Researcher Summary
My research uses computational and psycholinguistic methods to triangulate on a theory that can explain patterns of use and change in spoken language. I pursue an explanation based on the passive and powerful perceptual biases that surround language use, from communicative, cognitive, and social factors. My research program has two main threads: identifying the biases underlying spoken language perception, and understanding their implications for language use and change. Central to this program is computational cognitive modeling, which is supported by the first thread and enables the second. I motivate and ground computational cognitive models with psycholinguistic experiments, and I test their predictions with data-scientific analysis of corpora.
