We are pleased to announce that Zara Khalaji has successfully defended her MA thesis in the Department of Linguistics. Her thesis, titled “Learning Morpho-phonological Alternations like French Liaison: An Artificial Language Learning Experiment”, investigates how adult learners acquire complex morpho-phonological patterns using an artificial language learning paradigm.
Zara’s research explores the challenges posed by interface phenomena that span morpho-syntactic, semantic, and phonological domains—specifically focusing on French-like liaison patterns. By exposing participants to languages with varying degrees of idiosyncrasy, the study reveals that while learners can perform above chance on judgment tasks involving full phrases, they struggle with novel word segmentation tasks, performing near chance.
Thanks to the examining committee members: Dr. Anne-Michelle Tessier (supervisor), Dr. Gunnar Hansson, and Dr. Carla Hudson Kam.
Please join us in congratulating Zara on this important academic achievement. We look forward to seeing where her research journey takes her next!
