Research Area
Laboratory phonology is an inherently interdisciplinary field of research and is concerned with representations of language and language systems as well as with the realization and perception of spoken language in different situational and functional contexts.
Our research is devoted to biological, linguistic and social aspects of speech production, speech perception and its reception, as well as language attitudes and linguistic stereotypes. Our research is theoretically informed, empirically supported, and often practically oriented, as we are concerned with language phenomena observed in natural conversational situations and monologues. We use a variety of experimental techniques available to us in our phonetics laboratory and our motion capture laboratory.
For example, our topics include visual prosody, i.e., the interactions between acoustic speech signals and the visible movements of facial expressions in different situational contexts. We are also concerned with the interplay between spoken language, breathing, and body movements, which has been little explored in linguistics. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between language use (as a result of multilingual and multiethnic communities) and the expression of identity (as an index of national, local and social belonging).
Funded by the German Polish Science Foundation
(ATTIT)
Does your unconscious perception of your interlocutor match what you consciously declare? We're experimenting with this in our project. With the help of suitable techniques, we can delve deeper into the differences between conscious and unconscious attitudes toward our conversation partners.
Funded by Leibniz-Wettbewerb
(Plapper)
‘Plapper’ explores the relationship between voice- and speech characteristics and peoples’ social and economic success in Germany.
Funded by the Swedish Research Council
(INVERTED)
The human speech production system evolved as a result of adaptation to biological factors, a key one of which is upright body posture. Our project will illuminate the nature of this adaptation, by investigating how speech control mechanisms change when our posture changes.
DFG project
(SFB 1412-Register C02)
The subproject in the CRC 1412 „Register: Language-Users’ Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation" focuses on the study of speech variation in formal and informal situations. What do speakers do when having to make formal requests in contrast to conversing informally? And what impact does the appearance of the interlocutor have on the pronunciation or choice of words? We are seeking to answer these questions by means of a newly developed experimental method.
DFG ANR project
(VOC2SPEAK)
We consider that speech acquisition is shaped by multi-faceted interactions between sensory, motor, cognitive and language-related abilities. The overarching objective of VOC2SPEAK is to illuminate the early development of speech-motor coordination and its interactions with attention, lexical and phonological development from longitudinal and cross-sectional perspectives.