People

We are expanding the ManyTones team.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a groundbreaking global collaboration in speech science.
• Get access to an innovative online framework for auditory research.
• Contribute to high-impact, multi-author publications.

Who Can Participate?

We welcome research labs, fieldworkers, linguists, cognitive scientists, and musicians to collaborate in data collection and analysis. We will provide an adaptable experimental interface that allows both online and in-lab data collection.

Chenzi Xu

Scientific Lead

I am a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the University of Oxford. I received my D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Linguistics from the University of Oxford. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral research associate in forensic phonetics at the University of York, focusing on person-specific automatic speaker recognition. My research interests are in phonetics, psychoacoustics, sociophonetics, tone, speech and language technology (particularly with applications to low-resource languages). My recent work investigates the production and perception of tonal patterns across languages, with a perspective to understanding systematic phonetic variation and its implications for linguistic theory. For more information, please visit my personal website.

Xinbing Luo

Project Manager

I am Xinbing Luo, a PhD candidate in the Phonetics Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. My research focuses on the implicit learning of tonal phonology. I’m also involved in ProsodAI, a lab project exploring the neural encoding of AI-generated speech prosody. Before my PhD, I obtained an MPhil degree in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (Distinction) from University of Cambridge and completed a text-to-speech (TTS) internship at ByteDance.

Indranil Dutta

Outreach Lead

My research interests lie within speech acoustics and coarticulation. My research spans areas within acoustic phonetics, computational phonology, and natural language processing. Within the Speech Dynamics Laboratory (SpeeDyLab) at Jadavpur University, we are interested in articulatory imaging and modeling, and understanding how the dynamics of speech production and perception systems seamlessly integrate within a unified embodied cognition framework. With paradigms ranging from Ultrasound imaging, computational modeling, and eye-tracking, The SpeeDylab is focussed on uncovering links between speech production and perception, and learning how these links provide insight into reading-related complexities. For more information about the work we do please visit Speech Dynamics Laboratory.

Erin M. Buchanan

Data Lead

I am a Professor of Cognitive Analytics at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. I received my Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in computational linguistics with a focus on statistics after attending Texas A&M University for my undergraduate degree. In my spare time, I like to watch sports, play video games, go to National Parks, and travel the globe. My research focuses on modeling semantic memory and the underlying language network by creating better measures of relationships between concepts. I also examine statistical practices and how we can improve those practices through enhanced methodology and teaching. Last, I collaborate with other investigators to improve their statistics and develop psychometrically sound measures of their concepts.

Timo B. Roettger

Analysis Lead

I am a cognitive scientist with a focus on human speech. My research interests centre around how multi-dimensional, continuous aspects of speech relate to discrete behavioural observations and cognitive representations. I research how the speech signal is encoded during speech production, how and when aspects of it are retrieved during speech perception and processing, and how language users learn and generalise learned sound patterns. One methodological theme throughout my work is the critical assessment of experimental design and a strong commitment to quantitative methods, statistical models and open science. As the chair of the ManyLanguages consortium, I’m a strong proponent of diversifying the languages, participants, and researchers represented in the language sciences. For more information, visit my personal website.

Cong Zhang

Ethics Lead

I am a Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology at Newcastle University, United Kingdom. Previously, I received my doctorate from the University of Oxford and have worked outside academia in developing speech technology products. My research focuses on aspects of speech prosody, such as intonation and lexical tone, with a particular emphasis on their interaction. I employ a range of experimental and computational methods to investigate prosody’s role in shaping communication. Beyond prosody, I work on improving the phonetics research pipeline, including reliable remote data collection and gamified citizen science approaches. I also bridge linguistic theory with speech technology, contributing to advancements in speech processing and its real-world applications. For more information, please visit my personal website.

Efthymia Kapnoula

Method Team

I am an Ikerbasque Research Fellow (tenure-track) and Associate Leader of the Spoken Language group at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Spain. I received my PhD in Psychology from the University of Iowa, USA. My research examines the fundamental processes and representations that subserve language use, focusing on speech perception, word recognition, and word learning. A big part of my work examines individual differences in how listeners categorize speech sounds. My current interests revolve around the role of experience in shaping language across the lifespan. In terms of methods, I use mainly experimental behavioral, eye-tracking, and electrophysiological (EEG) paradigms. For more information, visit my personal website.

T. Florian Jaeger

Analysis Team

I am a Professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Computer Science, and Linguistics, at the University of Rochester. I am an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow in the Neurosciences, and NSF CAREER recipient in Robust Intelligence. My research focuses on the development of computational frameworks for language production and understanding. This includes research on the consequences of noise and variability (e.g., between talkers) for communication and the study of inference under uncertainty and learning in production and comprehension. This research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes for Health. I have served as reviewer for federal funding agencies in the US, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Holland, and the European Union.

Márton Sóskuthy

Analysis Team

I’m an Associate Professor in Phonetics and Cognitive Systems in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia, and the director of the OoPS-Lab (Origins of Patterns in Speech Lab). My research focuses mainly on the emergence and maintenance of systematic patterns in speech, where patterns are understood in a broad sense. They include not only conventional phonological and morphological patterns, but also: relationships between communicative function / language use / meaning on the one hand and the shapes of words on the other; orderly configurations in sound systems; and recurring patterns of change across languages.

Joseph V. Casillas

Analysis Team

I am an Associate Professor of Spanish Linguistics in the Spanish and Portuguese Department and Associate Faculty in the Department of Linguistics at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. My main interests are in phonetics, laboratory phonology, and second language acquisition. A principle aim of my research is to better understand the relationship between language use and sound representation in the multilingual mind, as well as the structure of sound systems in human languages. Most of my research is conducted on bilinguals of varying proficiency and linguistic experience. Some of my recent projects have centered on native phonetic experience and its influence on L2 speech production, perception and lexical processing. I also focus my attention on coding, statistical analysis, data visualization, and reproducible research, as well as training researchers to implement open research practices in the speech sciences, particularly in Bilingualism/Second Language Acquisition research. I also enjoy playing music, Casio watches and anything related to el andalú.

Giulio Severijnen

Analysis Team

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy. My research focuses on understanding how humans learn and perceive language, and what the underlying cognitive mechanisms are. At SISSA, I am working with prof. Davide Crepaldi, focussing on the neural mechanisms of statistical learning and reading. Previously, I was a PhD candidate at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cogntition, and Behaviour/Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, working with prof. James McQueen, dr. Hans Rutger Bosker, & dr. Ashley Lewis. Here I investigated how people deal with between-talker variability in prosody.