I am a Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the Cognitive Science Program. My work spans a continuum from basic to applied research, connecting computational models of lexical access and retrieval with behavioral observations, such as subtle variation in pronunciation, symptoms of aphasia, and spelling errors.

There are two recurring themes in my theoretical work: One is the belief that observable phenomena sometimes considered ‘peripheral’, such as pronunciation, hand movements, and spelling errors, reflect ‘central’ processes and representations, such as our knowledge of words and sentence structure. The second theme is the belief that our language production and comprehension systems are constantly changing: Every act of language use is part of a process of language learning and change.

My interests in applied research motivate some of the courses I teach, such as Linguistics 47 (Communication Disorders) and Linguistics 109 (Bilingualism), as well as my outreach activities.