Broadly, I'm interested in phonological categories: What are they? How are they formed? What's the evidence for them? How do they relate to the phonetic substrate? In more traditional terms, I study features, segments and inventories and the way they play together at the phonology-phonetics interface. In particular, I focus on phonologically ambiguous segments: to what degree is phonological ambiguity accounted for by phonetic principles, and what is better accounted for at a different level of analysis?
My current focus is on the class of voiced, non-strident fricatives (what I call the voiced spirants) since, despite their traditional classification as fricatives, they often pattern with sonorants, and at times pattern with both obstruents and fricatives within a single language (e.g., Russian [v]). Though the phonetic character of such segments clearly plays a role in licensing such phonological patterning, recent phonetic investigations I've carried out indicate that the patterning is not reducible to phonetic principles alone.
My committee comprises [Draga Zec] (chair), [Abby Cohn], and [Mats Rooth].
Publications
Bjorndahl, C. (2015). "The Phonetics and phonology of segment classification: A case study of /v/" In The Segment in Phonology and Phonetics, Cairns, C. and Raimy, E. (Eds.)
Bjorndahl, C. (2013). "Phonetic properties of [v] in Russian, Serbian and Greek" Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 133 (3607) [paper]
Tilsen, S., Zec, D., Bjorndahl, C., Butler, B., L'Esperance, M., Fisher, A.,
Heimisdottir, L., Renwick, M., and Sanker, C. (2012). A Cross-linguistic Investigation of
Articulatory Coordination in Word-initial Consonant Clusters. Cornell Working Papers in
Phonetics and Phonology 51-81. [pdf]
Bjorndahl, C. and Karshon, Y. (2010) ``Revisiting Tietze-Nakajima: local and global convexity for maps'' Canadian Journal of Mathematics 62 (5), 975-993. [pdf on arxiv.org]
Presentations and Posters
Bjorndahl, C. (invited) "Peering into the Obstruent-Sonorant Divide: The view from /v/''. North American Phonology Conference , May 4, 2018, Montreal, Canada [slides]
Bjorndahl, C. “The Typology of Voiced Spirants and the Emergence of [sonorant]". Manchester Phonology Meeting, May 28, 2016, Manchester, UK.
Bjorndahl, C. "Ambiguity at the Interface: Asymmetries in Voicing Assimilation and the Case of Russian /v/". the Case of Russian /v/”. , October 23, 2015, Pittsburgh, PA. [slides]
Bjorndahl, C. "Intermediacy, Ambiguity and Categorization at the Phonetics-Phonology Interface". PAL Talk (CMU Psychology Department Brown Bag), March 23, 2015, Pittsburgh, PA. [slides]
Note: This talk was intended for a mixed audience in which not everyone had familiarity with foundational principles in phonetics/phonology.
Bjorndahl, C. "Triggers and targets in voicing assimilation: The inevitability of Russian /v/". Montreal-Ottawa-Laval-Toronto Phonology and Phonetics Conference (MOLT 2015), March 13-15, 2015, Toronto, Canada. [handout]
Bjorndahl, C. "The cross-linguistic phonological and phonetic identity of /v/". 12th Old World Conference in Phonology (OCP 12), January 28-30, 2015, Barcelona, Spain. [slides]
Bjorndahl, C. "The phonetic properties of [v] in Russian, Serbian and Greek" 21st International Congress on Acoustics 2013 (ICA 2013) June 2-7, 2013, Montreal, Canada. [poster]
Bjorndahl, C. "The Phonology and Phonetics of Ambiguity: A Case Study of /v/". The 13th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 13), July 27-29, 2012, Stuttgart, Germany. [poster]
Teaching
Carnegie Mellon University: Current teaching
PHI 80288 Intonation: Transcription and Analysis, Spring 2018
Past teaching
Carnegie Mellon University
- PHI 80180 Nature of Language; Fall 2017
- PHI 80286 Words and Word Formation: Introduction to Morphology; Fall 2016, Fall 2015
- PHI 80382/80682 Phonetics and Phonology II; Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2014
Cornell University
- COGST 1101/PSYCH 1102: Introduction to Cognitive Science, Teaching Assistant; Spring 2014
- LING 4401: Phonology I, Grader; Fall 2013
- LING 3302: Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Teaching Assistant; Spring 2013
- COGST/PSYCH 2150: Psychology of Language, Teaching Assistant; Spring 2011
- FREN 1210: Introduction to French Language, Lecturer; Fall 2010
- LING 1100: Language, Thought and Reality: Creating the Science of Language (First Year Writing Seminar), Instructor; Fall 2009, Spring 2010
University of Toronto
- LIN229: Sound Patterns in Language (St. George Campus), Teaching Assistant; Summer 2008
- LIN228: Phonetics (St. George Campus), Teaching Assistant; Spring 2008
- LIN100: Introduction to General Linguistics (UTM Campus), Teaching Assistant; Winter 2008
- LIN228: Phonetics (UTM Campus), Teaching Assistant; Fall 2007
Scholarships and Awards
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, 2011-2012 ($20,000)
Sage Fellowship, Cornell University (2 years funding and stipend)
About Me
"It was in that room too that I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time
I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it
and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything, I hoped; learning,
I hoped; and I would read so that I would not think about my work and make myself impotent to do it.
Going down the stairs when I had worked well, and that needed luck as well as discipline, was a
wonderful feeling and I was free then to walk anywhere in Paris." ~Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
When I'm not linguisticating, I have the privilege and joy of experiencing the world through the eyes of my five year old son, Anagnostis, and my three year old daughter, Athena. My husband Adam is a mathematician, so we named our dog Tarski, after the logician. I cook a lot, knit a lot and try to read non-linguistics related material as often as possible, and sometimes I even manage to read things that aren’t politics.