Research
I am a laboratory phonologist whose research combines computational and experimental methods to study the sound structure of language. My original area of specialization is prosody and intonation. Since joining the Northwestern faculty in 1989, I have worked on probabilistic models of phonetic variation, phonological grammars, and morphophonology. My current research, funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation, uses multi-agent modeling to explore the formation of categories and phonological grammars in individuals and populations. The goal is a unified model of how language dynamics (in acquisition, processing, and historical change) relates to language systems.
Director of Graduate Studies. Director of NICO Language and Music Systems. Guggenheim Fellow (1996). Fellow of the American Academy (2004). Additional affiliations: Communication Sciences and Disorders, French Interdisciplinary Group (FIG), Mathematics Excellence at Northwestern (MENU).