The program for the workshop Testing Models of Phonetics and Phonology (July 13, at the LSA Institute in Boulder) can be found here. There are 3 oral sessions plus a poster session.
There’s no fee to register; for planning purposes, we ask that you register before July 1 by emailing lsa2011-workshop@ling.northwestern.edu.
Workshop announcement and call for posters
Testing Models of Phonetics and Phonology
Workshop at the Linguistic Institute 2011: Language in the World
University of Colorado at Boulder
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
Co-sponsored by
Northwestern Department of Linguistics
Stanford Department of Linguistics
National Science Foundation
Workshop website
http://groups.linguistics.northwestern.edu/lsa2011-workshop/
This single day workshop aims to build connections between computational, experimental, and grammar-based research on phonetics and phonology. Studies using each of these general methodologies often have similar goals and produce mutually informing results, but they are usually presented in distinct journals and conferences, creating a barrier to their integration. The workshop brings together researchers in the areas of speech production, speech perception, and modeling of language acquisition.
Spoken sessions
The balance between the gradient and the discrete in language production
Gary Dell (U Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Implicit learning of artificial phonotactic patterns in the production system:
Connections to the perceptual system and to real phonotactic knowledge
Matt Goldrick (Northwestern)
Gradient symbol processing in speech production
Listener adaptation to variation
Jennifer Cole (U Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Modeling listener variability in prosody perception using transcription and
imitation as indirect measures of linguistic processing
Meghan Sumner (Stanford)
Variation-driven speech perception
Acquisition biases and typological patterns
Andrew Wedel (U Arizona)
Extending computational models into the laboratory:
Usage biases and the development of contrastive phoneme inventories
Joe Pater (U Massachusetts Amherst)
Formally biased phonology: Complexity in learning and typology
Call for poster submissions
In addition to the spoken session, a poster session will be held during the workshop. We invite submission of abstracts reporting computational, experimental, and grammar-based research on phonetics and phonology.
Abstracts should be a one-page .pdf file, formatted at minimum 12-point single-spaced with 1 inch margins. Tables, graphs and references can be on a separate page. Abstracts must be submitted electronically to lsa2011-workshop@ling.northwestern.edu. Deadline for submissions: May 1, 2011.
Accepted abstracts will be posted to the workshop website.
Note: Participants may also be interested in the workshop on “Information-based approaches to linguistics” to be held the following weekend (July 16-17). See https://verbs.colorado.edu/LSA2011/workshops/WS5.html for more details.
Organizers
Matt Goldrick
Joe Pater
Meghan Sumner
Contact
web: http://groups.linguistics.northwestern.edu/lsa2011-workshop/
email: lsa2011-workshop@ling.northwestern.edu
The Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University invites applications for a full-time non-renewable Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship funded through a grant to the University from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The fellowship is for a period of two academic years, beginning September 1, 2010. In accordance with the fellowship guidelines, all requirements for the Ph.D. must be completed prior to the start of the fellowship period. We are seeking recent Ph.D.s in any subfield of linguistics who have analyzed primary data (e.g., experimental data, field data, or natural language corpora) in order to address theoretical issues.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications. The position also provides funds for computer facilities and professional travel. Mellon postdoctoral fellows are expected to participate fully in Northwestern’s interdisciplinary research environment, teach a one-quarter lecture course and a one-quarter seminar per year, and present one colloquium per year.
For fullest consideration, candidates should ensure that their application arrives in the Department before December 1, 2009. APPLICATIONS BY E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. The application should include the candidate’s CV (indicating an e-mail address), statements of research and teaching interests, teaching evaluations (if available), and reprints or other written work. (Finalists will be asked to submit a copy of the dissertation, or completed portions thereof, at a later date; it is not necessary to do so at this time.) Candidates should arrange to have 3-4 letters of reference sent directly to the search committee by the application deadline; if possible, one of the letters should specifically address the applicant’s teaching qualifications.
Send all materials to:
Mellon Search Committee
Department of Linguistics
Northwestern University
2016 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-4090
(Tel: 847-491-7020, Fax: 847-491-3770)
E-mail inquiries should be directed to mellon@ling.northwestern.edu. The web page for the Department is: http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/linguistics.
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and applications from minority and women candidates are especially welcome. The fellowship is open to non-US citizens, as long as the necessary permit to work in the US is in hand prior to September 1, 2010.
