James Whang

Professor James Whang's research lab specializes in second language (L2) phonetics and phonology, with a focus on cross-linguistic perception, L2 vowel category development, and the interplay between L1 and L2 sound systems. The lab investigates how L1 phonological patterns—particularly those in Japanese—affect L2 pronunciation, especially in American English, through experimental and computational methods. Key research directions include cue weighting in vowel perception, vowel devoicing and deletion processes, and the formation of new L2 phonological categories through perceptual and phonological modeling. The lab also explores morphosyntactic particles across languages as tools for understanding compositionality and phonological representation beyond the word level.