Phonetics Laboratory, RFB 212 (https://www.phonetics.mmll.cam.ac.uk) Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages & Linguistics University of Cambridge Raised Faculty Building Sidgwick Avenue Cambridge CB3 9DA
Phonetics, phonology, and psycholinguistics.
PhD supervising
Y. Zhang L1 development of Lexical Tone from an interactive and parallel perspective. (from 2017)
C. Graham Japanese and Spanish L1 adult speakers’ L2 acquisition of English prosody; now ALTA RA, and future Leverhulme Fellow, TAL, University of Cambridge (2010-2014)
A. Li L2 rhythm development by Mandarin Chinese learners of English; now University Lecturer at Communication University of China (2010-2014)
A.-E. Schmidt The acquisition of prosody in Spanish-English bilingual children; now RA with Ianthi Tsimpli at TAL, University of Cambridge (2010-2014)
M. Zellers Prosodic detail and topic structure in discourse, RCEAL; now Junior Professor at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (2007-2011)
Recent MPhil dissertation supervision
J. Schwarz. Processing of Plural Nouns: Effects of Morphological Structure and Phonological Complexity (2016-2017)
M. Dokovova. Effects of perceptual priming on the VOT continuum (2015-2016)
T. J. Laméris. Category Assimilation in the Production and Perception of Japanese lexical pitch patterns (2015-2016)
A. Danks. For Pheasant read Peasant throughout: Lexical representation and access in Welsh word-initial consonant mutation (2013-2014)
A. Bruggeman. Intonation and tone in Burkina Faso French (2012-2013)
K. Harris. Prosodic marking of givenness in English and Italian: a comparative study of advanced second language learners (2012-2013)
Brechtje's research centres on how linguistic systems exploit speech sounds to convey different types of meaning. Her focus is primarily on prosody: intonation, accentuation, rhythm, and phrasing.
Drawing on a variety of disciplines (phonetics, phonology, psycholinguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and computational linguistics), this research addresses questions like:
- How do prosodic structures differ cross-linguistically, and how do linguistic systems constrain prosodic structure?
- What cross-linguistic variation can we expect to observe in the phonetic realisation of prosodic structure?
- What are the neural and cognitive underpinnings of prosody?
- How do children acquire the relevant mappings between phonetics, phonology, and other parts of the linguistic system that are at play?
- What role does prosody play in language learning in early and late bilinguals?
She has also published on: L1 acquisition of segmental properties, speech perception in noise, L2 pronunciation assessment, transcription and methodology for prosodic research, and morphological processing in speech comprehension.
Brechtje welcomes inquiries from potential MPhil and PhD students with research interests relevant to hers.
Further information:
https://www.phonetics.mmll.cam.ac.uk/staff/professor-brechtje-post
