Dr. Kathleen Hall

Biography

Kathleen Currie Hall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on formational patterns in languages, particularly in the areas of phonology, phonetics, and signed languages. She utilizes a variety of techniques to study the interactions between phonology and physical articulation, as well as the acoustic and visual properties of formational units. Hall is interested in how these patterns apply to signed languages and the modality of visual communication. Methodologically, she is focused on phonological categories and their processes, which can be objectively quantified using tools from probability, statistics, and information theory. Hall has developed Phonological CorpusTools, an open-source software that facilitates replicable quantification of phonological patterns in languages, enabling scholars to work with large corpora of phonologically transcribed data. Currently, she is also involved in the development of the Sign Language Phonetic Annotator-Analyzer to enhance transcription and analysis for signed languages. Her teaching and research contribute to the understanding of how discrete phonological categories and processes affect language perception and production.

Research Interests