Lab Team

Jesse Harris, Assistant Professor

My primary research in language processing incorporates methods from cognitive science to investigate how language users develop a sufficiently rich linguistic meaning during online comprehension. I've pursued a language processing model that relies on structural heuristics to recover meaning when required, but which may elect to leave some aspects of a representation underspecificied, if doing so is grammatically possible and computationally efficient.

Beyond that, I am interested in many other areas of language cognition, including how memory representations compete during retrieval, and how prosodic and syntactic structure align during real-time processing. I also work in formal semantics and pragmatics.

https://jesseharris.netlify.com/

Angelica Pan

I graduated from UCLA in 2019 with a double major in Linguistics (with a Specialization in Computing) and German. My research interests include relative clauses, sentence processing, and computational linguistics.

In my free time, I like to cook traditional Chinese food.

Vahideh Rasekhi, Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Postdoctoral Fellow in Iranian Linguistics

I study how information structure, prosody, and different kinds of linguistic information such as case marking and scrambling help individuals in interpreting and processing ambiguous sentences, particularly in ellipsis structures, in order to investigate the implicit knowledge that native speakers have about their language and its regularities. Some of my current research explores the role of information structure in the online interpretation of ellipsis in Persian.

https://vahidehrasekhi.com

Canaan Breiss

I’m a fourth year grad student in UCLA’s linguistics department. Broadly speaking, my research deals in theoretical phonology, the relationship between learning and grammar (in both infants and adults), and the interfaces between phonology and the rest of the grammar and cognitive system. I investigate questions in these areas using computational models and experimental tasks, stemming from my strong commitment to lab-based and computational/statistical methods.

I’m currently involved with a project using pupillometry to examine the processing of phonological processes like stress clash repair in auditory perception, as well as assisting with another pupillometry experiment looking at the interplay of global and contextual predictability on processing.

https://cbreiss.com/

Marju Kaps

I'm a fifth year graduate student in UCLA's linguistics department. My research interests include information structure, the timescale of sentence processing in both production and comprehension, as well as the role of context in ambiguity resolution. In addition, I am interested in individual differences in linguistic processing.

https://sites.google.com/view/marjukaps/home

Alexandra Lawn

I am a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. My research interests are centered around the involvement of prosody in human sentence processing, as well as the role of morphosyntactic and phonological cues in memory and retrieval. In addition, I am interested in how theoretical advances pertaining to the syntax-phonology interface can contribute to current online processing models.

http://alexandralawn.wixsite.com/ucla

Adam Royer

I'm a sixth year graduate student in Linguistics. My main focus of study is intonation and its role in sentence processing.

https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/grads/ajroyer/

Kyna Horten

I am a fourth year Linguistics & Computer Science undergraduate student with a minor in French. I'm interested in natural language processing and the ways in which technology, linguistics, and society overlap. Previously, I've worked in curriculum and web development, engaging in active research with middle school students in the Los Angeles area. I aspire to reach fluency in at least 7 languages (currently working on French, Spanish, and Korean). I love baking, cooking, and especially eating! My other hobbies tend towards crafting and DIY, like sewing, knitting, and art (although in all honesty, I'm a better aficionado than an artist).

Lily Kawaoto

I am a third year undergraduate student from Torrance, California, double-majoring in Linguistics & Computer Science and Cognitive Science. My interests lie in natural language processing and how human cognitive properties can be applied to technology.

In my free time, I enjoy listening to music and playing tennis!

Neta Tartakovsky

I'm a fourth year undergraduate student from Plano, Texas and I'm double majoring in Linguistics & Computer Science and Cognitive Science. I grew up in a bilingual household and have been fascinated by the study of language since I learned that, unlike in English, there is no single word for "blue" in Russian! I'm very interested in language acquisition and the cognitive processes involved in speaking a language fluently, and the potential applications of that knowledge in technology. I am hoping to pursue a master's degree in Computational Linguistics in the future.

When I'm not in the lab, I spend my time traveling and working toward my goal of sampling as many LA restaurants as possible during my time here.

Saagarika Verma

I am a third-year undergraduate from Dubai double majoring in Linguistics Computer Science and Economics with a minor in Philosophy. My interests lie in diverse fields including language processing, syntax, behavioral economics, and the intersection of technology and law.

In my free time, I love to read, explore new food places in LA, and write poetry.

Henry Von Dollen

I’m a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Linguistics program. I received my Bachelor's in Linguistics in August of 2019. I am mainly focused on phonology and syntax/phonology prosody. Much of my research has been related to the restrictive nature of the Japanese syllabic template, and the implications that would have to the prosodic hierarchy. I am also interested in different dialects of Aleut languages, and how stress assignment varies between them.

Richard Wang

I am a second year from Beijing, China, majoring in Linguistics and Computer Science, with two intended minors in Mathematics and Japanese Language. My interests lie in syntax and phonetics in general with a particular passion for text analysis and Natural Language Processing. I am also fascinated by the subtle relationship between human and machine languages. Applying my knowledge to make the world a better place is my greatest motivation.

Outside of the classroom, you will most definitely find me binge-watching Netflix, learning languages, or debugging (in that particular order).