Meredith Tamminga

Meredith Tamminga is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Language Variation and Cognition Lab. Her work bridges sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and theoretical linguistics, focusing on how linguistic variability is represented in mental grammar and how social context influences speech perception and production. She co-leads the Philadelphia Signs Project, exploring sign language sociolinguistics with collaborators at Penn and Gallaudet University.

• PhD in Linguistics (2014), University of Pennsylvania
• BA in Linguistics (2009), McGill University

Her research integrates experimental methods with naturalistic speech analysis to study individual and group-level language change. Keywords include phonetics-phonology mapping, intraspeaker variation, and quantitative modeling. Notable grants include NSF awards and SAS Dean’s Mentorship Award.

Key affiliations include MindCORE, Penn’s hub for integrative mind sciences, and collaborative ties to the Phonetics Lab, Child Language Lab, and Cultural Evolution of Language Lab. Her lab emphasizes cross-departmental research and welcomes undergraduate RAs and PhD students.