Graduate Study in Language Sound Structure

The University of Arizona offers an array of interconnected graduate programs dealing with language sound structure, in Anthropology, Linguistics, Psychology, Spanish & Portuguese, and Speech & Hearing. Set in the spectacular Sonoran desert, Tucson offers unmatched opportunities for research as well as recreation. The relevant departments offer a broad spectrum of course work and research opportunities for the study of sound structure from a variety of perspectives. We are particularly proud of the interdisciplinary opportunities for students interested in disciplines like linguistics, psychology, anthropology, speech, first or second language acquisition, and cognitive science. Students interested in any area of sound structure are strongly encouraged to apply.

Course Work

• PhD program in Linguistics
• Graduate Classes
• Graduate Student Handbook

Sample Research Tracks

• Theoretical phonology
• Phonology and phonetics
• First language acquisition
• Second language acquisition
• Native American phonology
• Sociolinguistic use of sound
• Processing of speech sounds
• Phonology and morphology
• Diachronic sound change
• Articulatory and acoustic phonetics
• Computational phonology
• Speech Perception

Faculty with a Primary Focus on Language Sound Structure

Diana B. Archangeli, Prof., Linguistics, Cognitive Science (MIT 1984) Phonology, phonetics, morphology, Native American languages, phonological features and their phonetic correlates, syllable structure, templatic morphology.

Richard A. Demers, Prof., Linguistics, Cognitive Science (UWashington 1968) Structures of Native American languages, in particular those of the northwest, instrumental phonetics and its role in providing evidence for phonological theory.

LouAnn Gerken, Prof., Speech & Hearing Sciences, Linguistics, Cognitive Science (Columbia 1987) Children's production of prosody, phonology's role in the acquisition of morpho-syntax.

Michael Hammond, Prof., Linguistics, Cognitive Science (UCLA 1984) Phonology, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, meter, stress/accent, and syllable structure.

Jane Hill, Regents Prof., Anthropology (UCLA 1966) Uto-Aztecan, language & culture, language endangerment

Norma Mendoza-Denton, Assoc. Prof, Anthropology (Stanford, 1997 (Linguistics)) Sociophonetics, language variation, language & ethnicity, language & gender.

Diane Ohala, Asst. Prof., Linguistics (UArizona 1996) Phonological acquisition in normal language and speech-language impaired populations, phonology, psycholinguistics.

Adam Ussishkin, Asst. Prof., Linguistics (UC Santa Cruz 2000), Cognitive Science, SLAT, Phonology, Morphology, Prosodic morphology, Semitic

Yingyong Qi, Assoc. Prof., Speech & Hearing Sciences (Ohio State 1989) Electrical & Computer Engineering (UArizona 1993) Speech acoustics, speech production, and digital signal processing.

Natasha Warner, Asst. Prof. Linguistics (UC Berkeley 1998) Phonetics, Experimental Phonology, Language Preservation

Malcah Yaeger-Dror, Research Scientist, Cognitive Science (UPennsylvania 1979) Sound change, chain shifting of vowels, disagreement strategies, prosody and interactive strategies.

Andrew Wedel, Asst. Prof., Linguistics (UC Santa Cruz 2004) Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Phonology, Self-Organization, Computational Phonology, Turkish.

Mary Zampini, Assoc. Prof., Spanish & Portuguese (Georgetown 1993) Spanish phonetics, phonology; second language (L2) speech production and perception; L2 acquisition of phonology.

Other faculty with related interests

Ken Forster, Research Social Scientist, Cognitive Science. Lexical & sentence processing.

Merrill Garrett, Director, Cognitive Science. Speech production.

Theodore J. Glattke, Prof., Speech & Hearing Sciences. Physiology of the auditory system.

Ying Lin, Asst. Prof. Linguistics, Computational Phonology.

Janet Nicol, Assoc. Prof., Psychology, Linguistics, Cognitive Science. Sentence production.

Mary Willie, Assoc. Prof., Linguistics. Dine (Navajo) linguistics, Dine language program.

Ofelia Zepeda, Prof., Linguistics, AILDI Co-director. Lexicography, Tohono O’odham linguistics.

For more information, please contact:

Programs in other domains of language study are also available.