Elizabeth Manrique-Cordeje

Elizabeth Manrique-Cordeje is an Honorary Research Fellow in Linguistics at University College London's Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL), part of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. Her research focuses on sign language linguistics with particular expertise in Argentine Sign Language and conversation analysis.

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD in Linguistics from Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands (2012-2017)
• Master in Linguistics from Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands (2011-2012)
• Licenciatura en Letras from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2002-2008)

Dr. Manrique-Cordeje's research primarily investigates how communication breakdowns are repaired in signed conversations, examining both self-initiated and other-initiated repair mechanisms across languages. Her work demonstrates that despite modality differences between spoken and signed languages, fundamental structures of human conversation show remarkable cross-linguistic consistency. She has conducted comparative studies across multiple sign languages to identify universal principles in communication repair, with particular attention to timing of visual bodily behavior and sequence organization in social interaction.

Her publication record reveals a consistent trajectory examining repair sequences and turn-taking mechanisms in sign languages, with publications spanning from Journal of Pragmatics to PLOS ONE. Notable works include her research on suspending the next turn as a repair initiation strategy in Argentine Sign Language and cross-linguistic studies of repair markers like 'Huh?' across twenty-one languages. Her collaborative approach is evident through partnerships with leading researchers including Nick Enfield, Mark Dingemanse, and Kobin Kendrick.

As part of DCAL, Dr. Manrique-Cordeje contributes to UCL's world-class research on deaf cognition and language. Her multilingual capabilities in Spanish, English, and Sign Languages support her cross-linguistic investigations into human communication patterns. While her current position is research-focused, her scholarly contributions significantly advance our understanding of universal principles in human conversation through the lens of sign languages.