Research interests

I am interested in understanding the nature of our linguistic knowledge and the way it is acquired. Specifically, the questions I am asking include:

• How are complex linguistic patterns learned and represented in the mind?
• What are the mechanisms behind generalization?
• How do representations of multiple learned languages interact?

I explore these questions in the domain of phonological acquisition by investigating how adults process and learn novel speech sounds as a function of languages learned, either naturally or in the laboratory. In particular, I focus on how learners generalize from the properties of known languages when learning a new language. This approach allows us not only to gain a better understanding of the learning process itself, but also to probe how people encode the knowledge of languages they already speak. Furthermore, uncovering what drives generalization can help us find optimal learning conditions under which learners will maximize the benefits of their previous language knowledge while minimizing interference.

Hierarchical model of learning multiple languages

I have proposed a model of second (L2) and additional (Ln) language acquisition as a process of inductive inference where known languages serve as a resource that learners use to make implicit inferences about the properties of new languages. The model constitutes a novel way of approaching L2 and Ln acquisition and allows us to ask questions about generalization that have not been previously addressed. Other existing theories have instead focused on cases of native language (L1) interference, with facilitation (or positive transfer) predicted only when some linguistic properties happen to coincide in L1 and L2.

The main prediction of the model is that, if learners indeed use their previous language knowledge as a basis for inferences about the language they are currently learning, then we should be able to find evidence of L1-to-L2 facilitation that goes beyond immediate similarities between the two languages and that cannot be explained by direct positive transfer. That is, there should be signs of generalization from the properties of known languages reaching beyond the actual data available to a learner. In my dissertation work I tested this general prediction in the areas of speech perception and speech category learning. The results show that learners are able to take advantage of their current linguistic knowledge by generalizing fine phonetic detail across different segments and across languages.

Theoretical phonology

My contribution to the field of theoretical phonology includes my work with Eric Baković on phonological variation patterns and the possible ways to account for them in phonological theory. We have been looking more closely at a case of morpho-phonological variation in Polish:

• The proclitic /z/ is involved in an intricate pattern of variation: in some contexts it undergoes optional place assimilation to the following coronal strident, and in other contexts it undergoes optional vowel epenthesis. We argued that the optionality of the latter process is in fact conditioned by the optionality of the former. (See our 2010 NLLT paper.)

In another project I proposed a set of contextual OT constraints on geminate consonants, and showed how they account for the distribution and conspiratory behavior of geminates in Polish. (See my 2009 paper in the Proceedings of BLS.)