Appointments
2019-Present | Technical Program Manager, Alexa Fast Language Expansion (FLEX) | Amazon |
2018-2019 | Language Engineer, Alexa HHO | Amazon |
Education
2018 | Ph.D. in Spanish and Language Science Dissertation: Liminal voices, central constraints Project website |
Penn State University |
2014 | M.A. in Spanish | Penn State University |
2010 | B.A. in Spanish | Truman State University |
2010 | B.S. in Mathematics | Truman State University |
Other Academic Experience
2017 | Visiting Scholar | University of Pennsylvania | |
2015 | PIRE Visiting Scholar | Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands | |
2011 | Fulbright English Teaching Assistant | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Argentina | |
2008 | Study Abroad | Universidad de Murcia, Spain | |
2007 | Study Abroad | El CIPET, Alajuela, Costa Rica |
Alternatively, you can view the places that have shaped my academic training here.
My Research Interests
Two questions impel my research:
- How do individuals adapt to linguistic variation in their speech community?
- Which mechanisms guide the adoption of structured variation when communities are in contact (e.g., when second language learners from different language backgrounds interact, when minorities interact with majority language variation)?
More specific research interests can be explored below:
Publications (all peer-reviewed)
Published or Forthcoming
(5) Elola, Idoia, Ariana Mikulski, Ana Rodriquez-Padial, & Grant M. Berry. Forthcoming. Written feedback in Heritage Spanish classrooms: A national survey of students and instructors. Revista Espa&ntile;ola de Lingüaut;ística Aplicada. [Email me for manuscript]
(4) Torres Cacoullos, Rena, & Grant M. Berry. 2018. Sociolinguistic variation in U.S. Spanish. In K. Potowski (ed.), A Handbook of Spanish as a Heritage/Minority Language. Routledge, 254-268. [Post-print Manuscript]
(3) Berry, Grant M. & Mirjam Ernestus. 2018. Phonetic alignment in English as a lingua franca: Coming together while splitting apart. Second Language Research, 34(3), 343-370. doi: 10.1177/0267658317737348. [Post-print manuscript]
(2) Berry, Grant M. 2017. Structural autonomy and aspectual import: A new(er) Spanish Progressive. Probus, 29(2), 205-232. doi: 10.1515/probus-2015-0001 [Post-print Manuscript]
(1) Berry, Grant M. 2016. Processing linguistic variation through dual mechanisms of cognitive control. Linguistics Vanguard, 2(s1), 85-96. doi: 10.1515/lingvan-2016-0033 [Post-print Manuscript] [Publisher's Version]
In Preparation or Under Review
(4) Requena, Pablo E., & Grant M. Berry. Submitted. Changes in L1 sentence processing of morphosyntactic variation by proficient L2 learners. [Email me for manuscript]
(3) Berry, Grant M. In Preparation. Relative syllable duration and pitch alignment in Central Argentine Spanish. [Email me for manuscript]
(2) Berry, Grant M. In Preparation. Reactive control modulates phonological adaptation. [Email me for manuscript]
(1) Gullifer, Jason W., Grant M. Berry, Christian Navarro-Torres, Judith F. Kroll, & Paola E. Dussias. In Preparation. Using syntactic priming to identify cross-linguistic constrains in bilingual language processing. [Email me for manuscript]
RESEARCH INTERESTS
PHONETIC ACCOMMODATION (PHONETIC ALIGNMENT)
Accommodation to socially-stratified variables |
Accommodation ability as a predictor of participation in sound change in-progress |
Accommodation in bilinguals and language learners |
LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE
Processing socially-stratified variation |
Cognitive control in language variation and change |
Variation in Spanish-English bilingual populations in the US |
Minority adoption of majority patterns of variation |
BILINGUALISM
Language experience and the acquisition of variable linguistic patterns |
Language transfer in language processing |
DYNAMICS OF SPEECH PRODUCTION/PERCEPTION
Resolution of variation in the acoustic signal |
Relationship between perception and production in the actuation of sound change |
Production dynamics in sound changes-in-progress |
Dual mechanisms of cognitive control and language processing |
LABORATORY PHONOLOGY IN THE FIELD
Freeware for experiment building |
Psycholinguistic research in field settings |
Integrating sociolinguistic interview data with behavioral measures |
QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN LANGUAGE SCIENCE
Linear mixed effects modeling |
Generalized additive modeling |
Dimension-reduction methods (e.g., PCA, conditional inference trees, factor analysis) |
Forced alignment |
Structural equation modeling |
CONFERENCES
Peer-reviewed Conference Talks
(11) Berry, Grant M. 2018. Minorities in the lead? Puerto Rican adoption of Philadelphia sound changes in-progress. New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 47. New York University. 18-21 October.
