Research

Current Work

Late First Language Acquisition Effects on the Phonological System of ASL

Language deprivation and subsequent late first language acquisition affect language production and comprehension, but less is known about how late first language signers acquire and process phonology specifically. Through behavioral and neuroimaging methods, my work aims to provide a better understanding of phonological processing of deaf late first language signers who learned American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language after early childhood. This work can foremost help us to better understand the effects of language deprivation and late first language acquisition on language processing and can also provide insight into language acquisition and human cognition more broadly. 

My most recent work shows that late first language acquisition does affect phonological processing in ASL:


Sign Language Phonological Typology

This is collaborative work with Rachel Miles, a PhD student also in the UC San Diego Linguistics Department. We are looking at the phonological inventories across seven sign languages (Hong Kong Sign Language, Ho Chi Minh Vietnamese Sign Language, Sri Lankan Sign Language, Jakarta Indonesian Sign Language, Yogyakarata Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language, and American Sign Language) to further the understanding of what aspects of phonology are universal and which are language-specific across sign languages from different language families. We thank the researchers working on the databases (Asian SignBank and ASL-LEX) we are using for this project.

Awards

Current Lab

Mayberry Laboratory for Multimodal Language Processing at UC San Diego (Graduate Student Researcher)

If you would like to learn more about what the lab is currently working on or how you can participate in research, visit the Facebook page.

Past Labs

Cognitive Neurolinguistics Lab in the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis (Post Baccalaureate Intern)