缅北禁地

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Staff Profile

Dr Rory Turnbull

Senior Lecturer

  • Personal Website:
Background

Internal roles

Co-Convenor,

SELLL Deputy Director of Admissions and Recruitment

Language and Linguistics Seminar Series Coordinator

External roles

Editor,

Summary CV

Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology, 缅北禁地 (2023-Present)

Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology, 缅北禁地 (2020-2023)

Assistant Professor in Phonology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2017-2020)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (2015-2017)

PhD in Linguistics, Ohio State University (2015)

MA (hons) in English Language and Linguistics, University of Edinburgh (2009)

Research

I am interested in the phonological processes and representations of the mental lexicon and as such my research sits at the intersection between phonetics, phonology, and psycholinguistics. In my , I investigated the cognitive source of frequency and predictability effects in spoken language. More generally, I am interested in the ways that frequency, predictability, and other usage-based factors influence linguistic sound structures. My current research examines how factors of lexical organization, such as phonological neighborhood density, influence speech production and perception. Additionally, I maintain an active research agenda in intonation and prosody, investigating the relationships between predictability, context, and the phonetics of prosodic contrasts.

I use a wide variety of research paradigms, drawing from experimental phonetics, cognitive psychology, and theoretical phonology. There is no “one size fits all” solution to research in the language sciences. This methodological pluralism entails a cross-linguistic approach, which is vital for the advancement of the field, particularly when a key finding is based on data from a small number of languages. Several of my projects involve cross-linguistic studies and diverse methodological approaches.

 

Teaching

Semester 2 2026 consultation and feedback hours:

  • Monday 9:30-11:00
  • Friday 11:00-12:30


I regularly teach on the following modules in SELLL:

  • SEL1027 Introduction to the Study of Language 1: Phonetics, Phonology, and Morphology
  • SEL2000 Phonological theory
  • SEL2236 It's not what you say, it's how you say it: Prosody and intonation
  • SEL3431 Laboratory Phonology
  • SEL8154 Issues in Phonological Theory I
  • SEL8691 Advanced Topics in Phonology
  • SEL8698 Melody in language
Publications

  • Articles

    • Clopper CG, Burdin RS, Turnbull R. . Journal of Phonetics 2023, 99, 101243.
    • Coretta S, et al, Zhang C, Alotaibi NE, Halfacre C, Kelly NE, Turnbull R, McConnellogue C-AM. . Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 2023, 6(3), 1–29.
    • Melnik-Leroy GA, Turnbull R, Peperkamp S. . Second Language Research 2022, 38(3), 581-605.
    • Clopper CG, Burdin RS, Turnbull R. . The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2019, 146(1), 233-244.
    • Turnbull R. . Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 2019, 34(6), 747-768.
    • Turnbull R. . Linguistics Vanguard 2018, 4(s2), 20170033.
    • Turnbull R, Seyfarth S, Hume E, Jaeger TF. . Laboratory Phonology 2018, 9(1), 15.
    • Clopper CG, Turnbull R, Burdin RS. . Linguistics Vanguard 2018, 4(S2).
    • Turnbull R. . Language and Speech 2017, 60(1), 123-153.
    • Turnbull R. . Journal of the International Phonetic Association 2017, 47(3), 251-282.
    • Turnbull R, Peperkamp S. . The Mental Lexicon 2017, 12(3), 404-430.
    • Turnbull R, Royer AJ, Ito K, Speer SR. . Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 2017, 32(8), 1017–1033.
    • Holliday JJ, Turnbull R, Eychenne J. . Behavior Research Methods 2017, 49(5), 1939-1950.
    • Ito K, Turnbull R, Speer SR. . Laboratory Phonology 2017, 81(1), 1-29.
    • Wiener S, Turnbull R. . Language and Speech 2016, 59(1), 59–82.
    • Burdin RS, Phillips-Bourass S, Turnbull R, Yasavul M, Clopper CG, Tonhauser J. . Lingua 2015, 165(B), 254-276.
    • Turnbull R, Burdin RS, Clopper CG, Tonhauser J. . Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 2015, 30(9), 1061-1076.
    • Ladd DR, Turnbull R, Browne C, Caldwell-Harris C, Ganushchak L, Swoboda K, Woodfield V, Dediu D. . Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 2013, 39(5), 1386-1397.
    • Turnbull R, Clopper CG. . Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 2013, 19, 060116.

  • Book Chapters

    • Turnbull R. . In: Díaz-Campos M; Balasch S, ed. The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics. Chichester: Wiley, 2023, pp.145-160.
    • Turnbull R. . In: Berez-Kroeker AL; McDonnell B; Koller E; Collister LB, ed. The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2022, pp.557–564.
    • Clopper CG, Turnbull R. . In: Cangemi F; Clayards M; Niebuhr O; Schuppler B; Zellers M, ed. Rethinking Reduction: Interdisciplinary perspectives on conditions, mechanisms, and domains for phonetic variation. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2018, pp.25-72.
    • Turnbull R, Peperkamp S. . In: Cherifi H; Gaito S; Quattrociocchi W; Sala A, ed. Complex Networks & Their Applications V. Springer, Cham, 2017, pp.83–94.
    • Pharao Hansen M, Hernández-Green N, Turnbull R, Boeg Thomsen D. Life histories, language attitudes and linguistic variation: Navigating the micro-politics of language revitalization in an Otomí community in Mexico. In: Pérez-Báez, G., Rogers, C., & Rosés Labrada, J. E, ed. Language Documentation and Revitalization: Latin American Contexts. de Gruyter, 2016. In Preparation.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

    • Turnbull R, Kiefer E, Peperkamp S. . In: Interspeech 2025 Fair and Inclusive Speech Science and Technology. 2025, Rotterdam, The Netherlands: ISCA - International Speech Communication Association.
    • Turnbull R. . In: 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). 2023, Prague, Czech Republic: International Phonetic Association.
    • Peperkamp S, Antoine V, Turnbull R. . In: 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Cognitive Diversity, CogSci 2022. 2022, Toronto: The Cognitive Science Society.
    • Turnbull R. . In: Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics. 2021, Online: Association for Computational Linguistics.
    • Turnbull R, Peperkamp S. . In: 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. 2019, Melbourne, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
    • McDonnell B, Turnbull R. . In: 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody. 2018, Poznań, Poland: International Speech Communication Association.
    • Turnbull R, Peperkamp S. . In: 5th International Workshop on Complex Networks and their Applications. 2017, Milan: Springer.
    • Schatz T, Turnbull R, Bach F, Dupoux E. . In: Interspeech 2017. 2017, Stockholm, Sweden: International Speech Communication Association.
    • Turnbull R. . In: 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. 2015, Glasgow, UK: International Phonetic Association.
    • Holliday JJ, Turnbull R. . In: 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. 2015, Glasgow, UK: International Phonetic Association.
    • Turnbull R, Royer AJ, Ito K, Speer SR. . In: Speech Prosody. 2014, Dublin: International Speech Communication Association.
    • Burdin RS, Turnbull R, Clopper CG. . In: 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. 2014, Indianapolis, Indiana: American Institute of Physics.

  • Edited Book

    • Crocker MW, Jäger G, Kuperberg G, Rohde H, Teich E, Turnbull R, ed. . Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA, 2022.

  • Review

    • Turnbull R. . Phonology 2018, 35(3), 530-536.