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 .
Simon King is a Professor of Speech Processing at the University of Edinburgh , affiliated with the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences . He serves as Director of the Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR) and teaches courses like Speech Processing and Speech Synthesis , while directing the MSc in Speech and Language Processing . Research Interests His research focuses on: Developing new acoustic models (e.g., Linear Dynamical Models, factorial-HMMs) for speech recognition Advancing unit selection and HMM-based speech synthesis Integrating articulatory measurement data for enhanced modeling Exploring perceptual measures in synthesis criteria Building multilingual speech systems to identify universal speech building blocks Publication Trends Simon's recent work emphasizes deep learning (DNNs, LSTMs) in speech synthesis, multilingual frameworks , and articulatory-acoustic feature integration . His studies often bridge grapheme-based modeling , perceptual error reduction , and noise-robust synthesis . Scientific Awards EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship (2005-2009) Students & Collaborations He has supervised numerous PhD students including Rasmus Dall, Tom Merritt, and Srikanth Ronanki. Current research fellows like Mirjam Wester and Zhizheng Wu contribute to projects such as Natural Speech Technology (NST) and Simple4All .
Andrés Buxó-Lugo serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, where he directs the Language Processing and Computation Lab. His research investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying language production, comprehension, and acquisition with a specialized focus on speech prosody—the rhythm, intonation, and intensity patterns in speech—and their role in human communication. His primary research interests include psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, speech prosody, language production, language comprehension, language acquisition, and computational linguistics. He examines how listeners integrate diverse linguistic cues during speech processing, how individuals learn unfamiliar constructions like non-native pronunciations or novel prosodic patterns, and the cognitive basis of durational changes in speech. His work also explores how communicative context shapes prosodic production and how higher-level linguistic information aids prosodic structure parsing. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2019-2025) reveals consistent interdisciplinary work bridging cognitive science, linguistics, and computational modeling. Key trends include phonological representation studies, speech planning mechanisms, intonation adaptation across talkers, lexical representation structures, and the integration of input expectations in syntactic parsing. His research demonstrates significant methodological diversity, incorporating experimental paradigms, computational modeling, and acoustic analysis to unravel language processing complexities. As director of the Language Processing and Computation Lab at the University at Buffalo, Buxó-Lugo leads research initiatives focused on developing computational models of language processing while investigating the cognitive foundations of speech and prosody through empirical experimentation and theoretical innovation.
Jiwon Yun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Stony Brook University. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Cornell University (2013) and a B.S.E. in Computer Science & Engineering from Seoul National University (cum laude with honors). Her research focuses on speech prosody, syntax-semantics interfaces, and computational modeling of sentence processing, with special attention to East Asian languages like Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. Dr. Yun teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in computational linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, and experimental phonetics. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics and experimental methods, examining how prosody interacts with syntactic and semantic structures. Recent publications investigate prosodic disambiguation of syntactic ambiguities, computational models of relative clause processing, and intonation patterns in Korean and Mandarin. She has developed tools for automated speech corpus analysis and maintains a Hangul-Yale Romanization Converter for linguistic research. Her research has been published in journals like Humanities and Social Sciences Communications , Linguistic Inquiry , and Journal of East Asian Linguistics . Teaching responsibilities include courses such as LIN 335 (Computational Linguistics) and LIN 627 (Computational Semantics).
Emily A. Gasser is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department at Swarthmore College , specializing in Austronesian languages , Wallacea & northwest New Guinea , and language documentation . Her research spans phonology, morphology, typology , and language contact , with a focus on endangered languages and computational phylogenetics . She is currently on sabbatical for the 2025-26 academic year, conducting fieldwork in Manokwari, writing a Wamesa grammar, and developing new courses. Research Interests include: Language documentation and fieldwork in Austronesian and Papuan-speaking regions Phonological variation and vowel harmony systems Typological surveys of adnominal possession and morphological structures Interaction between prosodic features in media speech and socio-phonetics Computational tools for historical linguistics and classifier system analysis Recent publications focus on vowel harmony , prosodic perception , and possessive constructions across Wallacea and Northwest New Guinea. She edits volumes on Austronesian-Papuan language contact and contributes to open-access research initiatives.
Bistra Andreeva is a full Professor of Phonetics and Phonology at Saarland University, Department of Language Science and Technology. She is also a principal investigator of the DFG-funded project “Judeo-Spanish in Bulgaria: a contact language between archaism and innovation” (2022-2025) and leads or co-leads several other externally funded projects on prosody, information structure, and language contact. She teaches and has taught at Saarland University, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, and other European universities. Education & Academic Background Habilitation (kumulative Habilitationsschrift): “Contrastive Prosody: Bulgarian vs. German”, Saarland University, 2016. PhD (Dr. phil.): “Zur Phonetik und Phonologie der Intonation der Sofioter-Varietät des Bulgarischen”, Saarland University, 2007. Research Interests Andreeva’s research focuses on the phonetics and phonology of intonation and rhythm, cross-language and individual differences in the production and perception of syllabic prominence, the relation between intonation and information structure, minority languages (especially Judeo-Spanish in Bulgaria), and the interaction between information density and prosodic structure. Her methodological expertise includes experimental phonetics, corpus-based studies, and acoustic analysis. Major Projects SFB 1102 C1: “Information Density and the Predictability of Phonetic Structure” (DFG, 2014-2026) JuSpa: “Judeo-Spanish in Bulgaria: a contact language between archaism and innovation” (DFG, 2022-2025) Prosodic aspects of Bulgarian compared to other languages with lexical stress (Bulgarian National Science Fund, 2019-2024) Prosodic manifestations of focus in French and English from a Bulgarian point of view (DAAD & Sofia University, 2021-2023) Scientific Awards & Recognition While no major named prizes are listed, Andreeva’s work has been continuously supported by competitive grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG), DAAD, and Bulgarian National Science Fund. Her publications appear in top-tier journals and conference proceedings (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Interspeech, Speech Prosody, International Congress of Phonetic Sciences). Teaching & Supervision She offers a broad spectrum of courses including Experimental Phonetics, Prosody, Phonetics & Phonology of Slavic Languages, Introduction to Instrumental Phonetics, and seminars on language contact. She has supervised numerous BA, MA, and PhD theses and regularly teaches at the PhD School of Sofia University. Labs & Teams She is affiliated with the Phonetics Laboratory at Saarland University and collaborates closely with the Institute for Bulgarian Language (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), working in interdisciplinary teams involving phoneticians, computational linguists, and field linguists.
Gregory Ward is Professor of Linguistics, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Philosophy at Northwestern University. His work bridges pragmatic theory, information structure, and intonational meaning, with a focus on reference/anaphora. He has taught courses like Pragmatics (LING 372) and Language & Gender (GSS 234), receiving the E. LeRoy Hall Award for Excellence in Teaching (2012). BA in Comparative Literature and Linguistics (1978, UC Berkeley) PhD in Linguistics (1985, University of Pennsylvania) His research explores how contextual meaning shapes linguistic structures, including demonstratives, implicatures, and noncanonical word order. He has contributed to experimental pragmatics, syntax-discourse interactions, and the semantics-pragmatics boundary, co-authoring key works like Information Status and Noncanonical Word Order in English (1998). Recent publications analyze deferred reference, event anaphora, and functional compositionality. These works span subfields such as pragmatic theory, syntactic variation, and discourse processing, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach. Scientific awards include: E. LeRoy Hall Award for Excellence in Teaching (2012) He served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Linguistic Society of America (2004-2007), co-PI on NIH and NSF grants, and Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2004-05).
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.
Nicole Holliday is an Acting Associate Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley specializing in sociophonetics. Her research examines how linguistic variation constructs social identities through intonation and voice quality, with recent focus on social impacts of speech technology and political speech analysis. She currently leads a Spencer Foundation-funded project studying linguistic bias in school disciplinary practices. Holliday teaches Language and Society, Sociophonetics, Prosody and Social Identity, and Linguistic Discrimination courses. She received the Linguistic Society of America Early Career Award (2023) and leads research on African American English features in educational contexts. Her work appears in Frontiers in AI, Journal of English Linguistics, and Glossa.
Professor Aditi Lahiri is a Research Professor of Linguistics at the University of Oxford's Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics. She holds positions in the Centre for Linguistics and Philology and directs the Language and Brain Laboratory. Her research focuses on phonology, phonetics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics, with special expertise in metrical theory, feature theory, and morphological complexity. Education : BA (Mathematics, Economics) from University of Calcutta (1971); MA (Comparative Philology) from University of Calcutta (1973); DPhil (Comparative Philology and Linguistics) from University of Calcutta (1979); PhD (Linguistics) from Brown University (1982). Research Interests : Her work spans experimental and theoretical linguistics, including prosodic phrasing, lexical representation, language change, and neural correlates of phonological processing. Key areas include: Metrical phonology and historical sound change Cognitive representation of speech sounds Morphological complexity in the mental lexicon Speech perception and production mechanisms Recent Research Trends : Over the past decade, her publications emphasize cross-disciplinary approaches, integrating experimental psycholinguistics with computational modeling (e.g., ERC-funded projects on morphophonological alternations). Recent work explores language processing in multilingual speakers and the neural basis of phonological features. Awards : Recipient of prestigious awards including the Leibniz Prize (2000), Max Planck Research Prize (1994), and Fellow of the British Academy (2010). She serves as Vice President of the British Academy and President of the Philological Society. Grants & Leadership : Secured over €8 million in research funding, including ERC Advanced Grants (e.g., MORPHON, WORDS). Directed the DFG-funded Sonderforschungsbereich 471 (2006-2008). Established key partnerships in India through endowed scholarships and academic outreach initiatives. Labs & Collaborations : Leads the Language & Brain Laboratory, collaborating internationally on projects combining neurolinguistic methods with historical and experimental linguistics. Supervised numerous PhD students who have become leading academics globally.
