M.A. in Phonetics (with German Linguistics and Psycholinguistics as minor subjects)

@ the Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich

PhD in Psychology, under the supervision of Prof Vera Kempe

@ the Department of Psychology, University of Stirling

I'm interested in the  'when, how and why’ of speech variation . My research is interdisciplinary and considers the fine-phonetic and articulatory details of speech variation, intentional and unconscious speech variation, as well as the intra- and interindividual differences that may facilitate or impede such variation (e.g. differences in cognitive processing, in oro-motor skills, in attitude, motivation and personality). 

My projects include work on speech registers (particularly child-directed speech), on adaptations of articulatory settings in bilinguals, on variations in silent speech preparation, and on variation in accent use (particularly in Scotland). I work on speech variation as it occurs in natural interaction, as well as on speech variation elicited in the lab. 

I'm also interested in the effects of speech variation on the listener - whether this might be rapport-building through accommodation, the potential cognitive benefits of child-directed speech for language learning, or the perceptual biases in response to characteristics of regional accents.

Current Projects:

 Accent Variation in Scotland  

My research group with Prof Jim Scobbie (QMU) and Janet Coulson (QMU), in collaboration with Prof Jennifer Smith (Glasgow University). Click here for our project page.

 The Cultural Evolution of Child-Directed Speech  

Collaborative research with Prof Vera Kempe (Abertay University).

Interested in a collaboration, or in applying for a PhD? Get in touch.

Irina Brodskaya's current PhD project on the use of Ultrasound Tongue Imaging for 'second accent' training (Co-Supervisor: Dr Felix Schaeffler).

Janet Coulson's current PhD project on accent adaptions in professionally trained speakers (Co-Supervisor: Prof Jim Scobbie, External Advisor: Prof Jennifer Smith).   

Pertti Palo's ultrasound-based PhD project on articulatory reaction times (Co-Supervisor: Prof Jim Scobbie): Measuring Pre-Speech Articulation (2019).

Elli Drake's ultrasound-based PhD project on speech planning (Director of Study: Prof Martin Corley): The involvement of the Speech Production System in Prediction During Comprehension: An Articulatory Imaging Investigation (2016).

Kempe, V., Ota, M., & Schaeffler, S. (2024). Does Child-Directed Speech Facilitate Language Development in All Domains? A Study Space Analysis of the Existing Evidence. Developmental Review, Vol. 72. (open-access journal paper) (open-access data)

Scobbie, J., Cleland, J. Lawson, E., Schaeffler, S. (forthcoming). English (Scottish) Speech Development. In: McLeod, S. (Ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World. Oxford University Press.

Schaeffler, S., Ota, M., Kempe, V. (2024). Is there Sufficient Evidence to Claim that Child-Directed Speech Facilitates Language Acquisition?  Proceedings of BAAP 2024, Cardiff. (pdf)

Schaeffler, S. Scobbie, J. , Coulson, J. (2023). Cannae or Dinnae Want Tae? - New Approaches to Eliciting and Predicting Phonetic and Prosodic Adaptations in Bidialectal Speakers. Proceedings of UKLVC14, Edinburgh.

Dokovova, M., Sugden, E., Cartney, G., Schaeffler, S., Cleland, J. (2023) Tongue Shape Complexity in Children With and Without Speech Sound Disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-20. (open-access journal paper) (open-access data)

Schaeffler, F., Parry, A., Beck, J., Rees, M., Schaeffler, S., Whittaker, T. (2023). Comparing Vocal Health and Attitudes to Voice Care in Primary Teachers and Voice-Over Artists – a Survey Study Using the Health Belief Model. Journal of Voice. (open-access journal paper) 

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J., Drummond, C. (2020). Sounding out the Extremes of Bi-dialectal Edinburgh Adolescents. Proceedings of BAAP 2020, York (pdf)

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie J. (2020). Measuring the Articulatory to Acoustic Onset Interval (AAI) in Tongue Ultrasound and Lip Videos. Proceedings of BAAP 2020, York (pdf)

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2018). The Effect of Articulation Rate on the Articulatory to Acoustic Onset Interval in Delayed Naming. Proceedings of BAAP 2018, Kent.

