Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics English Faculty Building University of Cambridge 9 West Road Cambridge CB3 9DP United Kingdom
Elaine’s research interests range from language acquisition, to psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, mostly with a focus on prosody.
Elaine wrote her PhD on Bilingual Acquisition of Prosody at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Brechtje Post. Subsequently she became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Child Language Lab, Macquarie University, Sydney with Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth, as well as an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CCD). Her research there focussed on the processing of prosody in children and adults using EEG, eye-tracking and behavioural online measurements. Elaine currently holds a Research Associate Position with Prof Ianthi Tsimpli and conducts research with the Cambridge Processing and Acquisition of Language Lab (CamLAB).
Language acquisition Language processing Psycholinguistics Neurolinguistics Phonetics/Phonology Prosody Speech perception
As Principal Investigator:
- The use of subvocal prosody in the processing of sentences (EEG and concurrent eye-tracking study) In collaboration with Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (Child Language Lab, Macquarie University), Distinguished Prof Anne Castles (Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University), A/Prof Blake Johnson (Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University), A/Prof Sachiko Kinoshita (Department of Psychology, Macquarie University), Carmen Kung (Child Language Lab, Linguistics, Macquarie University), Dr Peter de Lissa (Department of Psychology, Macquarie University)
- Children’s use of subvocal prosody for syntactic disambiguation (EEG and concurrent eye-tracking study) In collaboration with Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (Child Language Lab, Macquarie University), Distinguished Prof Anne Castles (Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University), A/Prof Blake Johnson (Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University), A/Prof Sachiko Kinoshita (Department of Psychology, Macquarie University), Carmen Kung (Child Language Lab, Linguistics, Macquarie University), Dr Peter de Lissa (Department of Psychology, Macquarie University)
- Categorical and gradient processing of intonation in collaboration with Dr Brechtje Post (University of Cambridge), Carmen Kung (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University), Dr Ivan Yuen (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University), Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University)
- L2 acquisition of Australian Intonational Patterns In collaboration with Carmen Kung (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University), Dr Ivan Yuen (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University), Dr Brechtje Post (University of Cambridge), Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University)
As Co-Investigator:
- Perception and production of prosodic phrase boundaries in adults and children PIs: Dr Nan Xu Rattanasone, Dr Ivan Yuen, Co-Is: Dr Elaine Schmidt, Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (all Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University)
- Acquisition of focus marking – production/perception PIs: Dr Ivan Yuen, Dr Nan Xu Rattanasone, Co-Is: Dr Elaine Schmidt, Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (all Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University)
- The perception of coda consonants in Mandarin learners of English PIs: Carmen Kung, Dr Nan Xu Rattanasone, Co-Is: Dr Elaine Schmidt, Distinguished Prof Katherine Demuth (all Child Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University)
Schmidt, E., Kung, C., Post, B., Yuen, I., & Demuth, K., (2016) L1 experience shapes the perception of intonational contours. Proc. Speech Prosody 2016, 242-246
Yuen, I., Xu, N., Schmidt, E., Holt, R. & Demuth, K. (submitted) Children’s use of boundary related duration and F0 cues to disambiguate compounds vs. lists. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research
Galaczi, E., Post, B., Li, A., Barker, E. & Schmidt, E., (in print) L2 pronunciation: Distinguishing features of rhythm in learner speech at different proficiency levels. In Isaacs & Trofimovich (eds.) Interfaces in second language pronunciation assessment.
Schmidt, E., & Post, B. (2015). The Development of Prosodic Features and their Contribution to Rhythm Production in Simultaneous Bilinguals. Language and speech, 58(1), 24-47.
Schmidt, E., & Post, B. (2015). Language interaction in the development of speech rhythm in simultaneous bilinguals. In E. Delais-Roussarie, M. Avanzi, & S. Herment, Prosody, Language in Contact and L2 Acquisition. Springer publication
Schmidt, E., Post, B., Kung, C., Yuen, I., & Demuth, K. (2015). The effect of listener and speaker gender on the perception of rises in AusE. In J. Stuart-Smith, J. Scobbie, J., & A. Turk (Eds.), Proceedings from the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. Paper 0518). Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
Barker, F., Post, B., Schmidt, E., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Identifying criterial aspects of pronunciation in L2 English across CEFR levels: Implications for language learning. In J. Angouri, M. Daller, & J. Treffers-Daller (eds.), The Impact of Applied Linguistics - Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of BAAL (pp. 17-22). Bristol: University of the West of England.