معرفی
Dr. Sonja Schaeffler is a Reader in Speech Variation at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, within the Division of Speech & Hearing Sciences in the School of Health Sciences. She serves as the Academic Coordinator for Research Culture and Doctoral Studies for the School of Health Sciences and is a full member of the Research Centre for Clinical Audiology, Speech & Language (CASL).
Her educational background includes an M.A. in Phonetics (with German Linguistics and Psycholinguistics as minor subjects) from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Stirling, supervised by Professor Vera Kempe.
Dr. Schaeffler's research focuses on the 'when, how and why' of speech variation, exploring the fine-phonetic and articulatory details of intentional and unconscious speech variation. Her work spans the interdisciplinary borderland between Phonetics and Psychology, examining intra- and interindividual differences in cognitive processing, oro-motor skills, attitude, motivation, and personality that may facilitate or impede speech variation. Her current projects include research on speech registers (particularly child-directed speech), adaptations of articulatory settings in bilinguals, variations in silent speech preparation, and accent variation in Scotland.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on the cultural evolution of child-directed speech, bidialectal speech adaptations, and the psychological and social implications of speech variation. Her work frequently employs advanced methodologies including ultrasound tongue imaging and acoustic analysis to investigate subtle articulatory movements and their perceptual consequences.
- Member of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP)
- Member of the ESRC Peer Review College
Dr. Schaeffler has successfully secured multiple research grants including SFC and UKRI Talent and Research Stabilisation Funding (2022) as Principal Investigator for research on the cultural evolution of Child-Directed Speech. She has supervised numerous PhD students including Ciera Haggar, Irina Brodskaya, and Janet Coulson, with research topics spanning accent adaptation, ultrasound tongue imaging for 'second accent' training, and articulatory reaction times. Her research group on 'Accent Variation in Scotland' collaborates with Prof Jim Scobbie (QMU), Prof Jennifer Smith (Glasgow University), and PhD student Janet Coulson.
She actively promotes Open Science principles in research development and champions the 'Students as Researchers' approach in PhD training, aligning with the Higher Education Academy's framework.
