PLEASE NOTE: I am on leave from Boston University at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München until August 31, 2025. In September 2025, I will be moving to the Department of Linguistics and Translation at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU); therefore, if you are a student interested in working with me, please apply to CityU.

Welcome! I’m an Associate Professor and the Director of the Phonetics, Acquisition & Multilingualism Lab (PAMLab) in the Department of Linguistics at Boston University (BU). I am also affiliated with BU’s Center for Innovation in Social Science, Center for the Study of Asia, and Hearing Research Center, and with the SPARK Society and the Diversity Scholars Network. Currently, I serve as an Associate Editor of the journal Second Language Research and a Faculty Advisor to the Boston University Conference on Language Development. My pronouns are the ‘he’ series (he/him/his).

My research generally concerns the relationship between linguistic experience and phonological knowledge over the lifespan. Much of my recent research addresses two central questions in the study of the acquisition and attrition of sound systems:

  1. How is acquisition of a new language sound system influenced by the learner’s experience with a previously-learned sound system, such as that of their native language (L1)?
  2. How does phonological acquisition of a new language affect the learner’s knowledge and use of their previously-learned language(s)?

I approach these questions primarily by examining the processing, representation, and development of speech sounds in the context of second language (L2) and additional language (Ln) learning, multilingualism, and language contact. This empirical focus leads to work that is strongly cross-linguistic in nature, that uses a variety of experimental techniques and quantitative methods, and that examines both the individual learner (including individual differences) and the speech community.

For links to downloadable publications, click here. For links to downloadable handouts or slides from talks/posters I’ve given, click here. You can also find me on Google Scholar, OSF, ORCID, ResearchGate, or Academia.edu.

Professor of Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong