Myriam Lapierre

I am an Assistant Professor of Phonology in the Linguistics Department at the University of Washington.

My research combines phonological theory, original fieldwork, articulatory and perceptual phonetics and in-depth typological surveys. My theoretical work centers on formal models of representational phonology and, in particular, the role of subsegmental representations within the phonological grammar. 

I specialize in the sound systems of Amazonian languages of Brazil, especially languages of the Jê and Tupí-Guaraní families. I have conducted extensive in-situ fieldwork on four languages of the Jê family, namely Panãra (ISO code: kre), Mẽbêngôkre (ISO code: txu), Kajkwakhrattxi (ISO code: suy-tap), and Xavante (ISO code: xav), and on one language of the Tupí-Guaraní family, Kawaiwete (ISO code: kyz). I have carried out extensive typological research on the typology of nasal-oral alternations among indigenous languages spoken all over Amazonia.