My name is Mary Bary. I am a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University.
In my work within applied linguistics, I conduct both methodological and substantive research. My areas of focus include computational linguistics, legal linguistics, and second anguage acquisition.
I also serve as the editorial assistant for the Language Learning journal.
Email: ma3228@nau.edu
I build models that decode complex language data. By leveraging LLM training and statistical analysis, I help organizations automate information extraction and understand the hidden patterns in their communications.
Key Capabilities:
Large-scale Data Mining & Pattern Recognition
Word Sense Tagging & Disambiguation
Semantic Gold-Standard Annotation
Custom LLM Training & Optimization
Automated Genre Classification
Predictive Complexity Modeling: Designing statistical models to calculate and predict the difficulty of human speech and text.
I provide empirical, data-driven solutions to resolve linguistic ambiguity and ensure the clarity of legal communication. By leveraging large-scale corpus analysis and predictive modeling, I deliver the objective evidence needed to settle high-stakes disputes over legal interpretation, authorship, and the comprehensibility of the law.
My work supports legal professionals in areas including:
Miranda Warnings: Developing mathematical models to assess whether critical legal warnings are actually understood by diverse populations.
Statutory & Contract Interpretation: Utilizing specialized corpora to determine the 'ordinary meaning' of contested terms.
Expert Testimony & Case Support: Providing scientific linguistic analysis and language proficiency assessments for legal defense and prosecutorial teams.
Conversation and Context Analysis
Photo: Legally Blonde (2001) [Photograph]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
I study the cognitive and linguistic processes of second language acquisition, focusing on how a learner’s native language (L1) background shapes their development. By analyzing large-scale media data and conducting psycholinguistic experiments, I identify the linguistic and crosslinguistic factors, such as L1 background and feature complexity, that drive performance.
Crosslinguistic Influence Analysis
Media-Based Acquisition Research
Predictive Proficiency Modeling
Photo: El sueño del caballero
2023 – Present
Northern Arizona University
PhD, Applied Linguistics
2020
The University of Utah
MA, Linguistics
2016: MA in TESL