Connor Mayer
Department of Language Science
3151 Social Science Plaza A
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA
92697-5100
Pronouns: he/him/his
Publications
Peer reviewed articles, proceedings, and chapters
Mayer, C. (resubmitted). A large-scale corpus study of phonological opacity in Uyghur. Phonology.
Mayer, C., Tan, A., & Zuraw, K. (accepted). Introducing maxent.ot: an R package for Maximum Entropy constraint grammars. Phonological Data and Analysis.
Major, T., & Mayer, C. (in press). A phonological model of Uyghur intonation. In Jun, S.-A. and Khan, S.D. (Eds), Prosodic Typology III.
Weller, J., Faytak, M., Steffman, J., Mayer, C., Texeira, G., & Tankou, R. (in press). Supralaryngeal articulation across voicing and aspiration in Yemba vowels. Selected papers from the 51st & 52nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics.
Major, T., Mayer, C., & Eziz, G. (2023). Disentangling words, clitics, and suffixes in Uyghur. Languages, 8(3), 203.
Torres, C., Hanson, K., Graf, T., & Mayer, C. (2023). Modeling island effects with probabilistic tier-based strictly local grammars over trees. Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. Vol. 6. Article 15.
Dai, H., Mayer, C., & Futrell, R. (2023). Rethinking representations: A log-bilinear model of phonotactics. Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. Vol. 6. Article 24.
Liu, Y., Luo, S., Łuszczuk, M., Mayer, C., Shamei, A., de Boer, G., & Gick, B. (2022). Robustness of lateral tongue bracing under bite block perturbation. Phonetica, 79(6), 523-549.
Mayer, C., McCollum, A., & Eziz, G. (2022). Issues in Uyghur phonology. Language and Linguistics Compass, 16(12). doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12478.
Mayer, C. (2021). Capturing gradience in long-distance phonology using probabilistic tier-based strictly local grammars. Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. Vol. 4. Article 5.
Mayer, C., & Daland, R. (2020). A method for projecting features from observed sets of phonological classes. Linguistic Inquiry, 51(4), 725-763.
Gick, B., Mayer, C., Chiu, C., Widing, E., Roewer-Despres, F., Fels, S., & Stavness, I. (2020). Quantal biomechanical effects in speech postures of the lips. Journal of Neurophysiology 124(3), 833-843.
Mayer, C. (2020). An algorithm for learning phonological classes from distributional similarity. Phonology, 37(1), 91-131.
Mayer, C., & Nelson, M. (2020). Phonotactic learning with neural language models. Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. Vol. 3. Article 16.
Gick, B., Chiu, C., Widing, E., Roewer-Despres, F., Mayer, C., Fels, S., & Stavness, I. (2019). Quantal biomechanical effects in speech postures of the lips. In Calhoun, S., Escudero, P., Tabain, M., and Warren, P. (Eds), Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019. Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc., 1749-1753.
Graf, T., & Mayer, C. (2018). Sanskrit n-Retroflexion is Input-Output Tier-Based Strictly Local. Proceedings of the 15th SIGMORPHON Workshop on Computational Research in Phonetics, Phonology, and Morphology. The Special Interest Group on Computational Morphology and Phonology: Brussels, Belgium, 151-160.
Mayer, C., & Major, T. (2018). A challenge for tier-based strict locality from Uyghur backness harmony. In Foret, A., Kobele, G., Pogodalla, S. (Eds). Formal Grammar 2018. FG 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10950. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-57784-4_4
Major, T., & Mayer, C. (2018). Towards a phonological model of Uyghur intonation. In K. Klessa, J. Bachan, A. Wagner, M. Karpiński, and D. Śledziński (Eds). Proceedings of the 9th Speech Prosody International Conference. doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2018
Mayer, C., Roewer-Despres, F., Stavness, I. & Gick, B. (2017). Do innate stereotypies serve as a basis for swallowing and learned speech movements? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40. doi:10.1017/S0140525X16001928
Mayer, C., Gick, B., Weigel, T., & Whalen, D.H. (2013). Perceptual integration of visual evidence in the airstream from aspirated stops. Canadian Acoustics, 41(3), 23-27.
Mayer, C., & Gick, B. (2012). Talking while chewing: Speaker response to natural perturbation of speech. Phonetica, 69(3), 109-123.
Publications refereed by abstract
Azreen, J., Mayer, C., Liu, Y., Shamei, A., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. (2023). Biomechanical simulation of lateral asymmetry in tongue bracing. Canadian Acoustics, 51(3), 196-197.
Mayer, C., Major, T., & Yakup, M. (2022). Are neutral roots in Uyghur really neutral? Evaluating a covert phonemic contrast. In P. Jurgec, L. Duncan, E. Elfner, Y. Kang, A. Kochetov, B. O'Neill, A. Ozburn, K. Rice, N. Sanders, J. Schertz, N. Shaftoe, and L. Sullivan (Eds), Supplemental Proceedings of the 2021 Annual Meeting on Phonology. Washington, DC: Linguistic Society of America.
Mayer, C., Chiu, C., & Gick, B. (2021). Biomechanical simulation of lip compression and spreading. Canadian Acoustics, 49(3), 38-39.
Major, T., & Mayer, C. (2019). What indexical shift sounds like: Uyghur intonation and interpreting speech reports. In M. Baird and J. Pesetsky (Eds). NELS 49: Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society, 2, 255-264.
Gick, B., & Mayer, C. (2019). Simulating tonic activations in speech production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146(3), 3086-3087. (published abstract).
Mayer, C., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. (2018). A biomechanical model for infant speech and aerodigestive movements. Canadian Acoustics, 46(4), 30-31.
Mayer, C., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. (2018). A biomechanical model for infant speech and aerodigestive movements. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(3), Pt. 2, 1963. (published abstract).
Mayer, C., Roewer-Despres, F., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. (2016). Does swallowing bootstrap speech learning? Journal of the Canadian Acoustical Association, 44(3), 194-195.
Abel, J., Barbosa, A.V., Black, A., Mayer, C., & Vatikiotis-Bateson, E. (2011). The labial viseme reconsidered: Evidence from production and perception. In Y. Laprie and I. Steiner (Eds). Proceedings of the 9th International Seminar on Speech Production, 337-344.
Mayer, C. (2010). Voice onset time and the realization of voiced stops in Kwak’wala. In Proceedings of the 45th International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages. The University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics, 27, 238-244.
Mayer, C., Gick, B., Weigel, T., & Whalen, D.H. (2010). Perceptual effects of visual evidence of the airstream. Canadian Acoustics, 38(3), 126-127.
Mayer, C., Gick, B. & Ferch, E. (2009). Talking while chewing: Speaker response to natural perturbation of speech. Canadian Acoustics, 37(3), 144-145.
Other publications
Mayer, C. (2021). Issues in Uyghur backness harmony: Corpus, experimental, and computational studies (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Los Angeles.
Mayer, C., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. (2018). Understanding how we speak using computational models of the vocal tract. Popular version of presentation at 176th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustical Society of America World Wide Press Room. https://acoustics.org/5asc1-understanding-how-we-speak-using-computational-models-of-the-vocal-tract-connor-mayer/
Mayer, C. (2018). An algorithm for learning phonological classes from distributional similarity (Unpublished master's thesis). University of California, Los Angeles.
Mayer, C. (2009). Translation of "Note to an old friend" [或旧友へ送る手記] by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke [芥川 龍之介]. (Unpublished manuscript). University of British Columbia.
Edited Volumes
Szakay, A., Mayer, C., Rogers, B., Gick, B., & Dunham, J. (Eds.) (2009). Papers for the Interlocution Conference. Interlocution: Linguistic structure and human interaction. Vancouver, BC: The University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics, 24.
Presentations
(* indicates presenting author)
Conference talks
*Franich, K., Mayer, C., *Major, T., & Eziz, G. An investigation of Uyghur co-speech gestures: Implications for metrical structure. Presented at Tu+9: The 9th Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic. Ithaca, NY. March, 2024.
*Azreen, J., Mayer, C., Liu, Y., Shamei, A., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. Biomechanical simulation of lateral asymmetry in tongue bracing. Presented at Acoustics Week in Canada. Montréal, QC. October, 2023.
*Dai, H., Mayer, C., & Futrell, R. Rethinking representations: A log-bilinear model of phonotactics. Presented at the 2023 Society for Computation in Linguistics. June, 2023.
*Torres, C., Hanson, K., Graf, T., & Mayer, C. Modeling island effects with probabilistic tier-based strictly local grammars over trees. Presented at the 2023 Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. June, 2023.
*Khaloo, N., & Mayer, C. The effect of language proficiency on patterns of epenthesis by Persian learners of English. Presented at the Ninth Annual Symposium on Language Research at UC Davis. May, 2023.
*Mayer, C. Proposal: A repository for phonological software. Presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting on Phonology. October, 2022. Repository.
*Mayer, C., Zuraw, K., & Tan, A. maxent.ot: A package for doing Maximum Entropy Optimality Theory in R. Presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting on Phonology. October, 2022. Source code. Tutorial.
*Mayer, C., Chiu, C., & Gick, B. Biomechanical simulation of lip compression and spreading. Presented at Acoustics Week in Canada. October, 2021.
*Weller, J., Faytak, M., Steffman, J., Texeira, G., Mayer, C., & Tankou, R. Tongue root position and laryngeal state in Yemba vowels. Presented at the 51st and 52nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics. April 2021.
*Mayer, C. Capturing gradience in long-distance phonology using probabilistic tier-based strictly local grammars. Presented at the fourth annual meeting of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. Held virtually. February, 2021.
*Mayer, C., Major, T., & Yakup, M. Conflicting trigger effects in Uyghur backness harmony. Presented at the 5th Workshop on Turkic and languages in contact with Turkic. Newark, Delaware. February, 2020.
*Mayer, C., Gick, B., Chiu, C., Widing, E., Roewer-Despres, F., Fels, S., & Stavness, I. Quantal biomechanical effects in speech postures of the lips. Presented at the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). Melbourne, Australia. August, 2019.
Major, T., & *Mayer, C. A phonological model of Uyghur intonation. Presented at the ICPhS Satellite Meeting on the Intonational Phonology of Typologically Rare or Understudied Languages. Melbourne, Australia. August, 2019.
*Mayer, C., & Daland, R. A method for learning features from observed phonological classes. Presented at the 2019 Canadian Linguistics Association Meeting. Vancouver, BC. June, 2019.
*Mayer, C., Major, T., & Yakup, M. Wug-testing Uyghur Vowel Harmony. Presented at the 27th Manchester Phonology Meeting. Manchester, England. May, 2019. Abstract.
*Mayer, C., & Major, T. A challenge for tier-based strict locality from Uyghur backness harmony. Formal Grammar 2018. Sofia, Bulgaria. August 11th, 2018.
*Mayer, C., Roewer-Despres, F., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. Does Swallowing Bootstrap Speech Learning? Acoustics Week in Canada. Vancouver, BC. September, 2016.
Abel, J., Barbosa, A., Black, A., Mayer, C., & *Vatikiotis-Bateson, E. The labial viseme reconsidered: Evidence from production and perception. The 9th International Seminar on Speech Production. Montreal, QC. June, 2011.
*Mayer, C., Gick, B., Weigel, T., & Whalen, D.H. Perceptual effects of visual evidence of the airstream. Acoustics Week in Canada. Victoria, BC. October, 2010.
*Mayer, C., Gick, B., & Ferch, E. Talking while chewing: Speaker response to natural perturbation of speech. Acoustics Week in Canada. Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. October, 2009.
Poster presentations
Khaloo, N., & Mayer, C. The effect of language proficiency on patterns of epenthesis by Persian learners of English. Presented at the 2024 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. New York, NY. January, 2024.
*Mayer, C. Gradient opacity in Uyghur backness harmony: A large-scale corpus study. Presented at the 29th Manchester Phonology Meeting. May, 2022. Abstract.
*Narkar, J., Khlystova, E.A., Mayer, C., Aly, A.M., Kim, J.,& Sundara, M. Evaluating the learnability of vowel categories from infant-directed speech. Presented at the 182nd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Denver, CO. May, 2022.
*Mayer, C., Major, T., & Yakup, M. Are neutral roots in Uyghur really neutral? Experimental and structural evidence. Presented at the Annual Meeting on Phonology. Toronto, ON. October, 2021. Abstract.
*Mayer, C. Gradient opacity in Uyghur vowel harmony. Presented at the Annual Meeting on Phonology. Santa Cruz, CA. September, 2020.
*Mayer, C., & *Nelson, M. Phonotactic learning with neural language models. Presented at the third annual meeting of the Society for Computation in Linguistics. New Orleans, LA. January, 2020.
*Gick, B., & Mayer, C. Tonic activations in speech production. Presented at the 178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. San Diego, CA. December, 2019.
*Nelson, M., & Mayer, C. Learning and generalizing phonotactics with recurrent neural networks. Presented at the Annual Meeting on Phonology. Stony Brook, NY. October 12th, 2019.
*Mayer, C., Stavness, I., & Gick, B. A biomechanical model for infant speech and aerodigestive movements. 176th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Victoria, BC. November 9th, 2018.
*Sundara, M., & *Mayer, C. Modeling developmental changes in infants' discrimination of English vowels. Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, MA. November 2nd, 2018.
Graf, T., & *Mayer, C. Sanskrit n-retroflexion is Input-Output Tier-Based Strictly Local. SIGMORPHON 2018. Brussels, Belgium. October 31st, 2018.
*Mayer, C. An algorithm for learning phonological classes from distributional similarity. Annual Meeting on Phonology. San Diego, CA. October 6th, 2018.
*Major, T., & Mayer, C. What indexical shift sounds like: Uyghur intonation and interpreting speech reports. North East Linguistics Society. Ithaca, NY. October 5th, 2018.
Sundara, M., & *Mayer, C. Does the developing lexicon constrain infants' learning of English vowels? 2018 International Congress of Infant Studies. Philadelphia, PA. July, 2018.
*Major, T., & *Mayer, C. Towards a phonological model of Uyghur intonation. 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody. Poznań, Poland. June, 2018.
*Sundara, M., & Mayer, C. Does the developing lexicon constrain infants’ discrimination of English vowels? Fall Acoustical Society of America meeting in New Orleans. December, 2017. Abstract.
*Mayer, C. & Gick, B. Talking while chewing: Speaker response to natural perturbation of speech. Ultrafest V at Haskins Labs, Yale. New Haven, CT. March 2010.
Invited talks
*Mayer, C. Are scalar models of sonority enough? Insights from L2 acquisition of complex English onsets. University of California, Los Angeles. February 2024.
*Mayer, C. The dual life of sT/sC clusters: Insights from L2 acquisition of English complex onsets. University of Southern California. January 2024.
*Mayer, C. One (semi)ring to rule them all: Reconciling categorical and gradient models of phonotactics. Workshop on Formal Language Theory in Morphology and Phonology. 2024 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. New York, NY. January, 2024.
*Mayer, C. Stress and intonation in Uyghur. Guest lecture for LIN 460: Structure of a Particular Language: Uyghur taught by Mahire Yakup. University of Buffalo. October 2023.
*Mayer, C. Embodying speech using computational models of the vocal tract. Children's Hospital of Orange County + UCI Pediatric Research and Data Science Group. August, 2023.
*Mayer, C. Opacity in parallel models of phonology: Insights from Uyghur backness harmony. Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics. California State University, Fullerton. May, 2023.
*Mayer, C. Vowel raising processes in Uyghur. Guest lecture for Elementary Uyghur I taught by Gulnar Eziz. Harvard University. July, 2021.
*Mayer, C., Major, T., & Yakup, M. Phonetic biases and locality in Uyghur backness harmony. University of California, Los Angeles. June, 2021.
*Mayer, C. Acquisition of speech sound categories. Department of Classics. Washington University in St. Louis. April, 2021.
*Mayer, C. Acquisition of speech sound categories. Department of Linguistics. Boston University. March, 2021.
*Mayer, C. Acquisition of speech sound categories. Department of Language Science. University of California, Irvine. February, 2021.
*Mayer, C. Gradient opacity in Uyghur backness harmony. Department of Linguistics. University of Washington. February, 2021.
*Mayer, C. Gradient opacity in Uyghur backness harmony. UC Berkeley Phonetics and Phonology Forum (Phorum). Berkeley, CA. October, 2020.
*Major, T., & *Mayer, C. A preliminary model of Uyghur intonation. Phonetics Circle, UCSB. Santa Barbara, CA. May, 2019.
*Mayer, C., & Sundara, M. Modeling developmental changes in infants' discrimination of English vowels. Infant Studies Center, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC. December, 2018.
*Mayer, C. Towards a computational model of emergent features. University of British Columbia West African Vowels Project Meeting. Vancouver, BC. October, 2018.