Phonetics-Phonology

The research interests of the phonetics and phonology faculty converge in relating phonological (cognitive) representations to their physical instantiation, and in the experimental investigation of spoken language.

San Duanmu specializes in phonology, with a focus on using quantitative or corpus data to evaluate phonological entities, such as segments, features, and syllables, both within and across languages. Patrice Beddor and Jelena Krivokapić specialize in phonetic theory. Beddor's current research investigates the production and perception of coarticulation and their consequences for sound change. Krivokapić studies speech prosody; she investigates the relation between prosodic representation and articulation, acoustics, and perception. Andries Coetzee's work straddles the boundary between phonological and phonetic theory, with a particular focus on the relation between perception and production. All four faculty also have special interests in variation, which are shared by intonation specialist Robin Queen.

The Department's historical linguists provide further phonological expertise to our curriculum. Colleagues from other departments with interests in speech and phonological processing include Julie Boland and Ioulia Kovelman (Psychology), Greg Wakefield (Computer Science & Engineering), and faculty at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute.