Mark Liberman is a Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania , holding appointments in the Department of Linguistics and Department of Computer and Information Science . He serves as Director of the Linguistic Data Consortium and Faculty Director of Ware College House . His career spans linguistics, speech technology, and computational methods. Education: Harvard University (1965-1969), MIT (M.S. 1972, Ph.D. 1975) Professional Experience: AT&T Bell Laboratories (1975-1990), University of Pennsylvania (1990-present) His research interests include: Corpus-based Phonetics : Analyzing speech patterns via large-scale datasets. Clinical Applications : Developing speech biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. Tonal Phonology : Studying lexical tone and intonation in languages like Yoruba and Mandarin. Formal Annotation Models : Creating frameworks for linguistic data standardization. Recent publications highlight automated speech analysis, cross-linguistic prosody, and digital biomarkers for conditions like ALS-FTD and Alzheimer’s. His collaborations span computational linguistics , neurology , and cognitive science . Scientific awards include the IEEE James L. Flanagan Award (2017), Antonio Zampolli Prize (2010), and fellowships from the AAAS and Linguistic Society of America . He advises PhD students May Chan and Jonathan Him Nok Lee and contributes to editorial boards for journals like Cognition and Annual Review of Linguistics . His work bridges speech science , language technology , and neurocognitive research .
Mark Y. Liberman is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Computer and Information Science. His roles include Director of the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC), Faculty Director of Ware College House, and former Director of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science. Education: A.B. in Linguistics and Applied Mathematics from Harvard University (1965–1969), M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1975) in Linguistics from MIT. Research focuses on corpus-based phonetics, clinical linguistics applications, tonal phonology, formal models for linguistic annotation, and computational linguistics. He explores speech production, prosody, and interdisciplinary topics like language evolution and neurobiology of speech. Recent articles highlight advancements in speech biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, autism analysis, and computational linguistics. Awards include Fellowships from the AAAS and Linguistic Society of America. He advises graduate students and leads large-scale language resource initiatives like LDC, contributing to open-access linguistic datasets. Labs/Teams: Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC), Institute for Research in Cognitive Science (IRCS), and collaborations in computational linguistics and neuroscience.
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.
Jianjing Kuang is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, affiliated with the School of Arts and Sciences. As Director of the Penn Phonetics Laboratory, they lead research in phonetics, laboratory phonology, and tonal language studies. Kuang holds a Ph.D. from UCLA (2013) and specializes in the interplay between production and perception in speech, particularly focusing on tonal systems, prosody, and cross-linguistic fieldwork. Their work integrates behavioral experiments, corpus studies, and computational modeling to explore phonological contrasts, voice quality, and sound change. Key affiliations include MindCORE and the Center for East Asian Studies. Research interests include multidimensional cues in tone processing, glottal articulations, mapping production-perception relationships, and prosodic sentence processing. Kuang has conducted fieldwork on languages such as Yi, Q’anjob’al, and Mandarin. Their studies address topics like tonal splitting in Yi, cue-changing in Korean stops, and prosodic patterns in Mayan languages. Recent work explores voice quality’s role in pitch perception and prosodic boundary detection. Awards and grants are not explicitly listed, but Kuang’s extensive publications (over 50 peer-reviewed papers) reflect sustained academic impact. They advise graduate students in phonetics and phonology, with active collaborations in computational linguistics and speech technology. The Penn Phonetics Laboratory, under Kuang’s direction, emphasizes interdisciplinary research bridging experimental and theoretical phonetics.
John Kingston is a Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Phonetics Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has been since 1990. He holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago (1976–1977) and a PhD from UC Berkeley (1985). His research focuses on the interplay between phonetics and phonology, particularly speech perception and its influence on phonological representations. He co-founded the Laboratory Phonology Conference series in 1987 and has conducted fieldwork on Otomanguean languages. His work emphasizes experimental methods to study phonological questions, including studies on vowel perception, tone systems, and cross-linguistic phonetic patterns. Kingston’s academic journey includes roles at the University of Texas, Austin (1984–1986) and Cornell University (1986–1990). His research explores how auditory processing and linguistic knowledge shape speech perception, with notable contributions to understanding tonogenesis, perceptual contrast effects, and vowel category learning in second languages. He collaborates on grants examining Ganong effects and phonological inventories, advocating for theories that bridge perceptual and structural aspects of language. His lab, the Phonetics Lab, supports experimental work on speech perception and production. Kingston is also the Honors Program Coordinator, mentoring students in linguistics and related fields. Despite no explicit awards listed, his extensive publications and conference leadership reflect his scholarly impact.
Prof. Marianne Pouplier is a Professor at the Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing (IPS) at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Her research focuses on speech production mechanisms, particularly coarticulation, phonetic universals, and language-specific variations. She investigates articulatory timing, speech errors, and cross-linguistic differences in consonant clusters using advanced methodologies like real-time MRI and electromagnetic articulography. Her work bridges theoretical models (e.g., Articulatory Phonology) with empirical data, emphasizing the interplay between phonological representation and motor execution. Key contributions include studies on nasal coarticulation, larynx dynamics, and the role of articulatory effort in speech production. Selected publications highlight her expertise in analyzing speech motor control through interdisciplinary approaches. She collaborates internationally, contributing to projects like the Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals (BAS). No awards or grants are explicitly listed, but her extensive publication record underscores her scholarly impact.
Georgia Zellou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Davis, where she co-directs the Phonetics Lab and conducts award-winning research at the intersection of phonetics, speech perception, and human-AI interaction. Her work investigates how phonetic detail is cognitively represented through variations in speech production, with significant contributions to understanding speech alignment with voice assistants, face-masked speech intelligibility, and cross-linguistic perception of synthetic voices. Her academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2012), an M.A. in Linguistics from Stony Brook University (2007), and a B.A. in Linguistics & Anthropology from the University of Florida (2005, Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Colorado at Boulder (2012) M.A., Linguistics, Stony Brook University (2007) B.A., Linguistics & Anthropology, University of Florida (2005) Professor Zellou's research program centers on laboratory phonology approaches to real-world communication challenges, examining how acoustic-phonetic details influence speech perception across contexts. Her studies span speech alignment with voice-AI systems (e.g., Amazon Alexa), sociophonetic variation in bilingual speech, and the cognitive mechanisms underlying perceptual compensation for coarticulation. She employs experimental methods including eye-tracking, acoustic analysis, and perceptual testing to uncover how phonetic variation functions pragmatically in human communication and human-machine interaction. Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2023-2025) reveals three dominant research trajectories: (1) human-AI voice interaction dynamics, including prosodic alignment and social evaluation of TTS voices; (2) intelligibility optimization in challenging contexts (face masks, clear speech for diverse listeners); and (3) cross-linguistic phonetic variation in vowelless words and consonant clusters. These works consistently bridge theoretical phonology with applied speech technology, demonstrating how fine-grained phonetic detail influences communication effectiveness in both human-human and human-machine contexts. Her scientific recognition includes: Fulbright Scholar (2022) for research in France Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring (2019) Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America (2020) Amazon Faculty Research Award (2019) for Alexa-related speech studies Dean’s Fellow designation at UC Davis (2020-2023) Professor Zellou maintains an active mentoring practice recognized with the Chancellor’s Award, supervising undergraduate researchers in the Phonetics Lab while teaching core linguistics courses from introductory to advanced graduate levels. Her research program is supported by competitive grants including NSF funding, Amazon Research Awards, and UC Davis internal grants (Hellman Foundation, ISS Junior Faculty Grant), reflecting the translational value of her work for speech technology development. She has co-directed major initiatives including the 2019 LSA Linguistic Institute. The Phonetics Lab she co-leads serves as a hub for experimental phonetics research, focusing on speech production-perception relationships through projects investigating vocal accommodation to voice assistants, nasal coarticulation dynamics, and cross-linguistic prosody. Current collaborations with industry partners aim to implement human speech adaptation principles into voice assistant design to enhance naturalness and engagement.
Daniel Recasens is a Full Professor in the Department of Catalan Philology at the Faculty of Arts, Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he has been a permanent faculty member since 1985. He is also affiliated with the Institute for Catalan Studies as a researcher. His academic work centers on experimental phonetics and phonology, with a focus on Romance languages, particularly Catalan. Research Interests: Daniel Recasens specializes in Experimental Phonetics , Phonology , Sound Change , and Phonetic and Phonological Universals . His research investigates articulatory and acoustic aspects of speech production, including coarticulation, assimilation, blending, and the phonetic motivations behind diachronic sound changes in Romance languages. He employs advanced techniques such as ultrasound imaging, electropalatography (EPG), and acoustic analysis to study consonant clusters, vowel-consonant interactions, and the evolution of phonological systems. Scientific Publications and Trends: His recent publications (2020–2025) reflect a consistent focus on the articulatory and acoustic foundations of phonological processes. Key themes include dynamic blending in fricative sequences, tongue configuration in stop-liquid clusters, and the phonetic causes of palatalization and vowel changes. His work combines empirical data with theoretical models such as the Degree of Articulatory Constraint (DAC) model, contributing significantly to laboratory phonology and historical linguistics. Scientific Awards: Member, Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea), 2018 Advising and Research Grants: Daniel Recasens has mentored several doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, including Clara Isabel Rodriguez Casado, Aina Espinosa, and Fernando Sánchez-Miret. While specific grant details are not listed, his extensive publication record and leadership in experimental phonetics suggest sustained research funding and collaborative projects in phonetic and phonological research. Labs and Research Teams: He is associated with the Center for Theoretical Linguistics (CLT) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a research group dedicated to theoretical and experimental studies of language. His work often involves collaboration with phonetics laboratories and international scholars in the fields of articulatory phonetics and historical linguistics.
Florian Lionnet is an Associate Professor of Linguistics in Princeton University's Council of the Humanities and Director of Undergraduate Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2016) and joined Princeton in 2017. His research focuses on phonetics/phonology, typology, areal and historical linguistics, and language documentation, with a focus on African and Oceanic languages. Current projects include endangered languages in Chad and New Caledonia, involving annual fieldwork collaborations with anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and archaeologists. Research interests emphasize tonal systems, phonological representation, and language contact, particularly in Laal (an isolate language), Fanya (Bua), and Khoisan languages. His work bridges theory and practice, contributing to both linguistic theory and endangered language preservation. Articles explore tone phonology, areal patterns, and subphonemic effects, with recent emphasis on Kalahari Basin and Oceanic languages. Teaching responsibilities include directing undergraduate studies in Linguistics. No awards or grants are explicitly listed, though his fieldwork suggests active research funding. His office is located at 1-S-18 Green Hall, Princeton University.
Mattias Heldner is Professor of Phonetics and Head of Department at the Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University. He also serves as Director of the Phonetics Laboratory where he has developed advanced recording facilities for breathing movements and voice quality dynamics in conversation. Dr. Heldner received his PhD in Phonetics from Umeå University in 2002, completed a postdoc at TeliaSonera Sweden in 2005, became Docent in Speech Communication at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2007, and was appointed Professor in Phonetics at Stockholm University in 2011. His research focuses on communicative behavior relevant for turn-taking in conversation and signaling of prosodic functions such as prominence and boundaries. His work spans multiple dimensions of speech communication, including: Respiratory patterns and their role in conversation flow Voice quality dynamics as turn-taking cues Prosodic functions in spontaneous speech Physiological constraints in verbal communication Acoustic properties of child speech development Neural correlates of lexical stress Dr. Heldner's recent publications demonstrate how respiratory signals provide crucial information for predicting speech activity and managing turn-taking. His research combines physiological measurements with acoustic analysis to uncover hidden aspects of conversational organization, particularly the relationship between breathing patterns and speech timing. As an educator, Dr. Heldner has taught phonetics courses for Speech and Language Pathology students at Karolinska Institutet, University of Gothenburg, and Umeå University. He currently supervises one PhD student and has successfully supervised two PhD theses to completion. Dr. Heldner has held several Swedish research grants and served as one of the Technical Program Chairs for Interspeech 2017 in Stockholm. His Phonetics Laboratory has developed innovative systems like RespTrack for measuring respiratory movements during speech with high experimental control.
Felicitas Kleber is Professor of Speech Science in the Department of Language Science and Technology at Saarland University (Universität des Saarlandes). Her research profile demonstrates extensive expertise in experimental phonetics and laboratory phonology with a particular focus on German dialects and sound change phenomena. She maintains active research collaborations, most notably with J. Harrington and Ulrich Reubold, resulting in numerous high-impact publications in leading linguistics and phonetics journals. Her research interests span experimental phonetics and laboratory phonology with specific expertise in speech production and perception , sound change processes, German dialectology , phonological acquisition , and prosody and intonation analysis. Her work frequently examines the acoustic, perceptual, and articulatory dimensions of speech, particularly focusing on vowel and consonant quantity phenomena in German varieties. Analysis of her publication record reveals consistent methodological rigor with emphasis on acoustic analysis, perception experiments, and longitudinal studies. Her research often investigates sound changes in progress, particularly examining vowel fronting phenomena in both German and English varieties, and the relationship between speech production and perception mechanisms. Much of her work employs apparent-time analyses to track diachronic changes through synchronic variation across age groups. Professor Kleber serves as an Associate editor for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, reflecting her standing in the field. She has secured significant research funding including the DFG-funded project "Typology of vowel and consonant quantity in South German varieties: acoustic, auditory, and articulatory analyses of adult and child speakers" (2016-2024) and the DAAD-supported "Form and function of prosodic structure in Hungarian and German" (2015-2016). Her research methodology typically combines acoustic analysis with perception experiments and sometimes articulatory measurements to provide comprehensive insights into phonetic phenomena.
Sara Mackenzie is Department Head and Associate Professor of Linguistics at Memorial University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research examines phonological representations, harmony systems, and interfaces between phonetics-phonology and morphology-phonology, with emphasis on contrastive feature theories and Stratal Optimality Theory. Recent publications analyze vowel harmony through feature-based frameworks and structure preservation in phonological theory. Experimental work includes acoustic/articulatory studies of /l/ allophony in Newfoundland English and moraic patterns in Japanese language games. Her research integrates theoretical modeling with empirical data from diverse languages including Nilotic languages and Nez Perce. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in phonetics, phonology, historical linguistics, and experimental methods.
Dr Chris Carignan serves as Programme Director for the Language Science MSc at University College London's Division of Psychology and Language Sciences within the Faculty of Brain Sciences. His research focuses on the intricate mechanisms of human speech production, particularly through cross-linguistic phonetic studies and articulatory dynamics using advanced imaging technologies. PhD in Speech Science Specializes in the intersection of language heritage and phonetic research Develops innovative methodologies for speech data collection and analysis His work spans multiple areas including nasal coarticulation , real-time MRI of vocal tract movements , and cross-linguistic phonetic analysis . He has contributed significantly to understanding how speakers produce complex speech sounds across different languages through comparative studies. Dr Carignan's research has led to the development of open-source tools for speech production analysis and pioneered new approaches for ultrasound articulography . His work on vowel nasalization and sibilant contrasts has been particularly influential in speech science. As Programme Director, he oversees a comprehensive curriculum that provides students with methodological training , statistical expertise , and hands-on research experience while allowing specialization through optional modules. His teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of curiosity-driven research and interdisciplinary approaches in advancing language sciences.
Felicitas Kleber is a Professor of Speech Science at the Department of Language Science and Technology, Saarland University. Her research focuses on experimental phonetics and laboratory phonology, emphasizing the interplay between speech production and perception in sound change processes. Research Areas : experimental phonetics, laboratory phonology, coarticulation dynamics, prosody and intonation, diachronic sound change, German dialects. Projects : Directed DFG-funded research on vowel/consonant quantity typology in Southern German varieties (2016–2024); DAAD-funded study on prosodic structure in Hungarian and German (2015–2016). Collaborations : Key partnerships with Jonathan Harrington (phonetics), Ulrich Reubold (acoustic analysis), and interdisciplinary teams in computational linguistics and sociophonetics. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America , integrating cognitive and social dimensions into sound change models.
Dr. Patrycja Strycharczuk is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Manchester, specializing in experimental phonetics and sociophonetics. Her award-winning research employs ultrasound imaging, acoustic analysis, and computational modeling to study speech production and perception. Research Focus: Strycharczuk's investigations address lingual articulation dynamics, vowel variation, and sound change mechanisms. Current projects examine speaker-specific articulation strategies, neural modeling of phonetic accommodation, and diphthongization patterns in English varieties. Methodologies include high-speed ultrasound, electromagnetic articulography, and machine learning approaches. Publication Trends: Recent articles (2023-2025) demonstrate increasing focus on computational modeling of speech production and perception. Earlier work established insights into dialect levelling, coda /l/ vocalization, and sociophonetic variation in UK English. Awards: Journal of Phonetics Best Early Career Scholar Article (2016).