From Sheila Blumstein:
The Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and the Department of Psychology announce that we will seek to fill four positions in language and linguistics over the next three years. Here we invite applications for an open-rank position in Phonetics/Phonology beginning July 1, 2010. Research focus is open, but we especially value programs of research that cross traditional boundaries of topics and methodology, including theoretical approaches. Interests in cross-linguistic and/or developmental research are highly desirable. The individual filling this position must be able to teach an introductory phonology course as well as a course in experimental phonetics. Additional positions that we will be hiring include a current search in (a) syntactic/semantic/pragmatic language processing, and two others tentatively in the areas of (b) lexical representation and processing, morphology, and/or word formation; and (c) computational modeling, cognitive neuroscience, and/or biology of language. Successful candidates are expected to have (1) a track record of excellence in research, (2) a well-specified research plan, and (3) a readiness to contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching and mentoring. Brown has a highly interdisciplinary research environment in the study of mind, brain, behavior, and language and is establishing an integrated Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, effective July 2010. Plans to house the department in a newly renovated state-of-the-art building in the heart of campus are well under way. Curriculum vitae, reprints and preprints of publications, statements of research and teaching interests (one page each), and three letters of reference (for junior applicants) or names of five referees (for senior applicants) should be submitted on-line as PDFs to PhoneticsPhonologySearch@brown.edu, or else by mail to Phonetics/Phonology Search Committee, Department of Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, Box 1978, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 USA. Applications received by January 5, 2010 are assured of full review. All Ph.D. requirements must be completed before July 1, 2010. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Brown University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
(apologies for cross-postings)
Pending final approval, the Department of Linguistics invites applications from scholars with expertise and research interests in any aspect of Middle Eastern languages and linguistics. We are seeking a Ph.D. in any subfield of linguistics or a related discipline who has analyzed primary data (e.g.,
experimental data, field data, or natural language corpora) in order to address theoretical issues with a focus on the languages of the Middle East, including but not limited to Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Persian. This is a tenure-eligible position at the rank of Assistant Professor, to begin in fall 2009. The Linguistics Department is participating in a multi-departmental search; thus there is the opportunity for a joint hire with another department.
Applicants should submit a curriculum vita, a letter describing research and teaching interests, two writing samples, and three letters of reference. Review of applications will begin on October 15th, 2008.
E-mail inquiries should be directed to linguistics@northwestern.edu.
The web page for the Department is: http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/linguistics.
Please send all materials to:
Middle East Faculty Search Committee
Department of Linguistics
Northwestern University
2016 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-4090
(Tel: 847-491-7020, Fax: 847-491-3770)
Letters of reference can be sent electronically (to the email above), or by mail (to the mailing address above) by October 15, 2008.
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and applications from minority and women candidates are especially welcome.
I’ve been reading a lot about the ‘psychological reality’ of phonotactic constraints lately. Something that’s puzzling me is the diversity of on-line repair strategies for constraint violations. In particular, for phontactically illegal clusters, sometimes epenthesis is observed (e.g., Japanese listeners perceive ebzo as ebuzo; Dupoux and colleagues), and other times consonants are altered (e.g., /dl/->/gl/ for French speakers; Halle and colleagues).
My question is why such diversity is observed–that is, what triggers the different repair strategies. N.B. I’m not expecting a single strategy to be used; I will place my hand on the good book (P&S 1993) and swear an oath to “homogeneity of target, heterogeneity of process.”
In a recent paper, Kabak + Idsardi argued that perceptual epenthesis is driven by syllable structure constraints, not by consonantal contact. So, for a cluster C1C2, it is the ill-formedness of C1 in coda that drives epenthesis, not the contact of C1.C2. In fact, they argue (based on confusion data) that no epenthesis occurs when there’s simply a syllable contact violation (*C1.C2).
This accounts for their data as well as the Dupoux et al. results; however in many other cases a “contact” violation does trigger ‘epenthesis.’ In production, Lisa Davidson’s shown that onset clusters violating English phonotactic constraints are repaired not by changing the consonants but by altering the temporal relationship of the gestures (not true epenthesis, which is why I used the scare quotes above). Perhaps more directly comparable to K+I, Berent et al. have shown perceptual epenthesis (i.e., confusions between lbif and lebif).
And of course epenthesis is not the only way to fix clusters. Lots of other studies have shown perceptual confusions between featurally similar clusters (e.g., */dl/-/gl/)–e.g., Moreton in English.
Any thoughts on this? What’s driving the heterogeneity of processes?
Since not many linguists tend to frequent it, I thought I’d share some interesting stuff from the latest Cognitive Science Society conference.
Although the society is not well-known for its friendliness to linguists (esp. with its high registration fees), at this year’s meeting Paul Smolensky was awarded the field’s highest distinction (the Rumelhart Prize). There were also several posters on phonology (two from Hopkins):
In sum, the conference’s connections to linguistics, and phonology in particular, are still rather weak. It’s my hope that Smolensky’s prize award will help improve this situation.