Benjamin Parrell

curriculum vitae

Benjamin Parrell
Department of Linguistics
University of Southern California
3601 Watt Way, GFS 301
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1693
www-scf.usc.edu/~parrell
parrell at usc dot edu

Education

2007-Current   Ph.D. Student, Linguistics (Hispanic Linguistics)
University of Southern California
2009   M.A., Linguistics
University of Southern California
Thesis title: Rate conditioned aspiration change in Western Andalusian Spanish
Thesis chair: Professor Louis Goldstein
2004   B.A., Spanish, summa cum laude with departmental honors
University of Oregon

Journal Publications & Book Chapters

B. Parrell, S. Lee, & D. Byrd (In preparation). Evaluation of prosodic juncture strength using functional data analysis.

B. Parrell, L. Goldstein, S. Lee, & D. Byrd (In preparation). Spatiotemporal coupling between speech and manual motor actions.

B. Parrell (2012). The role of gestural phasing in Western Andalusian Spanish aspiration. Journal of Phonetics, 40(1), 37-45.

B. Parrell (2011). A Dynamical account of how /b, d, g/ differ from /p, t, k/ in Spanish: evidence from labials. Laboratory Phonology, 2(2), 423-450.

B. Parrell (2011). Articulatory Phonology and the Task Dynamics model. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 4(2), 531-542.

M. Riera, J. Romero, & B. Parrell (2009). Schwa in American English V+/r/ sequences. In M. Vigário, S. Frota, & M.J. Freitas (Eds.), Phonetics and Phonology: Interactions and interrelations. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.

Papers in Conference Proceedings

B. Parrell, L. Goldstein, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2011). Temporal coupling between speech and manual motor actions. In Proceedings of the ninth International Seminar on Speech Production, Montreal, Canada, June 2011. [pdf]

B. Parrell, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2010). Evaluation of Juncture Strength using Articulatory Synthesis of Prosodic Gestures and Functional Data Analysis. In Proceedings of Speech Prosody V, Chicago, Illinois, May 2010. [pdf]

B. Parrell, L. Goldstein, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2010). Articulatory evidence for functional coupling of speech and non-speech motor tasks. In Proceedings of Speech Prosody V, Chicago, Illinois, May 2010. [pdf]

Conference Presentations + Published Abstracts

B. Parrell, A. Lammert, L. Goldstein, D. Byrd, & S. Narayanan (2011). Imaging and quantification of glottal kinematics with ultrasound during speech. Poster to be presented at the 162nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, California, November 2011. [pdf, abstract]

B. Parrell, L. Goldstein, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2011). Temporal coupling between speech and manual motor actions. Poster presented at the ninth International Seminar on Speech Production, Montreal, Canada, June 2011. [pdf]

B. Parrell & S. Tilsen (2011). Control of duration and magnitude in speech imitation. Paper presented at the sixth International Conference on Speech Motor Control, Groningen, The Netherlands, June 2011. [pdf]

B. Parrell (2010). Articulation from acoustics: estimating constriction degree from the acoustic signal. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(4), 2289. [pdf, abstract]

B. Parrell, S. Lee, & D. Byrd (2010). Quantifying prosodic boundary strength using functional data analysis of articulatory movement. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(4), 2289. [pdf, abstract]

B. Parrell (2010). Romance lenition revisited: articulatory and model evidence from Spanish. Poster presented at the Workshop on Sound Change, Barcelona, Spain, October 2010. [pdf]

B. Parrell, M. Proctor & L. Goldstein (2010). Towards a computational articulatory model of Spanish phonology. Paper presented at Laboratory Approaches to Romance Phonology, Provo, Utah, September 2010. [pdf]

B. Parrell (2010). How /b d g/ differ from /p t k/ in Spanish: A dynamic account. Paper presented at LabPhon 12, Albuquerque, New Mexio, July 2010. [pdf]

B. Parrell (2010). How /b d g/ differ from /p t k/ in Spanish: A dynamic account. Poster presented at São Paulo School of Advanced Studies in Speech Dynamics, São Paulo, Brazil, June 2010.