(10) Berry, Grant M. 2018. Echoes from below: Puerto Rican adoption of Philadelphia sound changes in-progress. 9th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS9). Queens College. 4-7 April.
(9) Berry, Grant M., & Mirjam Ernesus. 2016. Alignment-induced phonological variation in non-native dialogue. New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 45. Simon Fraser University. 3-6 November.
(8) Berry, Grant M. 2016. What Puerto Ricans can tell us about the actuation of sound change: Social and cognitive constraints on the adoption of changes-in-progress. 8th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS8). Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. 13-16 April.
(7) Berry, Grant M.. 2016. Proactive inhibitory control and the adoption of sound changes-in-progress. Sociolinguistic Variation and Language Processing (SVALP). Virginia Tech. March 31-April 2.
(6) Torres Cacoullos, Rena, Grant M. Berry, Chris Champi, Lauren Perrotti, & Miguel Ramos. Expresión variable de los pronombres de sujeto: diferencias entre él y ella. X Congreso Internacional de la Historia de la Lengua Española (CIHLE). Universidad de Zaragoza. Sept. 7-11.
(5) Berry, Grant M. 2015. A quantitative account of the tonada cordobesa: The contribution of pitch, duration, and style in production. Ohio State Congress on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (OSUCHiLL), Ohio State University, April 10-11.
(4) Torres Cacoullos, Rena, Grant M. Berry, Chris Champi, Lauren Perrotti, & Miguel Ramos-Riquelme. 2014. Early conditioning of Spanish variable subject expression. New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 43, Chicago, Illinois, October 23-26.
(3) Berry, Grant M. 2014. Transcribing the 'tune': Prosodic and sociolinguistic properties of the tonada cordobesa. First Symposium on Tone and Intonation in the Spanish-Speaking World (InToSpan), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October 10-11.
(2) Berry, Grant M. 2014. Concretization of a construction: Conditioning the Progressive in 20th-century Spain. Georgetown University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics. Georgetown University, March 13-16.
(1) Berry, Grant M. 2014. Ghosts in the bilingual machine: The role of language experience in CC resolution strategies for Spanish-English bilinguals. Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology (CASPSLaP), Georgetown University, March 13-16.
Peer-reviewed Conference Posters
(9) Berry, Grant M.. 2017. Dual mechanisms of cognitive control modulate the integration of phonological variation. 4th Workshop on Sound Change. Edinburgh. 21-23 April. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11805.72165
(8) Requena, Pablo E., & Grant M. Berry. 2017. A bilingual advantage in processing variation: Evidence for shared morphosyntactic representations. Symposium on Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World (BHL). Florida State University. 27-29 Jan. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30060.77445
(7) Berry, Grant M., & Mirjam Ernesus. 2016. Phonetic alignment in non-native discourse. LabPhon 15. Cornell. 13-16 July.
(6) Gullifer, Jason W., Grant M. Berry, Christian Navarro-Torres, Judith F. Kroll, & Paola E. Dussias. 2016. What about the syntax? Bilingual word recognition in sentence context. International Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Granada, 5-8 May.
(5) Berry, Grant M., & Nicole Benevento. 2016. Contact on a different time scale: Phonetic variation in a longstanding contact variety. Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Washington, D.C., January 7-10.
(4) Berry, Grant M., & Rena Torres Cacoullos. 2015. Inferring the social from the linguistic: Clustering and stratification in NM Spanish. Linguistic Society of America Institute, University of Chicago, July 14.
