Home

My research focuses on accent, syllable structure, their typology and acquisition.

      • Accent assignment in phonological, lexical and mixed accent systems, with emphasis on morphologically conditioned exceptionality. The central goal of the Scales-and-Parameters theory (which I propose) is to provide a uniform account of accentual regularities and exceptions within and across these different types of systems in terms of a single accent-assigning mechanism
      • Diacritic (morphemic) weight as an alternative to lexical accent. Weight scales ordering diacritic weight, alone or in combination with syllable weight
      • A parametric approach to accent assignment involving relations among parameters: dependencies, which contribute to descriptive adequacy, and ordering (which may help learning)
      • A GP-based model of syllable structure in which parameter setting is constrained by a complexity scale based on the properties of constituents and of parameterized relations. Tests of predictions about the relative order of syllable type acquisition and cross-linguistic variation in syllable type
      • Branching onset or complex segment? Diagnostics, rules affecting Onset heads, segmental integrity with respect to phonological rules

Other research interests include:
      • Description and analysis of endangered languages
      • Dominance and locality in tone and vowel harmony
      • Cue-based learning of accentual grammars