B. Parrell, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2010). Evaluation of juncture strength using articulatory synthesis of prosodic gestures and Functional Data Analysis. Paper presented at Speech Prosody V, Chicago, Illinois, May 2010.

B. Parrell, L. Goldstein, S. Lee & D. Byrd (2010). Articulatory evidence for functional coupling of speech and non-speech motor tasks. Poster presented at Speech Prosody V, Chicago, Illinois, May 2010.

B. Parrell (2009). Rate conditioned aspiration change in Western Andalusian Spanish. Poster presented at the Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia conference, Las Palmas, Spain, June 2009.

S. Lee, B. Parrell, & D. Byrd (2009). Computational modeling of juncture strength using articulatory synthesis of prosodic gestures. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125(4), 2572. [abstract]

B. Parrell (2009). Rate conditioned variability in Western Andalusian Spanish aspiration. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125(4), 2570. [pdf, abstract]

B. Parrell (2008). /s/ + stop gestural reorganization in Western Andalusian Spanish. Poster presented at the Southern California Workshop on Phonetics/Phonology, Pomona, California, November 2008.

J. Romero, B. Parrell, & M. Riera (2007). What distinguishes /p/, /t/, /k/ from /b/, /d/, /g/ in Spanish? Poster presented at the Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia Conference, Braga, Portugal, June 2007.

M. Riera, J. Romero, & B. Parrell (2007). Schwa in American English V+/r/ sequences. Paper presented at the Phonetics and Phonology in Ibera Conference, Braga, Portugal, June 2007.

Invited Lectures

(New) approaches to old problems: Articulatory Phonological applications in Spanish. Phonetics seminar series, University of California Los Angeles, May 2011.

Research Experience

2008-Current & Summer
2008-2010
  Research Assistant for Prof. Dani Byrd
NIH project: Prosody and articulatory dynamics in spoken language
University of Southern California
Summer-Fall 2009   Research Assistant for Prof. Rachel Walker
Project: Creation of Servigliano dictionary & metaphony analysis
University of Southern California
2006-2007   Visiting Academic working under Prof. Joaquín Romero
Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain)

Grants + Funding + Awards

2010-Current   Pre-doctoral fellowship, Hearing and Communication Neuroscience Training Program
University of Southern California/House Research Institute
2011   Del Amo Research Award (Total: $3,200)
University of Southern California
2010   Scholarship, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
São Paulo School of Advanced Studies in Speech Dynamics, June 2010
2010   Del Amo Research Award (Total: $5,000)
University of Southern California
2010   Best Student paper, Speech Prosody V (link)
"Evaluation of Juncture Strength using Articulatory Synthesis of Prosodic Gestures and Functional Data Analysis" with S. Lee & D. Byrd
2009   Del Amo Research Award (Total: $5,000)
University of Southern California
2008   Del Amo Research Award (Total: $5,000)
University of Southern California
2007-2008   Del Amo Graduate Fellowship (Total: $19,000)
University of Southern California

Service

2010-Current   Secretary, Hispanic Linguistics Student Association (HILSA)
University of Southern California
2009-2010   Vice President, Hispanic Linguistics Student Association (HILSA)
University of Southern California
2009-2010   Member, abstracts committee, 2010 West Coast Conference for Formal Linguistics
University of Southern California
2008-2009   President, Hispanic Linguistics Student Association (HILSA)
University of Southern California
2007-2008   Treasurer, Hispanic Linguistics Student Association (HILSA)
University of Southern California

Professional Societies

Acoustical Society of America

Association for Laboratory Phonology

International Speech Communication Association

Languages

English (Native)

Spanish (Fluent)

Catalan (Intermediate)

French (Basic)


[last updated 1/2012]