DeLTA Center Roundtable - From Accents to Sheinbug:What Language Experience Can Do To Perception, Ethan Kutlu

In this talk, I’ll dive into how our perception is shaped by linguistic input. To do so, I’ll present two lines of my research program. In the first, I’ll argue how language experience is unique to each and every one of us, and what it means to be on the spectrum of bi/multilingualism from the speaker’s side as well as from the listener’s side. I’ll present behavioral data and social network corpus data showing perception of different multilingual experiences, some of which are perceived as foreign accents, and how environmental exposure impacts speech intelligibility and accentedness judgments. In the second, I’ll argue how language experience modulates visuo-cortical processes towards novel objects (i.e., sheinbugs) by showing ERP and ssVEP data from infants as well as adults. The overarching theme of my talk will emphasize the importance of intersectional linguistic research.