Jackson Kellogg
Research
My main research interests are in phonetics and phonology, with a particular focus on prosodic typology.
I’m also interested in acquisition, multilingualism and phonetic drift – the study of how second-language experience can influence speech and perception in speakers’ first language(s).
In my work, I believe it is important to prioritize the study of under-researched and minority languages, and to focus on ‘‘interface’’ areas at the crossroads of language sound, structure, and meaning. You can read more about my research projects below!
Prosody in under-researched languages
Prosody can present a particular challenge for linguistic analysis and is comparatively neglected in language description. This has resulted in prosodic types like ‘‘non-stress’’ languages being potentially under-described. I am interested in refining prosodic typology, for instance by clarifying the prosodic status of languages that may lack word stress. As part of this work I have developed an ongoing research project to analyze word- and phrase-level prosody in Amharic (አማርኛ), a South Semitic language of Ethiopia.
I have carried out fieldwork studies in Ethiopia and worked with diaspora communities to explore questions relating to stress, intonation, and prosodic prominence in Amharic. Examples of this work can be found in Kellogg & Barnes (2026), Kellogg & Barnes (accepted), and Kellogg & Melaku (under review).
56th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 56) in Minneapolis, 2025
Invited talk at Addis Ababa
University, Ethiopia, 2025
Language contact and phonetic drift
Talk at the 63rd Annual Meeting
of the Psychonomic Society in Boston, 2022.
A consistent thread in my research is an interest in multilingualism and how second-language experience can influence speech and perception in speaker’s first language(s), a phenomenon referred to as phonetic drift. I led a research project to assess an early threshold for phonetic drift, in collaboration with the the Phonetics, Acquisition, and Multilingualism Lab (PAMLab). This work was published (Kellogg & Chang 2023) in a special issue of the journal Languages.
My interest in acquisition also reflected in my work as Co-Chair on the organizing committee of the Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD).