Current Research Projects

Cross-linguistic patterns of metrical structure, rhythm, and tone

Metrical structure serves an important organizational role in grammar and also appears to guide speech production and perception processes in important ways. However, languages vary extensively as to how (or even whether) metrical structure is realized phonetically, meaning that speakers and listeners rely on very different cues to this structure when they speak and perceive speech. This work explores similarities and differences in metrical structure (as well as its interaction with lexical and grammatical tone) across languages and how these differences influence speech production and perception strategies.

Timing in conversation: speech and co-speech gesture

How do speakers know how to time their speech when they speak and interact? We know that there are a variety of cues that people rely on in conversational interactions, including both speech-based and non-speech cues, such as co-speech gesture. This line of work explores variation in the timing of these cues across languages and cultures, and how these differences in timing affect predictive processes used in speech perception. Among the typologically-diverse array of languages to be examined include English (US and Cameroonian varieties), French, Medʉmba, and Babanki (two Grassfields Bantu languages).

Speech prosody and timing in autism spectrum disorder

Speech prosody has been identified as a key diagnostic feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and has the potential to serve as a crucial biomarker for the disorder. However, the sources of disordered prosody in ASD remain poorly understood, and most existing research is limited to English. This line of work utilizes acoustic and timing-based phonetic measures, as well as speech perception tasks, to highlight cross-linguistic patterns in disordered prosody in ASD, as well as among individuals who display traits consistent with ASD who are not, themselves, on the autism spectrum.

The language-music interface

Language and music share key similarities, such as the use of pitch, timing, and phrasing in their structure. This has led some researchers to posit that similar elements underlie the ‘grammars’ of both language and music. This line of work explores similarities in linguistic and musical structures across languages and cultures, with the ultimate goals of 1) establishing parallels in typological diversity across the two domains; and 2) understanding similarities and differences in cognitive processing across domains. A growing body of work also suggests that musical experience can boost language abilities, both in typical and disordered populations. We are interested in how different aspects of music cognition relate to enhanced language processing.