Lauretta ChengÂ
lspcheng [at] umich [dot] edu
As a language researcher interested in sociophonetic cognition, I study the ways that social information interacts with how we produce, perceive, and process speech. As an Asian Canadian scholar, I seek to highlight the experiences of Asians in North America, including advocating for moves towards transparency, inclusivity, and equity in research practices. Currently a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of Michigan (U-M), I am originally from Vancouver, Canada where I studied Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
In my research, I use quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore variation in speech production, perception and processing using mix of phonetic, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and (computational) corpus methods. Two main strands of my research are: (1) understanding how sociolinguistic context (including identity, awareness and expectations) influence language production, perception and processing, and (2) understanding the (socio-cognitive) factors that underlie individual variation, and what this can tell us about phonetic representations, sound change and bilingualism. Along with these interests, I advocate for a more nuanced, transparent, and inclusive approach to language experience measures in (psycho)linguistic research, particularly arguing against use of the "native speaker" as an experimental construct.
Some of my projects have focused on Cantonese-English bilingual contact. For example, at UBC, I conducted a production-perception experiment on a set of Cantonese consonant mergers in Hong Kong and Vancouver to examine both the production-perception link and sound change in diaspora communities. Recently, I have focused on sociophonetic cognition in the context of dialectal and ethnolinguistic variation. One project looked at social priming of a stereotyped dialect difference (/au/-raising for Michigan listeners) in order to investigate how individual-level salience and cognitive processing style influence processing. My current project examines ideologies of Asian American and Canadian speech, and asks how those ideas interface with awareness and social personae to influence the how speech is processed.
Outside of research, my revolving interests include: cats, sewing clothes, cooking and trying new food, playing puzzle games, hand lettering, and tracking anything with spreadsheets!