Speech Learning Lab

Department of Linguistics & School of Communication Sciences and Disorders

McGill University

Research

In the Speech Learning lab we investigate phonetic variability - how pronunciations change from instance to instance - and how this shapes speech perception. We’re also interested in how listeners and learners adapt to the phonetic patterns of their linguistic environment and what happens when those patterns change. We have a special interest in how individuals differ in both patterns of production and perception abilities.

Learn more about our research

Lab Members

Dr. Meghan Clayards
Assistant Professor
Linguistics   SCSD
Hye-Young Bang
Recent PhD!
 
Sarah Colby
Ph.D. Student
 
Donghyun Kim
Ph.D. Student
 
Jiaer Tao
MA. Student

View Collaborators and Alumni

Publications

Papers

  • Kim, D., Clayards, M., Goad, H. (2018) The acquisition of new vowel contrasts by Korean learners of English: A longitudinal study. Journal of Phonetics, 67, 1-20. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2017.11.003 [pre print]
  • Bang, H.-Y., Sonderegger, M , Kang. Y., Clayards, M., Yoon, T.-J., (2018) The emergence, progress, and impact of tonogenesis: Evidence from Seoul Korean. Journal of Phonetics, 66, 12-144. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2017.09.005 [pre print]
  • Clayards, M. (2018, accepted 2016) Individual talker and token variability in multiple cues to stop voicing. Phonetica. 75:1-23 doi:10.1159/000448809 free download [pre print]
  • Giannakopoulou, A., Brown, H., Clayards, M., Wonnacott, E. (2017) High or Low? Comparing high- and low-variability phonetic training in adult and child second language learners. PeerJ 5:e3209 doi:10.7717/peerj.3209

Proceedings

  • Tao, J., Torreira, F., Clayards, M. (2018) Durational cues to word boundaries in spontaneous speech. Proceedings of the 9th Speech Prosody Conference in Posnan, Poland [download]
  • Killbourne-Cerone, O., Wagner, M., Clayards, M. (accepted 2016) The effect of production planning locality on external sandhi:a study in /t/. Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistics Association.[pdf]
  • Knowles, T., Clayards, M., Sonderegger, M., Wagner, M., Nadig, A., Onishi, K. (2015) Automatic forced alignment on child speech: Directions for improvement. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 25:1, 6 pages.doi:10.1121/1.4801082
  • Clayards, M., Knowles, T. (2015) Prominence enhances voiceless-ness and not place distinction in English voiceless sibilants. Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, UK. [Online]

Presentations

  • Jiang, B., Clayards, M., Sonderegger, M. (2018, June) Perception and Individual variability of a Tonal Register Contrast in Chinese Wu dialects. Poster presentation at LabPhon16, Lisbon, Portugal. [Poster]
  • Tao, J., Torreira, F., Clayards, M. (2018, June) Durational cues in spontaneous speech. Poster presentation at LabPhon16, Lisbon, Portugal. [Poster]
  • Colby, S., Poulton, V., Clayards, M. (2017, December) Inhibitory and lexical frequency effects in younger and older adults’ spoken word recognition. Poster presentation at the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA. [Poster]
  • Kim, D., Clayards, M., Kong, E. (2017, December) Individual differences in perceptual adaptation to phonetic categories: Categorization gradiency and cognitive abilities. Poster presentation at the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA. [Poster]
  • Clayards, M. (2017, December). Individual differences in cue weights are correlated across contrasts. Poster presentation at the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA. [Poster]
  • Bang, HY, Sonderegger, M., Clayards, M. (2017, April) Speaker variability in cue weighting for laryngeal contrasts: the relationship to sound change. Poster presented at the 4th Workshop on Sound Change, Edinborough, UK.[Poster]
  • Jiang, B. & Clayards, M. (2016, December). Cue weighting of voice quality, pitch, and tonal contour in the tonal register contrast in Chinese Wu dialects. Poster presentation at the Acoustical Society of America, Honolulu, Hawaii.[Poster]

View more publications

Contact

Meghan Clayards

Email: meghan.clayards [at] mcgill.ca
Phone: 514-398-4235

Department of Linguistics

1085 Ave Dr. Penfield, Montréal, Quebec
Office: Room 201

School of Communication Sciences and Disorders

2001 McGill College, 8th floor, Montréal, Quebec
Office: Room 819
Lab: Room 803

Funded by

         


Resources

Michael McAuliffe's STRAIGHT tutorial for stimulus synthesis          


Speech Learning Lab © 2015