My research program is driven by a central question of cognitive science: what kind of system can explain the process by which children acquire the infinitely expressive and complex system of language from limited exposure to linguistic input? An overarching theme of my research is the development of formal systems that are informed by the insights and results of theoretical linguistics and are also capable of successful and realistic modeling of language acquisition. My approach relies on computational modeling, grounded in probability and statistical learning theory, to develop models of learning, to generate and test predictions of learning theories, and to analyze the relationship between the primary linguistic data and acquired knowledge. I work primarily in the domain of phonology.
