Heather Goad
Professor of Linguistics, McGill University
"The data do not speak for themselves. I have been in rooms with
data and listened very carefully. They never said a word."
— Milford Wolpoff (1975)
Professor of Linguistics, McGill University
"The data do not speak for themselves. I have been in rooms with
data and listened very carefully. They never said a word."
— Milford Wolpoff (1975)
I completed my PhD in Linguistics in 1994 at the University of Southern California under the supervision of Jean-Roger Vergnaud. I joined the Department of Linguistics at McGill University at 1992.
My research focuses on phonology and language acquisition. I am principally concerned with examining how representations can inform our understanding of the shapes of phonological systems and the developmental trajectory of first and second language learners.
I teach introductory courses in general linguistics, phonology and first language acquisition and more advanced courses in phonology as well as first and second acquisition. My teaching was recognized by McGill through receipt of the Principal's Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching.
I am currently a member of the Editorial Board of Language Acquisition and I am on the Advisory Board for the Language Acquisition & Language Disorders series (John Benjamins). I was formerly an Associate Editor of Language Acquisition and Co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Linguistics.
heather.goad@mcgill.ca
Department of Linguistics, McGill University
1085
av.
Dr-Penfield, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 1A7
Heather Goad was among the more than 300 students, professors and staff invited to participate.
I am first and foremost a theoretical linguist who strives to uncover the nature of grammatical representations that both predict and constrain the shapes of natural languages. My main area of research is phonology, but my work interfaces with other areas of the grammar as well – phonetics, morphology, syntax and prosody. Much of my work examines the patterns displayed by first and second language learners and, to a lesser extent, individuals with language impairment.
I use archival data, elicit production data, and undertake experiments to probe for patterns in development and in the end state. I strive to capture grammatical patterns by appealing to representations that are both abstract and highly structured. What appears on the surface then may conceal deeper complexity, as evident from some of the questions I have focused on in recent work:
This research program explores the relationship between phonology and other domains of the grammars of second language learners and bilingual speakers. We are investigating how this relationship accounts for knowledge and use of a second language from a variety of perspectives.
This interdisciplinary research program examines effects of quantity, quality and timing of input on learner development in various groups: bilingual children, children with language impairment, internationally adopted children, heritage speakers and L2 learners. The emphasis is on determining the extent to which diverse groups exhibit effects of cognitive plasticity in their approaches to language learning, despite variation in input.
L'objectif général du projet vise à documenter les trajectoires acquisitionnelles d'éléments phonologiques des enfants (unilingues et bilingues de 4 ans et des apprenants du français au primaire). Les trajectoires acquisitionnelles seront comparées entre les groupes pour les différents éléments ciblés et l'impact des facteurs documenté. Le projet aura des retombées pour les personnes recevant des services spécialisés ou un enseignement du français langue seconde. Avoir accès à un enseignement qui intègre les trajectoires acquisitionnelles favorisera un apprentissage plus rapide, diminuant plus rapidement les barrières liées à la langue.
This proposal supports emerging linguistic research on the phonological system of Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) and facilitates educational and archival collaborations with Kanien'kehá:ka communities.
The overall objective of this research program is to investigate neurocognitive underpinnings of language acquisition and use amongst learners who are bilinguals, early or late L2 learners, or learners with language impairment.
The Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music – CRBLM – is a strategic research group with a unique interdisciplinary focus on language, music, and their intersection.
Prosodic transfer and the second language acquisition of Mandarin by English-speaking learners. China Scholarship Council post-doctoral fellow.
Current position: Associate Professor, College of International Studies, Yangzhou University, China.
Phonological effects on grammatical representation and processing. SSHRC-funded post-doctoral fellow. [co-supervised with Lydia White]
Current position: Lecturer, École de langues, Université Laval.
Crosslinguistic study of laryngeal features in languages with asymmetrical inventories. SSHRC post-doctoral fellow.
Current position: Associate Professor, Dept of Linguistics, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
The perception and use of prosody in the processing of spoken language.
Centre for Research on Language, Mind and Brain post-doctoral fellow. [co-supervised with Karsten Steinhauer & Lydia White]
McDonald, Mary Onwá:ri Tekahawáhkwen
Kanien'kéha through the lens of a first-language speaker. [principal supervisor: Jessica Coon]
Linguistic experience and the representation of phonological features: Perception, processing, and second language acquisition.
Interaction in phonological variation: Grammatical insights from a corpus-based approach. [co-supervised with Francisco Torreira]
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept of French and Italian, Indiana University.
Weight effects on stress in Portuguese: Lexicon, grammar and acquisition.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Département de langues, linguistique et traduction, Université Laval.
Variability in L2 functional morphology: The Korean speaker of English.
University of New England, Australia. [co-supervised with Einar Thorsteinsson]
Current position: Lecturer, Linguistics, School of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Australia.
Qu, Chen
The representation and acquisition of tone sandhi in Mandarin.
Representation and acquisition of stress: A prosodic learning path for second language learners and the case of Turkish. [co-supervised with Lydia White]
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University; Adjunct Professor, Department of Second Language Studies and Department of Linguistics.
The perception and production of interdental fricatives in second language acquisition.
Current position: Lecturer, Department of Linguistics, University of Ottawa.
Mah, Jen
Segmental representations in interlanguage grammars: The case of francophones and English /h/.
Subsequent position: Lecturer, Dept of Humanities, Mount Royal University, Calgary; Research Associate, Language Research Centre, University of Calgary.
Topics in the phonology of Picard.
Current position: Professor, TESL Centre, Dept of Education, Concordia University.
Representation and phonological licensing in the L2 acquisition of prosodic structure.
Current position: Professor, Dept of French, University of Toronto.
Headedness and prosodic licensing in the L1 acquisition of phonology.
Current position: Professor, Dept of Linguistics, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Coda constraints – Optimizing representations. [co-supervised with Glyne Piggott]
Current position: Professor, Dept of English, Hosei University, Tokyo.
Brown, Cindy
Acquisition of segmental structure: Consequences for speech perception and second language acquisition. [co-supervised with Lydia White]
Consequences of constraint ranking.
Current position: Professor, Dept of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Jones, Cassi
Glottal stop in Sereer. [co-supervised with Martina Martinović]
Oppong, Olivia
An experimental investigation of focus prosody in Akan and Ghanaian English. [co-supervised with Michael Wagner]
Shanks, David
Rhyme constraints in Southern Tutchone (Dene): A focus on nominals.
Wang, Beini
A re-examination of the production of Mandarin third tone sandhi. [co-supervised with Meghan Clayards]
Schwarz, Martha
Realization and representation of Nepali laryngeal contrasts: Voiced aspirates and laryngeal realism. [co-supervised with Morgan Sonderegger]
Leung, Betty
Production of the low-level and low-falling tone merger by Heritage Cantonese speakers in Toronto. [co-supervised with Morgan Sonderegger]
Martinez, Ruth
La perception naïve non-native des voyelles nasales du portugais. Université de Montréal. [co-supervised with Michael Dow and Daniel Valois]
Tanner, James
The representation and processing of inflectional morphology: The prosodic dual-route hypothesis.
Shimada, Aki
Syllabification in Blackfoot: Nucleic /s/.
Dalton, Will
Allophony in the L2: The acquisition of high vowel allophones in Québec French.
Prévost, Adèle-Elise
Prosodic transfer from the L1 to the L2: An electrophysiological investigation. [co-supervised with Karsten Steinhauer]
Beritognolo, Gustavo
Hiatus in Argentinian Spanish.
Fowler, Sadie
An investigation of medial epenthesis in the L2 English of Iraqi Arabic speakers.
Ruiz, Pablo
Behaviour of [n] and [s] in stress assignment in L2 Spanish: Does orthography play a role?
Kang, Hyun-Sook
An optimal approach to syllabification in the phonology of Korean learners of English.
Gonzalez Poot, Antonio
Spanish rhymes: A challenge to constraints on syllable structure?
Lebel, Éliane
On first language acquisition of word-initial English clusters: A case study.
Taler, Vanessa
S-weakening in the Spanish of San Miguel, El Salvador. [co-supervised with Julie Auger]
Royle, Phaedra
Verb production in French DLI subjects.
Narasimhan, Rama
Coronal, velars and front vowels.
