Reasearch
An example of iconic non-identity reduplication (iconic NIR) is the Turkish m-reduplication pattern. This pattern marks a meaning that involves both plurality and non-identity, and reflects each of these elements in the form via reduplication (multiple copies) and fixed segmentism (resulting in a reduplicant that is non-identical to the base). The result is form-meaning pairings that are iconic in two ways.
With the help of my collaborator, Made Dena Wardana, I am documenting and describing iconicity in Balinese. My work on Balinese serves as a case study on how iconic NIR can function within the grammatical system, and interact with other types of iconicity.
One of my ongoing projects is a cross-linguistic investigation of iconicity in reduplication patterns. This work explores variation in the form of reduplication patterns, the ways that reduplication patterns interact with the phonology of the language as a whole, and the ways that iconicity manifests and combines in the context of reduplication.
I am interested in where the types of iconicity that are observed in natural language come from, and in the relationship between iconicity and cognition. My current experimental focus is on sensitivity in humans and (Multimodal) Large Language Models to the types of iconicity that are present in iconic NIR. In the past, I have worked on the acquisition of phonological patterns under the supervision of Dr. Kevin McMullin, and on phonological priming effects in children under the supervision of Dr. Tania Zamuner.
In collaboration with Jia He Sun, I have investigated whether formal complexity can be involved in creating iconic patterns. In this work, we calculated the formal complexity of linguistic patterns based on set-theoretic models of the forms and meanings of verbs and algorithmic models of morphophonological and semantic processes.
I am interested in the units, organization, and content of cetacean communication systems. Currently, I am particularly interested in vocal copying phenomena, and in whether any of the types of iconicity observed in human languages could be present in cetacean communication as well.