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J.M., Wrench, A. (2016). New perspectives on articulatory data. Proceedings of BAAP 2016, Lancaster.

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J.M. (2016). Patterns of Articulatory Activation in Delayed Naming. Proceedings of BAAP 2016, Lancaster.

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J.M. (2016). Identifying the First Structure to Move in Ultrasound Videos. Proceedings of BAAP 2016, Lancaster.

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J.M., Schaeffler, F. (2015). Complex patterns in silent speech preparation: preparing for fast response might be different to preparing for fast speech in a reaction time experiment. Proceedings of the 18th ICPhS, Glasgow. (pdf)

Drake, E., Schaeffler, S., Corley, M. (2015). Articulatory consequences of prediction during comprehension. Proceedings of the 18th ICPhS, Glasgow. (pdf)

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J.M. (2015). Effect of phonetic onset on acoustic and articulatory speech reaction times studied with tongue ultrasound. Proceedings of the 18th ICPhS, Glasgow. (pdf)

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J., Schaeffler, F. (2014). Measuring Reaction Times: Vocalisation vs. Articulation. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Seminar on Speech Production (pp. 379-382). Cologne, Germany. (pdf)

Palo, P., Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2014). Pre-Speech Tongue Movements Recorded with Ultrasound. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Seminar on Speech Production (pp. 300-303). Cologne, Germany. (pdf)

Drake, E., Schaeffler, S., Corley, M. (2014). Articulatory Effects of Prediction During Comprehension: An Ultrasound Tongue Imaging Approach. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Seminar on Speech Production (pp. 98-101). Cologne, Germany. (pdf)

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2014). Ready, Steady, Speak! Reaction Times Based on Articulatory Data. Talk presented at the Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP), Oxford, UK. 

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2013). Enhancing Measures of Reaction Time with UTI Data. Poster presented at Ultrafest VI, Edinburgh, UK.

Drake, E.,  Corley, M., Schaeffler, S. (2013). Articulatory Evidence for the Involvement of the Speech Production System in the Generation of Predictions During Comprehension. Poster presented at AMLaP, Marseille, France.

Drake, E., Schaeffler, S., Corley, M. (2013). Preliminary evidence against articulatorily-based prediction in comprehension. Poster presented at 11th International Symposium of Psycholinguistics, Canary Islands, Spain.

Drake, E.,  Schaeffler, S., Corley, M. (2012). Predicting Speech Production: Facilitation but not Inhibition. Talk presented at AMLaP, Riva del Garda, Italy.

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2012). Listeners' Tongues. Talk presented at BAAP, Leeds, UK.

Schaeffler, F., Quinn, L., Schaeffler, S. (2012). The Use of Ultrasound in Phonetic Training: The Case of Cardinal Vowel 8. Talk presented at BAAP, Leeds, UK.

Scobbie, J.M., Schaeffler, S.,  Mennen, I. (2011) . Audible Aspects of Speech Preparation. Proceedings of 17th ICPhS, Hong Kong. pp. 1782-1785. (pdf)

Schaeffler, S. (2011). An Articulatory Analysis of Language-Specific Settings in Bilingual Speakers. Invited talk at the Laboratorio de Fonetica, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Madrid, Spain.

Kempe, V., Schaeffler, S., Thoresen, J. (2010). Prosodic Disambiguation in Child-Directed Speech. In: Journal of Memory and Language 62: 204-225.

Mennen, I., Scobbie, J., deLeeuw, E., Schaeffler, S., Schaeffler, F. (2010). Measuring Language-Specific Phonetic Settings. In: Second Language Research 26 (1): 13-41.

Turk, A., Scobbie, J., Geng, C., MacMartin, C., Bard, E., Campbell, B., Dickie, C., Dubourg, E., Hardcastle, B., Hoole, P., Kanaida, E., Lickley, R.,Nakai, S., Pouplier, M., King, S., Renals, S., Richmond, K., Schaeffler, S., Wiegand, R., White, K., Wrench, A. (2010). The Edinburgh Speech Production Facility's articulatory corpus of spontaneous dialogue. In: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 128 (4): 2429.

Schaeffler, S. , Mennen, I., Scobbie, J. (2010). Language-Specific Articulatory Settings in L2 Speech. Talk presented at Newsounds 2010, Poznan, Poland.

Schaeffler, S. , Scobbie, J., Mennen, I. (2010). Open-Mouthed or Stiff Upper Lip? Obtaining Data on Articulatory Settings in Bilingual Speakers. Talk presented at the colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians, London, UK.

Schaeffler, S. , Scobbie, J. (2010). An Ultrasound and Vicon Study of Articulatory Settings in German-English Bilinguals. Presentation at the 5th Ultrafest Conference, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, USA.

Wrench, A., Scobbie, J., Cowen, S., Lilienthal, J., Schaeffler, S., Zharkova, N., Kocjancic, T. (2010). Fan-Averaging for Ultrasound Tongue Contour Evaluation. Talk presented at the 5th Ultrafest Conference, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, USA.

Zharkova, N., Schaeffler, S., Gibbon, F. (2009). Adult Speakers' Tongue-Palate Contact Patterns for Bilabial Stops Within Complex Clusters. In: Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 23 (12): 901-910.

Schaeffler, S., Scobbie, J. (2009). The Impact of Articulatory Settings on L2-Pronunciation. Talk presented at the 7th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Schaeffler, S. , Scobbie, J., Mennen, I. (2008). An Evaluation of Inter-Speech Postures for the Study of Language-Specific Articulatory Settings. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Speech Production Seminar, Strasbourg, France.

Schaeffler, S., Zharkova, N., Gibbon, F. (2008). Crisps - An EPG Study of Complex Bilabial-Alveolar Consonant Clusters in Typical Speakers of English. Poster presented at the 12th Congress of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association, Istanbul, Turkey.

Schaeffler, S. (2008). Exploring Language-Specific Articulatory Settings in L2 Speakers - An Introduction to the Concept. Invited presentation at the 3rd Annual SLRU Symposium on Bilingualism and Second-Language Acquisition, Edinburgh, UK.

Batliner, A., Schuller, B., Schaeffler, S.,  Steidl, S. (2008). Mothers, Adults, Children, Pets - Towards the Acoustics of Intimacy. In: Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Las Vegas, USA.

Schaeffler, S. , Scobbie, J., Mennen, I. (2008). Exploring Cross-Linguistic Differences in Articulatory Settings. Poster presented at the British Association of Academic Phoneticians Colloquium (BAAP 2008), Sheffield, UK.

Zharkova, N., Schaeffler, S., Gibbon, F. (2008). An EPG Study of Complex Clusters in English. Talk given at the British Association of Academic Phoneticians Colloquium (BAAP 2008), Sheffield, UK.

Schaeffler, S., Kempe, V. (2007). Mothers Are Less Efficient in Employing Prosodic Disambiguation in Child-Directed Speech than Non-Mothers: Is There a Trade-Off Between Affective and Linguistic Prosody? In: Proceedings of the 16th ICPhS, Saarbrücken, Germany.

Penton-Voak, I.S., Cahill, S., Pound, N., Kempe, V., Schaeffler, S., Schaeffler, F. (2007). Male Facial Attractiveness, Perceived Personality, and Child-Directed Speech. Evolution and Human Behavior 28: 253-259.

Kempe, V., Schaeffler, S. (2007). Prosodic Disambiguation in Child-Directed Speech. Talk given at ESCoP 2007, Marseille.

Schaeffler, S. (2007). Are Affective Speakers Effective Speakers? Exploring the Link Between the Vocal Expression of Positive Emotions and Communicative Effectiveness. PhD thesis. (link)

------------------------------------ Note older publication have appeared under my maiden name

Batliner, A., Biersack S., Steidl, S. (2006). The Prosody of Pet Robot Directed Speech: Evidence from Children. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Speech Prosody, Dresden, Germany.

Schaeffler, F., Kempe, V., Biersack, S. (2006). Comparing Vocal Parameters in Spontaneous and Posed Child-Directed Speech. I n: Proceedings of the 3rd Speech Prosody Congress, Dresden, Germany.

Kempe, V., Biersack, S., Potts, G. J & Thoresen, J (2005). Prosodic Disambiguation in Child-Directed Speech. Poster presented at the XIV Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, Leiden.

Biersack, S., Kempe V. (2005). Exploring the Influence of Vocal Emotion Expression on Communicative Effectiveness. Phonetica 62: 106-119.

Biersack, S., Kempe, V., Knapton, L. (2005). Fine-Tuning Speech Registers: A Comparison of the Prosodic Features of Child-Directed and Foreigner-Directed Speech. In: Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology, Lisbon.

Biersack, S., Kempe, V. (2005). Tracing Vocal Emotion Expression Through the Speech Chain: Do Listeners Perceive what Speakers Feel? In: Proceedings ISCA Workshop on Plasticity in Speech Perception, London, UK.

Biersack, S., Kempe, V. (2005). Child-Directed Speech Can Be Elicited in the Absence of a Child. Poster presented at the 10th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Berlin.

Biersack, S., Kempe, V. (2004). Does Mood Induced Phonetic Variation Improve Communication? Talk presented at Variation and Change in Phonology and Phonetics (VarPhon), Potsdam, Germany.

Schaeffler, F., Biersack, S. (2003). Aspects of the Timing of Fundamental Frequency in German Chanted Call Contours. In: Proceedings FONETIK 2003, Phonum 9, Umeå University.

Biersack, S. (2002). Systematische Aussprachefehler deutscher Muttersprachler im Englischen - Eine phonetisch-phonologische Bestandaufnahme (Systematic Pronunciation Mistakes of German Natives Speaking English). M.A. Thesis. In: FIPKM 39: 37-130. (pdf)

2022: SFC and UKRI Talent and Research Stabilisation Funding, “Procurement of data for interdisciplinary research on the cultural evolution of Child-Directed Speech, P.I.: Dr Sonja Schaeffler, Co-Is: Prof Vera Kempe (Abertay University), Dr Glenn Williams (Northumbria University). 

2019: Small-project funding from the Research Centre for Clinical Audiology, Speech and Language (CASL), QMU, Edinburgh, for an RA to collect pilot data on “Exploring the ability and motivation of Edinburgh adolescent bi-dialectals to produce an English and a Scottish accent”

2018: Small-project funding from the Research Centre for Clinical Audiology, Speech and Language (CASL), QMU, for an RA to collect pilot data on “The Ups and Downs of Bilingualism - Bilinguals’ Strengths and Weaknesses in Tasks Related to Executive Functioning".

2008 - 2010: PI on the ESRC-funded project "Open-Mouthed or Stiff Upper Lip? Exploring Language-Specific Articulatory Settings in English-German Bilinguals" (RES-000-22-3032, co-investigators: Prof Jim Scobbie and Prof Ineke Mennen).

2009 - 2010: Research Fellow on the EPSRC-funded project "An Edinburgh Speech Production Facility" (EP/E01609X/1 and EP/E016359/1, PI: Prof Alice Turk and Prof Jim Scobbie, Co-Investigators: Dr Simon King, Prof Steve Renals, Dr Robin Lickley, Dr Sonja Schaeffler).

2010: Named researcher on a grant funded under QMU's Project Investment Bid scheme: "Cognitive Correlates of Articulatory Settings" (in collaboration with Dr Martin Corley, Department of Psychology, Edinburgh University).

2008: Named researcher on a British Academy small grant: "Exploring Differences in Articulatory Settings Across Languages" (SG-48460, PI: Prof Jim Scobbie, Queen Margaret University).

2008: Named researcher on a British Academy small grant: "Refining the analysis of acoustic indicators for the vocal expression of positive emotion" (SG-49512, PI: Dr Vera Kempe, Abertay University).

2007 - 2008: Postdoctoral Fellowship funded by the ESRC: "The Phonetic Details of Speech Variation and Their Impact on Listener Comprehension and Attention" (PTA-026-27-1465).

2004: Studentship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

2003 - 2005: Faculty studentship from the University of Stirling.

1999 - 2000: Erasmus scholarship for an exchange semester at UCL London's Department of Phonetics and Linguistics. 

I teach on all aspects of typical lifespan anatomy, physiology and cognitive sciences that are relevant to our Speech and Language Therapy programmes. 

Much of my teaching focusses on developing Students as Researchers (in line with the Higher Education Academy's framework). I oversee research-focussed learning activities from Level 1 through to final-year Honours and Masters projects.