Jens Kreitewolf is a Faculty Lecturer in the Departments of Psychology and Mathematics and Statistics at McGill University. He teaches courses in statistics, research methodology, and psychophysics. His research focuses on auditory cognition, speech comprehension, and the neural mechanisms underlying voice perception. Dr. Kreitewolf holds a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) from Humboldt University of Berlin and completed postdoctoral fellowships at BRAMS and the University of Lübeck. His work combines experimental psychology, neuroimaging, and psychophysics to explore auditory processing challenges in adverse listening conditions. Key interests include how familiarity with a talker’s voice aids comprehension and the impact of hearing impairment on speech perception. Education: M.Sc. in Psychology (Ruhr University Bochum, 2009); Ph.D. in Psychology (Humboldt University of Berlin, 2014). Research Interests: Auditory scene analysis and speech-in-noise processing Voice recognition and familiarity effects Neural correlates of perceptual decision-making Circadian rhythms and perceptual sensitivity Cognitive neuroscience of auditory attention Publications highlight contributions to understanding: Risk factors for depression symptom progression Self-concept clarity in romantic evaluations Neurobiological mechanisms of working memory vulnerability Vestibular symptoms in migraine patients His interdisciplinary approach bridges psychology, statistics, and neuroscience, with applications to clinical populations and sensory processing disorders.
Elsayed Issa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at Purdue University. Specializing in Computational Linguistics and Arabic, his interdisciplinary research bridges Natural Language Processing (NLP) with Second Language Acquisition (SLA), focusing on conversational AI and speech technology for under-resourced languages. Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Arizona (2023) Research integrates NLP, conversational AI, and SLA methodologies Develops tools for computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) Focuses on Arabic dialectology and large language models (LLMs) His work employs Transformer architectures and end-to-end machine learning to enhance language learning systems. Recent projects include ArabiBot development and dialect identification models. He specializes in speech-to-text systems , prosody modeling , and emotional speech analysis for Arabic language learning applications.
D. Eric Holt is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of South Carolina, affiliated with the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and the College of Arts and Sciences. He has held academic appointments since 1994, including visiting roles at Georgetown University and lecturing positions in Ecuador and Spain. His expertise spans Hispanic linguistics, historical linguistics, second language acquisition, and phonological theory, with a focus on Optimality Theory and its applications to Spanish and Portuguese. Educated at Occidental College (BA), Georgetown University (MS, PhD), and with extensive summer programs in linguistics, Holt's research explores sound change, dialectology, and L2 pronunciation acquisition. He has supervised numerous graduate theses and dissertations, including notable works on connected speech perception and language contact phenomena. His teaching portfolio includes advanced courses on Spanish linguistics, phonetics, and historical language evolution. Holt has led international study programs in Spain, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and contributes to academic service as an associate editor of Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics and through professional organizations like Phi Beta Kappa. Holt's grants include funding for research on L2 speech perception and技术创新 in pronunciation teaching. He has presented globally at conferences such as NWAV and LSA, and his work appears in top journals like Probus and Georgetown University Round Table . His current projects include books on Optimality Theory in Spanish linguistics and debunking language myths.
Paul Boersma is a Professor of Phonetic Sciences at the University of Amsterdam within the Faculty of Humanities. His research explores how phonetic, phonological, and morphological phenomena emerge through computational modeling using artificial neural networks and Optimality Theory, with a focus on multi-level constraint interactions and distributional learning. University of Amsterdam Faculty of Humanities Phonetic Sciences Key research areas include: Computational Modeling : Simulations of phonological category emergence from phonetic data Optimality Theory : Gradual Learning Algorithm applications BiPhon Framework : Parallel bidirectional phonology/phonetics models Statistical Learning : Cross-situational and distributional learning mechanisms Recent publications emphasize: 2025: Inclusive speech recognition systems using Whisper model 2025: F0 ratio analysis for creaky voice diagnostics 2024: Prosodic clitics in child speech and checked tones in Shanghai Chinese 2023: Distributional learning in developmental language disorder contexts 2022: Substance-free phonological features and ghost segment phenomena He has also contributed extensively to the Praat software for phonetic analysis, with continuous updates since 1993.
Jonas Kuhn is a professor at the Institute for Natural Language Processing (IMS) at University of Stuttgart. He is working at the interface between language and computers, combining linguistics and computer science. Kuhn's research interests span a wide range of computational linguistics topics including: Language models and spatial reasoning Analysis of large language models (LLMs) through linguistic theories Political text analysis and discourse networks Computational approaches to literature and cultural studies Retrieval-augmented language modeling Semantic change detection Dependency parsing and syntactic analysis His recent publications (2023-2025) focus on the intersection of neural language processing with fields as diverse as spatial reasoning, literary analysis, and political discourse. This reflects his interdisciplinary approach that bridges fundamental language research with practical technology development. As a faculty member at one of Germany's largest computational linguistics centers, Kuhn contributes to both fundamental research and technological development in language processing systems.
