During my free time, I watch seasonal anime, watch/listen to Youtube, do some anki for Japanese, or try to learn other foreign and/or Philippine languages. Besides that, I like spending my off time with the people I love.