Phonetics Lab

Welcome! The UWM Phonetics Laboratory, located in Johnston Hall G24, is a relatively young (in other words, energetic!) laboratory established in 2010. Our research focuses on diverse aspects of second language phonology and phonetics, such as foreign accent, individual differences and phonological developments among adult second language learners, and second language influence on the first language. (See some of the recent works done at our laboratory below.)

Our laboratory consists of members interested in issues related to speech perception/production and second language acquisition. We also collaborate with researchers at other institutions.

  • Current members: Hanyong Park (director), Zafer Lababidi (PhD student), Dylan Pearson (MA student), and Shelby Lang (undergraduate research assistant)
  • Alumni: Siriporn Lerdpaisalwong (PhD faculty, Department of Foreign Languages, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand)
  • Collaborators: Isabelle Darcy (Second Language Studies, Indiana University), Chung-Lin Yang (Indiana University), and Noah Silbert (Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Cincinnati)

The laboratory is well equipped with resources for speech perception and acoustic phonetics research (e.g., recording high-quality speech in the sound booth and in the field, running multiple perceptual experiments simultaneously, doing acoustic analyses, etc.).

Equipment:

  • Recording booth (Model 7286 enhanced 6’ × 8’ WhisperRoom Sound booth)
    • In the booth: a computer monitor, Earthworks M30 omnidirectional microphone, and KRK ROKIT 5 G2 Studio Monitor (speaker)
  • Audio Interfaces (Sound Devices USBPre 2, MOTU Audio Express 6×6)
  • Headphone pre-amplifiers (Aphex HeadPod 4, PreSonus HP4)
  • Head-worn microphones: Shure SM-10As (unidirectional dynamic), Beyerdynamic Opus 55MK II (omnidirectional condenser), and Sennheiser HMD 280-XQ dual-ear headset with supercardioid dynamic microphone
  • Headphones: AKG K 240, Sony MDR-VJ700DJ, & Sony MDR7506
  • Marantz PMD660 Solid-state digital recorders (portable)
  • Extech 407732 Type 2 Digital Sound Level meter
  • Apple MacBook Pros with OS X
  • Apple iMacs with OS X
  • Dell PC desktop computer
  • E-Prime 2.0 Professional setup with the Serial Response Box

Software: Praat, Adobe Audition, Audacity, SPSS, R

The following list of selected recent publications and poster/paper presentations will give you some idea of our research topics:

Park, H. (2015). Perceptual category mapping between English and Korean from the perspective of English-speaking learners of Korean. Paper presentation at the 20th Annual Mid-Continental Phonetics & Phonology Conference, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, September 11 – 13, 2015.

Pearson, D., Sankhagowit, A., & Park, H. (2015). Foreign accent perception in accented noise. Poster presentation at the 20th Annual Mid-Continental Phonetics & Phonology Conference, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, September 11 – 13, 2015.

Lababidi, Z. & Park, H. (2015). Perceptual mapping between Arabic and English consonants. Paper presentation at the 29th Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Milwaukee, WI: University of Wisconsin, April 9 – 11, 2015.

Darcy, I., Park, H., & Yang, C.-L. (2015). Individual Differences in L2 acquisition of English Phonology: The relation between cognitive abilities and phonological processing, Learning and Individual Differences, 40, 63-72.

Silbert, N. & Park, H. (2014). Statistical relationships between phonological categories and acoustic-phonetic properties of Korean consonants. Poster presentation at the 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Indianapolis, IN, October 27 – 31, 2015. [Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136(4), Pt. 2, 2174-2175]

Park, H. (2013). Detecting foreign accent in monosyllables: The role of L1 phonotactics. Journal of Phonetics, 41, 78-87.

Park, H. (2013). Influence of the attitude toward L2-Engish on the VOT merger phenomenon in Seoul Korean. Paper presentation at the 2013 International Conference on English Linguistics, Korea University, July 3-6.

Lerdpaisalwong, S. & Park, H. (2013). The perception of English stops in a coda position by Thai learners. Poster presentation at the 18th Annual Mid-Continental Phonetics & Phonology Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan, March 22.