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Education:
2005 – 2009 PhD in Developmental Psycholinguistics, University of Edinburgh, (ESRC funded).

2007  ESRC Overseas Institution Visitor, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Universiteit Utrecht.

2004 – 2005 MSc in Developmental Linguistics (Pass with Distinction), University of Edinburgh, (ESRC funded).

1999 – 2003 BA (Hons) in French Studies and Linguistics (First Class), University of Lancaster.


Employment:
2011 – 2013 Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh

2009 – 2011 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Prof. C. Fisher, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2009  Research Assistant: Transcriber (Technology, Action, and Cognition in Online Anonymous Markets) for Dr Alex Preda, Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

2009  Research Assistant (Various projects), School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh.

2006 – 2008 Tutor Linguistics 1A and 1B and Linguistics 2 (Syntax and Semantics), Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh.

2005  Research Associate: Transcriber (AMI meeting project), Centre for Speech Technology Research, University of Edinburgh.

2001 – 2002 Assistante d’anglais (English Teaching Assistant), Lycée de Wittelsheim and Lycée de Bâtiment à Cernay, France.


Publications:
Papers
Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P., McLean, J.F. & Sorace, A. (in press). Is young children's passive syntax semantically constrained? Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language (doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2012.03.008).

Messenger, K., Branigan, H. & McLean, J. (in press). Is children's acquisition of the passive a staged process? Evidence from six- and nine-year-olds' production. Journal of Child Language.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P., & McLean, J.F. (2011). Evidence for (shared) abstract structure underlying children's short and full passives. Cognition 121 (2), 268-274.

Messenger, K. (2010). Dissertation notice: Syntactic priming and children's production and representation of the passive. Language Acquisition 17 (1-2), 121-123.

Conference Proceedings
Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2009). Semantic Factors in Young Children’s Comprehension and Production of Passives. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord & G-M. Rheiner, (Eds.) BUCLD 33: Proceedings of the 33rd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Cascadilla Press: 355-366.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). English-Speaking Children’s Early Passives: Evidence from Syntactic Priming. In H. Chan, H. Jacob, & E. Kapia, (Eds.) BUCLD 32: Proceedings of the 32nd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Cascadilla Press: 275-286.

Thatcher, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). Children’s Early Acquisition of the Passive: Evidence from Syntactic Priming. In T. Marinis, A. Papangeli & V. Stojanovik (Eds.) Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar 2007 – 30th Anniversary. University of Reading: 195-205.

Book Reviews
Messenger, K. (2011). Book Review: Fundamentals of Psycholinguistics: Fernandez & Cairns (2010). LINGUIST List, 22.2499.

Messenger, K. (2011). Book Review: Child Language Acquisition and Development: Saxton (2010). First Language 31, 248-250.

Messenger, K. (2010). Book Review: Language Acquisition: Foster-Cohen (2009). LINGUIST List, 21.2569.


Presentations:
Refereed Conference Presentations: Oral Papers:
Yuan, S., Messenger, K. & Fisher, C. (2011). Syntax and selection: Learning combinatorial properties of verbs from listening. Paper presented at SRCD Biennial Meeting, 2011, Montreal.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). Semantic factors in young children’s comprehension and production of passives. Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development.

Branigan, H., McLean, J., Messenger, K. & Jones, M.W. (2008). Linguistic experience and syntactic representations in young children and adults: Evidence from syntactic priming. Paper presented at The Third International Conference on Cognitive Science, Moscow.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2007). English-speaking children’s early passives: Evidence from syntactic priming. Paper presented at the 32nd Boston University Conference on Language Development.

Branigan, H., McLean, J., Thatcher, K. & Jones, M.W. (2006). A blue cat or a cat that is blue? Abstract syntax in young children's noun phrase production. Paper presented at the BPS developmental section conference, Royal Holloway University, London.

Refereed Conference Presentations: Poster Presentations:
Messenger, K., Yuan, S. & Fisher, C. (2011). Infants learn combinatorial properties of verbs from listening. Poster presented at AMLap 2011, Paris.

Messenger, K., & Fisher, C. (2011). What is primed? Exploring the locus of syntactic priming effects in children's language production. Poster presented at AMLap 2011, Paris.

Messenger, K., & Fisher, C. (2011). Mistakes weren't made: 3-year-olds understand passives with novel verbs. Poster presented at SRCD Biennial Meeting, Montreal.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2010). Abstract representation of passive structures in young children: Evidence from syntactic priming. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York.

Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). Using syntactic priming to investigate semantic and lexical factors in English-speaking children's early passives. Poster presented at the XI International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), University of Edinburgh.

Branigan, H., McLean, J., Messenger, K. & Jones, M.W. (2008). Lexical and abstract components of noun phrase structure in young children: Evidence from syntactic priming. Poster presented at the XI International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), University of Edinburgh.

Thatcher, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2007). Children's early acquisition of the passive: Evidence from syntactic priming. Poster presented at the Child Language Seminar – 30th Anniversary, Reading, UK.

Thatcher, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2007). Children's early acquisition of the passive: Evidence from syntactic priming. Poster presented at the 20th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, San Diego.

Branigan, H., McLean, J., Thatcher, K. & Jones, M.W. (2006). A blue cat or a cat that is blue? Abstract syntax in young children's noun phrase production. Poster presented at the 19th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York.


Awards & Prizes:
2009  EUSA Teaching Award for Linguistics 1A – nominated, Edinburgh University Students’ Association.

2008  Paula Menyuk Travel Award, 33rd Boston University Conference on Language Development, $300 to fund conference attendance.

2007  Research Support Grants, School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, £500 approx. to fund conference attendances.

2004 – 2008 Quota Award (PTA-031-2004-00280), Economic and Social Research Council funding Masters and PhD fees and maintenance.


Other Qualifications and Activities:
Book review editor: First Language.

Ad hoc journal reviewing: Cognitive Science.

Conference reviewing: CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing 2011, 2012; AMLaP 2011; Embodied and Situated Language Processing workshop 2011.

Memberships: International Association for the Study of Child Language; Society for Language Development; Society for Research on Child Development.

Co-Organiser: Linguistics and English Language Dept. Postgraduate Conference (2008).

Co-Organiser (Treasurer): Language at Edinburgh Lunch Poster Sessions (2006-2007).