Feu, Natalia
The case of the missing vowels: A simple CVC analysis of Lushootseed syllable structure.
Cox-Casals, Ray
Pseudo-geminates: An autosegmental approach to consonant "lengthening" in Chilean Spanish.
Wilson, Alysia
Analysis of adult Polish consonant clusters through evidence from child acquisition.
Mou, Yanran
L2 effects on stress shift in English demonym formation.
Hyun, Olivia
The perception and production of English liquid consonants by native Korean speakers.
Marks, Rachel
Acquisition of a subset grammar: The role of indirect positive evidence, indirect negative evidence, and grammatical transfer.
Zheng, Shuang (Ivy)
Casual speech elision in Tianjin Mandarin. [co-supervised with Francisco Torreira]
Toutant, Charles
Cumulative effects in Old English homorganic lengthening.
Zhang, Sijia
Strategies in the second language acquisition of phonology: A case study of a near-native Mandarin speaker of English.
Ellner, Aliza
Implicational universals in atypically-developing grammars: On the representation of CL strings in the grammars of eight German-speaking children with phonological disorders.
Passarelli, Sophia
Consonant clusters and syllable structure in French children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). [co-supervised with Phaedra Royle]
Miller, Kaylee
Acquisition of Hebrew stress in English speaking elementary school students.
Wang, Beini
Prosodic transfer in L2 production and comprehension: The acquisition of English agreement by Mandarin speakers.
Wang, Chu Han (Celine)
Syllable structure constraints in Mandarin-speaking learners of English.
Higgins, Fiona
The perception and production of /s/ in hearing impaired children with cochlear implants.
Javaheri-Cabrera, Nadia
Negotiating identity through language: The case of Iranian youth in the diaspora.
Zhang, Junmei
Indirect evidence in the acquisition of a subset grammar: A study of English learners of Mandarin.
Koh, Justin
Prosody in the French of internationally-adopted children. [co-supervised with Fred Genesee]
Orbegozo Zavala, Omar
Syllable segmentation in adults using allophonic cues. [co-supervised with Kris Onishi]
Schwartz, Misha
Indirect positive evidence in second language acquisition.
Yoon, Erica
Cues used by 10-month-old infants in within-word segmentation. [co-supervised with Kris Onishi]
Bucurel, Elisa
The use of allophonic cues and backward transitional probabilities in infant within-word segmentation. [co-supervised with Kris Onishi]
Poirier-Caron, Maude
Perception of the /f/-/Θ/ contrast by anglophone children and francophone adults.
Thorne, Julia
The effects of prosodic transfer on English-speaking learners of Spanish.
Fromstein, David
To Tokyo with rove: Perception of non-native liquid contrasts in the adaptation of Japanese loanwords from English.
Garellek, Marc
L1 allophony and the acquisition of non-native contrast.
McManus, Jenny
Disambiguating prosodic structure: Can infants use statistics and allophonic cues to segment speech? [co-supervised with Kris Onishi]
Dalton, Will
Covert contrast and articulatory locality in child consonant harmony.
Prévost, Adèle-Elise
From personal stereotype to shared protoyype: Internal and interactional contributions to the acquisition of word meaning in infants. [co-supervised with Robert Myles]
Buckley, Meaghen
Linguistic bootstrapping and the syntax-prosody interface: The syntax and phonology of clitics in second language French. [co-supervised with Lydia White]
Vandendorpe, Maïda
The phonological structure of English and French loanwords in Japanese.
Tessier, Anne-Michelle
On the Athapaskan superstem: Interaction between principles and constraints in the morpho-phonology of Chilcotin and Sarcee verbs.
Haugh, Bridget
AH! AW!: The changing production and perception of low vowels in Canadian English. [co-supervised with Julie Auger]
Iveson, Jennifer
Diphthongization of lax vowels in the speech of two southern U.S. speakers.
Roncone, Tina
Belmontese phonology.
Curtin, Suzanne
The role of post-lexical phonology in second language acquisition: A speech perception experiment.
Zamuner, Tania
The acquisition of coda consonants.
Wood, Karen
Word minimality, coda and onset development: A case study in phonological acquisition over the word-spurt boundary.