{"id":112017,"date":"2026-11-09T19:44:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=112017"},"modified":"2026-11-09T19:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:44:51","slug":"language-matters-texas-transplant-brings-u-s-perspective-to-turkey-in-global-presentations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/11\/language-matters-texas-transplant-brings-u-s-perspective-to-turkey-in-global-presentations\/","title":{"rendered":"Language matters: Texas transplant brings U.S. perspective to Turkey in global presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 9, 2026 \u2013 The University of Rhode Island\u2019s Steve Przymus<\/a>, an associate professor in the Feinstein College of Education<\/a>, recently returned from Turkey after delivering lectures on topics that provide food for thought for conversation anywhere, including language found on bumper stickers in the U.S. and how best to describe \u2018wild\u2019 relations or family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Przymus is new to the college, with his focus being educational linguistics. He\u2019s also a member of URI\u2019s Translanguaging Lab, where he is studying \u2014 and mapping \u2014 the rich linguistic and cultural diversity<\/a> found in the Ocean State. He was invited to Turkey to deliver keynote addresses focused on sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and language teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Steve
Language matters: the URI faculty member delivered three presentations in Turkey this fall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Over a week this fall, Przymus gave three addresses at three different conferences that took him from the southeast city of Diyarbakir to Turkey\u2019s capital city of Ankara, where he gave a presentation at the International Symposium on New Trends in Language Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sociolinguistics was the connecting thread of all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Przymus\u2019 first address looked at \u201cMultilingual Metaphors of America\u2019s Crazy Family Member,\u201d examining how Texas captures the curiosity of the world at Dicle University in Diyarbakir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no denying that Texas is big,\u201d said Przymus, who lived in the state for 9 years, while teaching at Texas Christian University. \u201cTexas has captured, in a big way, the curiosity of the world and how the state\u2019s name has come to be used as a metaphor in many other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is represented in many different languages for something wild, big, strongly independent, Old West, and cowboy culture, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTexas as a term helps others understand or describe abstract terms centered on its independent spirit and to better understand the U.S. in general,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Norway, the phrase, “Der var helt Texas!” means \u201cThat was very completely Texas!\u201d In Turkey, “Buras\u0131 Teksas de\u011fil” means \u201cThis isn\u2019t Texas.\u201d For example, if a teacher walks into a classroom where the students are behaving energetically, the teacher might say \u201cSettle down, “buras\u0131 Teksas de\u011fil!\u201d In Iran, there is a similar Persian expression that goes \u201cInja Texas nist\u201d and means \u201cIt\u2019s not Texas here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Przymus discussed how the word \u201cTexas\u201d is used around the world to refer to distinct places within countries or even regions that are \u201clike Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is known as \u201cTexas North\u201d or \u201cThe Texas of Canada\u201d because it has a lot of oil and has a cowboy culture. Kazakhstan is known as the \u201cTexas of Central Asia\u201d due to its arid landscape, Wild West mentality, cattle ranching, and border culture. Other \u201cTexases\u201d include Bavaria, Mongolia, and Nigeria in, respectively, Germany, Asia, and Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his second address, Przymus headed to Ankara to present \u201cWhat Do We Mean by Bilingual?\u201d at the 4th International Symposium on Sociolinguistics Research at Hecettepe University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research on bilingualism has historically been dominated by studies on codeswitching, or alternating\/switching between multiple languages. However, the past few decades have focused on the importance of the personal experiences of bilingual individuals, calling for practices such as translanguaging<\/a>. Przymus suggested a new metaphor, proposing \u201cmycelium networks\u201d to better describe bilingualism, instead of prior terminology describing it as a \u201cbridge\u201d or \u201cflowing current.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Car talk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Przymus\u2019 last address at Turkey\u2019s Social Sciences University, he delivered a lecture on message-driven media on automobiles in the U.S. and connecting \u201cL2 Teaching and Learning via Interacting with America\u2019s Bumper Stickers\u201d at the 4th International Symposium on New Trends in Language Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cognitive and linguistic phenomena are created when individuals place bumper stickers on the back of their cars, said Przymus. Language is used to shape identities and realities, he said, noting that when individuals add a sticker to a car, or laptop or water bottle, they are making choices that establish their identities, position themselves in relation to others, and express messages about who they are, what groups they belong to, and how they feel about others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He provided a quick exercise of how the word \u201cAmerica\u201d demonstrates multiple concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though most people who live in the United States will never actually meet or interact with 99.99% of all of the people who live in the 50 states of the U.S.A.,\u201d Przymus said, \u201cencompassing language use makes them feel that somehow they are the same, share similar ideologies with the rest, share some kind of national pride by default of living within the borders of the U.S.A., and henceforth believe that they belong to the community of \u2018America.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 9, 2026 \u2013 The University of Rhode Island\u2019s Steve Przymus, an associate professor in the Feinstein College of Education, recently returned from Turkey after delivering lectures on topics that provide food for thought for conversation anywhere, including language found on bumper stickers in the U.S. and how best to describe \u2018wild\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":112018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30,1909,1905],"class_list":["post-112017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-education","tag-international","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112021,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112017\/revisions\/112021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}