I am a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University. I also coordinate Lancaster University Phonetics Lab, which is a research group with broad interests in speech (speech production, sociophonetics, forensic speech science, speech technology) and a laboratory space with excellent facilities for acoustic and articulatory data collection.
I am interested in the interdisciplinary study of speech, sound and language. My research focuses on how people produce the sounds of speech, how this varies between languages and dialects, and what this means for our understanding of human culture and identity. I do fieldwork and laboratory research to address descriptive and theoretical questions in these areas, using methods such as acoustic analysis, vocal tract imaging, statistical modelling, and ethnographic fieldwork. Much of my research is cross-linguistic and cross-dialectal, focusing on languages such Twi, Sylheti, Punjabi, Scottish Gaelic, and varieties of English across the UK and beyond. My interests cluster into the following areas:
Acoustic-articulatory dynamics of speech productionMy current research investigates the dynamic aspects of speech production using acoustic analysis, ultrasound tongue imaging and electromagnetic articulography. I am particularly interested in the relationship between dynamic vocal tract kinematics and phonological contrast and how this varies between different linguistic systems. This includes work on the articulatory basis of vowel targets, dynamic acoustic-articulatory relations, and the articulatory exponents of phonological contrast. I also have a soft spot for lateral consonants.
- Targets and dynamics in speech (with Patrycja Strycharczuk, Manchester; AHRC-funded 2019-22)
- Dialect variation in acoustic-articulatory dynamics (with Emily Gorman, Lancaster)
- Articulatory dynamics of palatalisation contrasts in Scottish Gaelic (with Claire Nance, Lancaster)
- Acoustics, articulation and perception of mergers in Australian English (with Chloé Diskin; Rosey Billington; Debbie Loakes, Melbourne; Hywel Stoakes, Auckland; Simon Gonzalez, ANU)
I am also interested in the development of new accents out of bilingualism and language contact. My PhD investigated phonetic variation and social practice in a multiethnic school in northern England. Since then, I have worked with South Asian communities in the UK and studied language contact in West Africa. My research in this area increasingly focuses on child bilingualism in large immigrant communities.
- Acquisition of liquids by Sylheti-English bilingual children (with Kathleen McCarthy, QMUL)
- Intergenerational phonoological transmission in a Punjabi-English bilingual community in Blackburn, Lancashire (with Maya Zara, Lancaster)
- Articulation of [ATR] contrasts in West Africa (with Claire Nance, Lancaster)
In addition to the above, I work on various aspects of sociophonetics and dialect variation, including segmental and intonational variation in northern Englishes, the social meanings of variation, and new methods for analysing dialect variation.
- Phonetic and phonologial variation in North West England (with Claire Nance, Lancaster)
- Crowdsourcing regional phonetic variation across England (with Adrian Leemann, Bern; George Brown, Lancaster; David Britain, Bern; Tam Blaxter, Cambridge; Eleanor Walker, Lancaster)
- How many diphthongs are there in English? A cross-dialectal perspective (w/ Patrycja Strycharczuk & Emily Gorman)
Conference talk at BAAP 2020, University of York, April 2020 - Dialect variation in dynamic acoustic-articulatory relations (w/ Emily Gorman)
Conference talk at BAAP 2020, University of York, April 2020 - Acoustic-articulatory dynamics of palatalisation in Scottish Gaelic sonorants (w/ Claire Nance)
Conference talk at BAAP 2020, University of York, April 2020 - Rising intonation in north-west England: variation in Liverpool and Manchester English (w/ Claire Nance, Kate Lightfoot & Luke Carroll)
Conference talk at 9th Northern Englishes Workshop, University of Salford, April 2020 - Title TBC
Speech Science Forum talk at University College London, March 2020 [invited] - Articulatory variation and change in a minority endangered language: An ultrasound study of Scottish Gaelic sonorants (w/ Claire Nance)
Conference talk at UKLVC12, Queen Mary/UCL, September 2019 - Dialect variation in dynamic acoustic-articulatory relations (w/ Emily Gorman)
Conference poster at UKLVC12, Queen Mary/UCL, September 2019 - Linguistic structure and phonetic detail in the development of new varieties: Children's acquisition of laterals in a London-Bangladeshi community (w/ Kathleen McCarthy)
Conference poster at UKLVC12, Queen Mary/UCL, September 2019 - The /el/-/æl/ merger in Australian English: Acoustic and articulatory insights (w/ Chloé Diskin et al.)
Conference talk at IX International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, University of Melbourne, August 2019 - Sociophonetic variation and articulatory dynamics in speech production
Invited talk at Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, LMU Munich, July 2019 [invited] - An ultrasound study of Scottish Gaelic sonorant consonants (w/ Claire Nance)
Conference talk at XVIth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Bangor University, July 2019 - Crowdsourcing regional variation of FOOT/STRUT and TRAP/BATH across England (w/ Adrian Leemann et al.)
Conference talk at International Conference on Language Variation in Europe, Fryske Academy, June 2019 - Indexicality and the vocal tract
Invited talk at HaCKS Indexicality workshop, University of Sheffield, May 2019 [invited] - Sociophonetic variation and articulatory dynamics in speech production
Speech Science Forum talk at University College London, December 2018 [invited] - Sound systems in contact: Heritage bilingualism and the development of contact varieties
Symposium talk at Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, November 2018 [invited] - Ultrasound tongue imaging in linguistic description, theory and application
Talk at Linguistics in the Pub, University of Melbourne, September 2018 [invited] - Workshop on ultrasound tongue imaging in second language and second dialect acquisition
Incubator workshop as part of Dyason Fellowship, University of Melbourne, September 2018 [invited] - Tutorial on electropalatography and electroglottography in speech research
Methods in Phonetic and Phonological Research workshop, Aarhus University, August 2018 [invited]