(3) Gullifer, Jason W., Judith F. Kroll, Paola E. Dussias, Christian Navarro-Torres, and Grant M. Berry. 2015. Using syntactic priming to identify cross-language constraints in bilingual language processing. International Symposium on Bilingualism, Rutgers University, May 20-24.
(2) Berry, Grant M. 2014. Alternating aspect: Conditioning the Progressive in 20th-century Spain. 7th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS7), University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 3-5.
(1) Beatty-Martínez, Anne, Grant M. Berry, & Ryan Platz. 2014. Contrasts in code-switches at the Determiner Phrase. 7th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS7), University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 3-5.
FUNDING
2017 | Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (BCS 1651061) | $15,107 | National Science Foundation |
2016-2017 | Center for Global Studies Fellowship | $1,000 | Penn State University |
2016 | Superior Teaching and Research (STAR) Award | $2,000 | Penn State University |
2016 | Edwin Erle Sparks Fellowship in the Humanities | Teaching Release | Penn State University |
2015 | RGSO (Research and Graduate Studies Office) Award | $2,000 | Penn State University |
2015 | NSF PIRE Fellowship to Radboud University | Teaching Release Travel/Expenses |
Penn State University |
2015 | LSA Summer Institute Fellowship | $2,000 | Linguistic Society of America |
2014 | Superior Teaching and Research (STAR) Award | $2,950 | Penn State University |
2014-2015 | Graduate Scholar Award | $4,000 | Penn State University |
2011 | Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (Argentina) | Travel/Expenses | Institute of International Education |
2009 | Student-Initiated Course Grant | $1,000 | Truman State University |
2009 | Student Research Grant | $2,000 | Truman State University |
2009 | Argentine Tango Workshop Stipend | $1,100 | Truman State University |
2006-2010 | General John J. Pershing Scholarship | $55,000 (appx.) | Truman State University |
2006-2010 | Missouri Higher Education Academic Scholarship | $8,000 | MO Department of Education |
Honorary Awards
2014, 2016 | Jesús Díaz Award | Penn State University |
2010 | Gabriela Mistral Award | Sigma Delta Pi National Office |
2010 | Senior Leadership Award | Truman State University |
2010 | Oustanding Student in Spanish | Truman State University |
Invited Talks
Jan. 2018 | Penn State University | On the cognitive processing strategies underlying the propagation of sound change |
Nov. 2017 | Penn State University | Dimension reduction methods: PCA, factor analysis, and k-means clustering |
Nov. 2017 | University of Pittsburgh | Best practices in data visualization: An introduction to the ggplot2 package in R |
Nov. 2017 | University of Pittsburgh | Echoes from below: Minority adoption of majority sound change |
May 2017 | University of Pennsylvania | Cognitive control, phonological integration, and the propagation of sound change |
Apr. 2017 | Penn State University | Shrinking down sound change: Cognitive control and phonological adaptation. |
Mar. 2017 | University of Pennsylvania | Using OpenSesame for experiment building. |
Mar. 2017 | University of Pennsylvania | RE-assessment and RE-adjustment: Optimizing random effects in linear mixed effects models. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30397.46563 |
Feb. 2017 | Ohio State University | Shifting leftward? Syllable duration and pitch anchoring in Central Argentine Spanish |
Feb. 2017 | University of Pennsylvania | Dual mechanisms of cognitive control and phonological adaptation |
Sept. 2016 | Penn State University | Phonetic alignment in English as a lingua franca: Effects of style, proficiency, and native language influence |
Apr. 2016 | Penn State University | The long and short of it: How short-term alignment and cognitive processing may influence sound change |
Apr. 2016 | Truman State University | When habla isn't the same as está hablando: Grammaticalization of the Spanish Progressive |
Apr. 2016 | Truman State University | How a Liberal Arts education prepared me for graduate school |
Apr. 2016 | Truman State University | Phonetic alignment and style shifting in English as a lingua franca |
Apr. 2016 | Truman State University | Making use of literature in the study of language change |
