The Berkeley Phonetics, Phonology and Psycholinguistics Forum ("Phorum") is a weekly talk and discussion series featuring presentations on all aspects of phonetics, phonology, and psycholinguistics. We meet on Fridays from 4(:10)-5pm (unless specified otherwise below), in Dwinelle 1229 (Zoom link shared upon request). Phorum is organized by Kai Schenck and Lindsay Hatch. Our emails are respectively "kai_schenck" and "lindsaykhatch" @berkeley.edu.
Schedules from previous semesters can be found here.
Spring 2025
January 31
Maksymilian Dąbkowski (UC Berkeley): The unpredictable but expected deglottalization in some former A'ingae derivatives
I describe and analyze the phonological form and historical trajectory of nominal derivatives in A’ingae (ISO 639-3: con), an underdocumented Amazonian isolate (Dąbkowski 2021). Some words historically derived with otherwise preglottalized nominalizers have lost their glottalization over time. I propose that these “exceptions” are reflexes of originally glottalized words, which underwent semantic shift and lost glottalization due to contamination from the plain (i.e., non-glottalized) majority. This paper thus documents a rare case in which non-productive morphological patterns represent innovation rather than retention.
February 7
Katie Russell (UC Berkeley): Local nasalization in Atchan, a language without nasal consonants
In this talk, I investigate patterns of local nasalization in Atchan (ISO: ebr), a Kwa language spoken by the Tchaman people in and around Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Atchan displays a typologically unusual phonemic inventory: the language has three phonemic nasal vowels, but lacks underlying nasal consonants altogether (Bôle-Richard 1984, Russell 2023). Nasalization is pervasive in Atchan, at the level of the syllable as well as across syllable and morpheme boundaries, resulting in surface nasal consonants as allophones of sonorant consonants. I present phonetic and phonological data collected through recent primary fieldwork with Atchan speakers in Abidjan, including measurements of nasal and oral airflow. In this talk, I also discuss implications for representations of nasality and diachronic considerations for how such a system may have originated.
February 14
Anna Macknick (UC Berkeley): Teaching Phonetics in Introductory Linguistics Using Universal Design for Learning
Phonetics and phonology units of introductory courses are frequently students' first experiences with the field of Linguistics. This content can pose particular challenges due to its reliance on exclusively auditory content at times, and exclusively visual content at others. In this talk, I use the framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to consider how accessibility can be built into the curriculum itself. I highlight access barriers from previous iterations of the LING100 course and propose ways to minimize these barriers before the semester even begins. I argue that such changes can improve student experiences and reduce the gatekeeping effect of introductory coursework.
February 21
Julianne Kapner (UC Berkeley): Ի՞նչ ու եւ ինչո՞ւ ("Which 'u', and why"): Varying vowels in Bay Area Armenian
This talk, based on my second qualifying paper, presents results from the first study of the Armenian language as spoken in the Bay Area, focusing on acoustic sociophonetic analysis of the vowel system. I find that Eastern and Western Armenian speakers exhibit generally similar vowel spaces; instead, gender is a more significant predictor of the placement of certain vowels. This is also the first statistically robust analysis of variation in Western Armenian speakers’ production of /ʏ/. I find that speakers’ choice of variant is predicted by a combination of linguistic and social factors, including the nature of their multilingualism: speakers with more dominance in English use [ʏ] less frequently, while speakers who also know Turkish are more likely to use [ʏ]. Finally, this study uses the metric of Formant Trajectory Length to explore diphthongization in Bay Area Armenian as a potential effect of extended contact with English, finding no evidence for this. Overall, this study points to the Bay Area Armenian population as a promising context to explore vocalic variation and uncover variables that have not yet been widely explored.
February 28
Exploring Boundaries practice talks
March 14
Cooper Bedin (UC Santa Barbara):
March 21
Rhosean Asmah (UC Berkeley):
April 4
John Harris (University College London):
April 11
Yi Ting Huang (University of Maryland):
April 18
Irene Yi (Stanford):
April 25
Antón de la Fuente (Stanford):
May 2
Max Kaplan (UC Santa Cruz):