John Duff

John (Jack) Duff is a postdoctoral researcher at Saarland University’s Department of Language Science and Technology, working with Prof. Vera Demberg’s group on the ERC-funded project Individualized Interaction in Discourse since January 1, 2024. He will join UCLA’s Department of Linguistics as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2025. His research spans psycholinguistics, computational modeling, and cross-linguistic studies, particularly focusing on Santiago Laxopa Zapotec.

Research Interests

• Psycholinguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Discourse Analysis
• Pragmatics
• Cognitive Science
• Language Processing

His recent publications highlight work on pragmatic reasoning, computational models of cognition, Zapotec language structures, and experimental analyses of comprehension dynamics. He earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics from UC Santa Cruz in 2023, advised by Pranav Anand and Amanda Rysling.