My research sits at the intersection of sociolinguistics, sociophonetics, and speech technology. I am interested in how language varies across speakers and communities, how linguistic features acquire social meaning, and what happens when this variation encounters new technologies. Methodologically, my work combines experimental and ethnographic sociolinguistics with quantitative, qualitative, and computational approaches.
The central theme of my research is the relationship between language, place, identity, and technology. My work has developed along two closely connected strands. The first examines regional language and social meaning, with a focus on New Orleans English and its distinctive sound system and local linguistic practices. This work culminated in my monograph, The Sounds of New Orleans: A Sociophonetic Analysis.
The second strand brings sociolinguistic approaches to speech and voice technologies. I investigate how automatic speech recognition and voice assistants engage with regional accents and dialects: where technological biases arise, how speakers adapt when talking to machines, and how voice technologies might better accommodate linguistic diversity. My current work focuses particularly on Newcastle English and on speech adaptation in interactions with voice assistants.
→ Explore The Sounds of New Orleans
→ Explore Voice-AI in Newcastle
→ Explore my other research