About me
Hi! I'm Emma (she/her). I am a fourth year PhD Candidate in the Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University.
My primary interests are in sociolinguistics and sociophonetics— I want to know how we convey and interpret identity and social meanings through language, particularly through the sounds and signs of language. Some areas in sociolinguistics I am particularly interested in include prototypicality, the race and place intersection, Asian American communities' linguistic practices, and mixed race individuals' speech.
In 2024 I completed my Qualifying Project, a case study investigating contextual variation in a mixed Asian and white Chicagoan's production of vowels associated with Chicagoan place identity and pan-Asian American ethnic identity. I passed my Prospectus in Fall 2025. My dissertation will investigate social and linguistic variation in Chicago-area Japanese Americans, examining their production of regionally-associated vowels. My advisor and committee chair is Annette D'Onofrio. My committee members are Ann Bradlow and Lauren Hall-Lew.
In my free time, I enjoy knitting, spinning (yarn), baking, and exploring national parks.
Research projects
My Qualifying Project was a case study on a mixed Asian and white Chicagoan and investigated their production of the TRAP vowel across two interviews and three self-recorded conversations. I am currently conducting my dissertation research, which investigates social and linguistic variation among Chicagoland Japanese Americans. In this interdisciplinary project, I draw on Prototype Theory from cognitive psychology, Asian American studies work on Midwestern Asian American communities and identities, oral history, and linguistic anthropological work on Asian Americans' language. I use mixed methods including participant observation (sort of ethnographic-like community observation), sociolinguistic interviews, acoustic analysis of vowel formants, and will eventually conduct thematic analysis. Through my interviews, I am collecting oral histories which will be shared with the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) Legacy Center Oral History Collection. During Spring 2025, I was a Research Assistant for the Chicagoland Language Project, which investigates language and life in the Chicagoland area.
I am a member of Sociogroup and Phonatics. I also participate in or frequently visit Experimental Meaning Group, The SEAL Lab", and LingMechLab.
Contact Me
You can email me at ekwilkinson[at]u[dot]northwestern[dot]edu