Research at the ISRL
Embodying Speech
At the core of language is the question of how the human body is used as a communication device. Embodied Speech is a conceptual framework through which we attempt to understand communication (be it spoken or signed language) through the lens of the body. We believe theories of speech should, where possible, be grounded in plausible, biologically motivated models of the body, with implications for basic questions such as why certain speech sounds emerge again and again across human languages, how motor systems generate language variation and change, and how babies can learn speech so quickly. The Integrated Speech Research Lab seeks to investigate the following focal areas of research into the communicating body: Posture, State Detection, Sensory Systems, Human-Computer Interface, and Biomechanics.
