Research interests

I’m interested in how humans produce speech. Using various methodological tools and measures (behavioral experiments, acoustic analyses, corpus data, event-related potentials), my research aims to better understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying the production of language as it is spoken in everyday life. Recent studies have for instance focused on how speakers represent and produce pronunciation variants, or on the time course of multi-word utterance production across languages. A recently SNSF founded project explored the relationships between production and comprehension processes. I also have a strong interest for applied statistics and methodology.

 

Career

• Junior Group Leader "Applied statistics in Cognitive Sciences", University of Potsdam, Germany (since Oct. 2016)
• Maître-Assistante, Equipe de recherche en Psycholinguistique,  University of Geneva (since August 2012)
• Supply lecturer, Groupe méthodologie et analyse des données, University of Geneva (August 2013-July 2016)
• Visiting post-doc, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Uinversité, France (February-July 2013)
• Post-doctoral researcher, Equipe Neuropsycholinguistique, University of Geneva (march 2011-july 2012).
• Fellowship for prospective researcher (Swiss National Science foundation), Psycholinguistic Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of York (March 2010-February 2011).
• PhD student and assistant, Experimental psycholinguistics group University of Geneva (October 2006-February 2010).

 

Publications

• Peer-reviewed articles

in press

Bürki, A. (in press). Variation in the speech signal as a window into the cognitive architecture of language production. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Viebahn, M. C., McQueen, J. M., Ernestus, M., Frauenfelder, U. H. & Bürki, A. (in press). How much does orthography influence the processing of reduced word forms? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Bürki, A., Viebahn, M. C., Mabut, C., Racine, I., & Spinelli, E., (in press). Intrinsic advantage for canonical forms in spoken word recognition: Myth or reality? Language, Cognition, & Neuroscience.

Fargier, R., Bürki, A., Pinet, S., Alario, F.-X., &  Laganaro, M. (in press). Word onset phonetic properties and motor artefacts in speech production EEG recordings. Psychophysiology.

2017 

Bürki, A. (2017). Electrophysiological characterization of facilitation and interference in the picture-word interference paradigm. Psychophysiology, 54, 1370-1392.

Bürki, A. (2017). Differences in processing times for distractors and pictures modulate the influence of distractors in picture-word interfrence tasks. Language, Cognition, & Neuroscience, 32, 709-723.

2016

Bürki, A., Sadat, J., Dubarry, A.-S., & Alario, F.-X. (2016). Sequential processing during noun phrase production. Cognition, 146, 90-99. pdf

2015

Bürki, A., Frauenfelder, U.-H., & Alario, F.-X. (2015). On the resolution of phonological constraints in spoken production: Acoustic and response time evidence. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138, EL429.

Bürki, A. & Pellet-Cheneval, P., & Laganaro, M. (2015). : Do speakers have access to a mental syllabary? ERP comparison of high frequency and novel syllable production. Brain & Language,150, 90-102. pdf

2014

Bürki, A. & Laganaro, M. (2014). Tracking the time course of multi-word noun phrase production with ERPs or on when (and why) cat is faster than the big cat. Frontiers in Language Sciences. pdf

Bürki, A., Laganaro, M., & Alario, F.-X. (2014). Phonologically driven variability: The case of determiners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , 40, 1348-1362. pdf

Valente, A. , Bürki, A., & Laganaro, M. (2014).  ERP correlates of word production predictors in picture naming: A trial by trial multiple regression analysis from stimulus onset to response. Frontiers in Neuroscience . pdf

2013

Racine, I., Bürki, A., & Spinelli, E. (2013). The implication of spelling and frequency in the recognition of phonological variants: Evidence from pre-readers and readers. Language and Cognitive Processes, 29, 893-898.

2012

Bürki, A., Spinelli, E., & Gaskell, G. (2012). A written word is worth a thousand spoken words: The influence of spelling on spoken-word production. Journal of Memory and Language , 67, 449-467.

Bürki, A. & Frauenfelder, U. H. (2012). Producing and recognizing words with two pronunciation variants: Evidence from novel schwa words. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 796-824. pdf

Bürki, A. & G. Gaskell (2012). Lexical representation of schwa words: two mackerels but only one salami. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , 38, 617-631.

2011

Bürki, A., Alario, F.-X. & Frauenfelder, U. (2011). Lexical representation of phonological variants: Evidence from pseudohomophone effects in different regiolects. Journal of Memory and Language , 64, 424-442. pdf

Bürki, A., Fougeron, C., Gendrot, C. & Frauenfelder, U. (2011). Phonetic reduction versus phonological deletion of French schwa: Some methodological issues. Journal of Phonetics , 39, 279-288. pdf

Bürki, A., Ernestus, M., C., Gendrot, C, Fougeron & Frauenfelder, U. (2011). What affects the presence versus absence of schwa and its duration: a corpus analysis of French connected speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America , 130, 3980-3991. pdf

2010

Bürki, A., Ernestus, M. & Frauenfelder, U. (2010). Is there only one ‘fenêtre’ in the production lexicon? On-line evidence about the nature of phonological representations. Journal of Memory and Language , 62, 421-437. pdf

 

• Conferences

Bürki, A. (2017). Workshop on Conversational speech and lexical representations, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, June 8-9, 2017.

Bürki, A. (2017). Usage frequency in spoken word processing.Freiburg, Germany, May 29-30, 2017.

Bürki, A. (2017). Interface oral/écrit, ou le rôle du langage écrit dans la production et la reconnaissance des mots. Journées d’Études Toulousaines, Toulouse, France, May 18-19, 2017.

Viebahn, M., Dufour, S., & Bürki, A. (2017). Imitation of sublexical speech segments.Winterschool Speech production and perception,Chorin, Germany.

Bürki, A. (2016). Electrophysiological correlates of interference effects in the picture-word interference paradigm. Society for the Neurobiology of Language Conference, London, UK.

Viebahn, A. & Bürki, A. (2016).  Subjective frequency in the processing and representation of French pronunciation variants. AMLAP, San Sebastian, Spain.

McQueen, J. M., Viebahn, M., Ernestus, M., Frauenfelder, U., & Bürki, A. (2016). How much does orthographic exposure influence processing of schwa in novel spoken words? International meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Grenada, Spain.

Fargier, R., Bürki, A., Valente, A., Pinet, S., Alario, F.-X., & Laganaro, M. (2016). Using word onset phonetic properties to track EEG motor artefact signature. Human Brain Mapping, Geneva, Switzerland. 

Viebahn, M., Bürki, A., McQueen, J. M., Ernestus, M., & Frauenfelder, U. (2015). Learning multiple pronunciation variants of French novel words with orthographic forms. Memory consolidation and word learning workshop, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Bürki, A. (2015). Individual differences in reading times and naming speed modulate sensitivity to distractors in the picture-word interference paradigm. Individual differences in language processing across the adult life span Workshop, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Bürki, A. (2015). Production et reconnaissance des mots avec schwa en français: Données psycholinguistiques. Invited talk, Journées PFC, Vienna, Austria.

Bürki, A., Laganaro, M., Sadat, J. & Alario, F.-X. (201 4). Time course of noun phrase production by German-French bilinguals.  Society for the Neurobiology of language, Amsterdam.

Bürki, A., Pellet P., & Laganaro, M. (201 4). Tracking the time course of phonetic encoding with ERPs: Legal versus illegal syllables. IWLP 2014, Geneva.

Bürki, A., Laganaro, M., Sadat, J. & Alario, F.-X. (201 4). Phonological encoding of noun phrase production by German-French bilinguals.  IWLP 2014, Geneva.

Bürki , A. (201 4). Processes and representations in word recognition and production: Insight from pronunciation variants. Workshop Comprehension-Production, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, March 26-28.

Bürki, A. (201 3). On phonologically-driven variability: The case of determiners. Invited seminar, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, November.

Bürki, A., Laganaro, M. & Alario, F.-X. (2013). Phonlogically-driven variability: The case of determiners. AMLAP, Marseille, France, September 2013.

Bürki, A., Laganaro, M. & Alario, F.-X. (2013). Phonlogically-driven variability: The case of determiners. ESCOP, Budapset, Hungary, August-September 2013.

Bürki, A., Frauenfelder, U.-H., & Alario, F.-X. (2013).  An orthographic influence on phonologically driven variability? The case of determiners. Workshop on how the mind/brain accommodates linguistic variability. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, July 2013.

Bürki, A. & Laganaro, M. (2012). On the representation of determiners with two pronunciation variants in the mental lexicon. The Mental Lexicon, Montreal, Canada.

Valente, A., Bürki, A. & Laganaro, M. (2012). ERP manifestation of psycholinguistic variables affecting word production: a mixed-effects regression model analysis on trial by trial topographie. Neurobiology of Language Conference, San Sebastian, Spain.

Bürki, A.& Laganaro, M. (2012). The production of French non-schwa variants as a window into phonological planning in aphasic patients? Science of Aphasia; Groningen, The Netherlands.

Bürki, A., Alario, F.-X., Ernestus, M. & Frauenfelder, U. (2010). Phonological variation and the production lexicon. 6th International Workshop on Language Production, Edinburgh, UK.

Bürki, A. & Frauenfelder, U. (2010). Evidence for abstract lexical representations in the production lexicon. 6th International Workshop on Language Production, Edinburgh, UK.

Bürki, A., Racine, I. & Spinelli, E. (2010). On the roles of canonicity, variant frequency and context in the recognition of phonological variants. Proceedings of AMLAP, York, UK.

Bürki, A., Fougeron, C., Veaux, C. & Frauenfelder, U. (2009). How similar are clusters resulting from schwa deletion in French to identical underlying clusters? Proceedings of Interspeech, Brighton, UK.

Bürki, A., Ernestus, M. & Frauenfelder, U. (2008). Producing words with and without their schwa in French. Mental Lexicon, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Bürki, A., Ernestus, M., Fougeron, C., Gendrot, C. & Frauenfelder, U. (2008). Factors influencing schwa deletion and duration: a corpus-based phonetic study. Acoustics'08, Paris, France.

Bürki, A., Racine, I., Andreassen, H., Fougeron, C. & Frauenfelder, U. (2008). Timbre du schwa en français et variation régionale: une étude comparative. Journées d'études sur la parole, Avignon, France.

Bürki, A., Fougeron, C. & Gendrot, C. (2007). On the categorical nature of French schwa. Proceedings of Interspeech, Antwerp, Belgium.

Bürki, A., Fougeron, C., Gendrot, C. & Frauenfelder, U. (2007). De l’ambiguïté de la chute du schwa en français. Journées d’Etudes Linguistiques, Nantes, France.

Bürki, A. & Gendrot, C. (2007). Reconnaissance automatique et analyse linguistique : l’exemple du schwa. Rencontres Jeunes Chercheurs en Parole, Paris, France.

Fougeron, C., Gendrot, C. & Bürki, A. (2007). On the phonetic identity of French schwa compared to /ø/ and /oe/. Journées d’Etudes Linguistiques, Nantes, France.

Fougeron, C., Gendrot, C. & Bürki, A. (2007). On the acoustic characteristics of French schwa. ICPHS, Saarbrücken, Germany.

• Articles in French

Bürki, A., Gendrot, C., Gravier, G., Linarès, G. & Fougeron, C. (2008). Alignement automatique et analyse phonétique: comparaison de différents systèmes pour l'analyse du schwa. Traitement Automatique des Langues, 49, 165-197.

Bürki, A. & Laganaro, M. (in press). Représentation et encodage de la liaison : approches psycholinguistiques et neuropsycholinguistiques. In La liaison, approches contemporaines. Peter Lang.

 

• PhD thesis

Bürki (2010). Phonological variation and lexical representation in speech production : Phonetic and psycholinguistic evidence on French schwa.

 

Grants and prizes

• DFG Research Grant  (2017-2021 )"Variability and its limits in the time course of language production" within the CRC 1287 “Limits of Variability in Language, Cognitive, Grammatical, and Social aspects
• SNSF Research grant for project "All speakers are listners and vice versa: On the interface between production and comprehension processes" (Principal Investigator, April 2015)
• SNSF International Short Visit (with Dr F.-X. Alario, Aix-Marseille Université, France, February-July 2013)
• Subside tremplin (2012)
• Prix Fonds Charles Bally (April 2011)
• SNSF Fellowship for prospective researchers (March 2010-February 2011)
• Egalité des chances' Grant for an international short visit (March-April 2009)