Mairym Llorens Monteserin
Univeristy of Puerto Rico
I am Assistant Professor of Neurolinguistics and Cognitive Science in the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Puerto Rico in the city of Mayagüez .
I received my PhD at the University of Southern California Linguistics department under the advisement of Dr. Louis Goldstein. My dissertation examined interactions between speaking and vocal tic production in adults with Tourette syndrome.
People do all sorts of things with their vocal-respiratory system: cry, scream, laugh, cough, and of course, talk. Sometimes we do these all separately, but it's often the case that vocal behaviors occur at the same time, like when we are laughing-while-talking.
Usually we can get our words out even if we are laughing, but sometimes we just can't stop laughing. Laughing is just one example. The same can be said about coughing and other vocal urges. In my research I ask the question: how does a flexible speech system interact with non-communicative systems?
My dissertation research used the tools of linguistics and phonetics to study the acoustic signatures of ticcing-while-talking in adults with Tourette syndrome. For more information go to my dissertation page.