Nov. 2015 | Radboud University | Coming together, splitting apart: Vocalic accommodation in EFL discourse |
Oct. 2015 | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics | Individual differences in the adoption of variable phonology: Preliminary findings |
Oct. 2015 | Univeristeit Leiden Centre for Linguistics | Prosodic and social predictors of speech in central Argentina: the tonada cordobesa |
Apr. 2015 | Penn State Functional Syntax Course | Transcribing in ELAN by Intonation Units |
Mar. 2015 | University of British Columbia | Data visualization in R using ggplot2 |
Mar. 2015 | University of British Columbia | PRAAT Scripting |
Oct. 2014 | Penn State Kontaktdeutsch Course | Using ELAN for corpus research |
Oct. 2014 | Penn State Code-switching Course | An introduction to ELAN for discourse transcription |
Sep. 2014 | Penn State University Child Language Lab | Using ELAN for corpus research |
SERVICE/PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Peer Review: | Language Variation and Change
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad Laboratory Phonology Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics Bilingualism: Language and Cognition Foreign Language Annals Folia Linguistica Languages Language Dynamics and Change Estudios de fonética experimental |
Departmental Service: | Undergraduate Curriuculum Reorganization
PSUxLing Committee (Founding Member) 6-year Review Compiler Center for Language Science Move Coordinator Graduate Recruitment Week Committee |
Academic Membership: |
Acoustical Society of America Association for Laboratory Phonology Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Graduate Student Organization Linguistic Society of America Bilingualism Matters! @ Penn State Phi Beta Kappa Phi Kappa Phi Sigma Delta Pi (Rho Rho) Pershing Society |
Research Assistantships/Training
Research Assistantships: | New Mexico Spanish-English Bilingual Corpus Syntactic Priming in Bilingual Sentence Processing |
Rena Torres Cacoullos Judith F. Kroll |
2013-2015
2013 |
Independent Study: | Prosody and Dialect Contact
Acoustic Phonetics and Experimental Design Behavioral Research Methods and Syntactic Priming ESL Teaching Internship |
John M. Lipski
Marianna Nadeu Judith F. Kroll Sally Cook |
2014
2014 2013 2010 |
Reading Groups: | Bayesian Analysis Reading Group (BARG)
PHON (Phonetics and Phonology Reading Group) |
2015-2016
2013-2014 |
Sociolinguistic variation in US Spanish | Penn State University | Spring 2018 |
The Evolution of Spanish | Penn State University | Fall 2017 |
Intensive Elementary Spanish | Penn State University | Summer 2017 |
Elementary Spanish | Penn State University Penn State University |
Fall 2016 Spring 2013 |
Intensive Intermediate Spanish | Penn State University | Summer 2016 |
Translation | Penn State University | Summer 2016 |
Intensive Introductory Spanish | Penn State University Penn State University |
Summer 2015 Summer 2013 |
Introduction to Spanish Linguistics (TA) | Penn State University | Spring 2015 |
Intermediate Spanish | Penn State University | Fall 2014 |
Advanced Oral Expression and Communication in Spanish | Penn State University | Summer 2014 |
Spanish Phonology | Penn State University | Fall 2013 |
English for Specific Purposes (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Fall 2011 |
Conversational English (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Fall 2011 |
Social History of the United States (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Fall 2011 |
TOEFL Preparation (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Spring/Fall 2011 | Creative Writing for ESL Learners (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Spring 2011 |
Advanced English Expression (TA) | Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto | Spring 2011 |
Introduction to Social Semiotics | Truman State University | Fall 2009 |
SKILLS
Acoustic Analysis/Transcription | PRAAT, ELAN, Audacity |
Statistical Packages | R, Goldvarb, Minitab, SPSS |
Experimental Software | OpenSesame, E-Prime, Amazing Mechanical Turk |
Programming Languages | Git, Z-shell, Bash, Python, HTML5, CSS, PRAAT, R |
Human Languages | Spanish (near-native), Classical Latin (intermediate), Dutch (elementary), Modern Standard Arabic (elementary) |
A geographical trajectory of my academic experiences: