Home page of Elliott Moreton
Department of Linguistics
Smith Building, Room 101
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3155
U.S.A.

My email address is my last name (note spelling) at unc.edu. My CV is here.

I am the Department's Director of Graduate Admissions (2005--) and Director of Graduate Studies (2009--).

Sign up here for the Linguistics Department's soundproof chamber in Dey 103.

If I am writing a letter of recommendation for you, you'll need to fill out a FERPA release form and return it on paper or scanned.

Classes I regularly teach

• Linguistics 101, Introduction to Language (Fall 2019) (Undergraduate)
• Linguistics 200, Phonology (Spring 2024) (UG)
• Linguistics 202, Language Change (Spring 2022) (UG)
• Linguistics 333, Human Language and Animal Communication Systems (Spring 2023) (UG)
• Linguistics 422, Research Methods in Experimental Phonetics and Laboratory Phonology (UG/G)
• Linguistics 444, Language Evolution (with Paul Roberge; Fall 2023) (UG/G)
• Linguistics 460, Textual Data Analysis with R (Fall 2024) (UG/G)
• Linguistics 520, Linguistic Phonetics (Fall 2024) (UG/G)
• Linguistics 523 Phonological Theory I (Spring 2023) (G/UG)
• Linguistics 526, Second-Language Phonetics and Phonology (Fall 2022) (UG/G)

Undergraduate research mentoring

• Herlant, Annika (2024). Sporadic regressive vowel harmony in Turkish. Senior honors thesis.
• Wrenn, Emma (2024). Phonetics of P'urepecha. Senior honors thesis.
• Carter, William (2017). Phonological activeness effects in language acquisition and language structuring. Senior honors thesis.
• Prickett, Brandon (2014). The effect of complexity vs. the effect of naturalness on phonological learning. Senior Honors thesis. Presented at the 22nd Manchester Phonology Meeting (MFM), May 29--31.
• Hauser, Ivy (2013). Sonority as a primitive: Evidence from phonological inventories. Presented at the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL), 2013 February 8--10. [UNC SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship)]
• Reyes, Kayleigh E. (2012). Inventory size and complexity in the song of the American Robin. Abstract in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 132 (3):1979. [LING 333; independent study]

Graduate theses supervised

• Bao, Yuanchen Blaine (2022). The acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tone by American heritage speakers and second-language learners of Chinese. (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Foley, Sean (2022). Control and biomechanics in coarticulation: insights from an ultrasound study of Standard Mandarin apical vowels. (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill, co-advised with Jeff Mielke of NCSU Linguistics)
• Carter, William J. T. (2019). Explicit and implicit acquisition of opacity: initial evaluations of a dual-system model of grammar. (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Moeng, Emily (2018). The acquisition of phonetic categories (PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Eisenbarth, Brent (2018). Reading lips and learning sounds: the effect of visual cue saliency on phonological production in a second language (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Boone, Haley (2018). Phonetic motivation for diachronic sound change in Bantu languages as evidenced by voiceless prenasalized stop perception by native Somali Chizigula speakers (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Muratani, Yuka (2017). Influence of poor-fit vowels on perception of consonants. (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Prickett, Brandon (2015). Complexity and Naturalness in First Language and Second Language Phonotactic Learning (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Zhu, Siyun (2014). A study on Mandarin focus produced by English L2 learners (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Kohn, Mary E. (2013). Adolescent ethnolinguistic stability and change: a longitudinal study (PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill). (Co-chair: Erik R. Thomas of NCSU Linguistics.)
• Fischer, Lucia Lopes (2013). Sgaw Karen as spoken by a member of the local North Carolina community: a phonetic analysis and phonemic transcription (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Shaw, Katherine E. (2013). Head faithfulness in lexical blends: a positional approach to blend formation (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Moeng, Emily (2012). Do phonologically active classes warp the perceptual space? (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Griffin, Jennifer (2011). Variation and gradience in a noisy harmonic grammar with lexically-indexed constraints: the case of Spanish -s deletion and aspiration (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Drozdiak, Alice (2011). Identifying and describing prosodic domain interaction with duration and hyperarticulation (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Clayton, Ian (2010). A natural history of preaspiration (PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill).
• Li, Yu(2007). Differential acquisition of phonemic contrasts by infant word learners: Does production recapitulate perception? (PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill, co-advised with Reiko Mazuka).
• Spears, Abby (2006). Nasal coarticulation in the French vowel /i/: a phonetic and phonological study (MA, UNC-Chapel Hill).

Useful stuff

• Put a field marshal's baton in your knapsack! Freeware turns your computer into a pretty good phonetics lab.
• Compendium of examples of synchronic chain-shifts/counterfeeding interactions/underapplication cases (current count: 49) (pdf)
• Low-tech ways to observe your articulators.
• Suggestions for making good posters (pdf).
• Samuel Johnson's last-minute Rambler piece on procrastination and perfectionism ...
• ... and another by the same author on fear of public speaking.

Stimuli: You are welcome to download my stimuli (see "Publications" below) and use them for any non-commercial purpose, including, of course, experiments of your own. I'd appreciate it if you let me know what you find, though.

Publications and presentations (non-exhaustive)

• Moreton, Elliott, and Katya Pertsova (in press). Implicit and explicit processes in phonological concept learning. To appear in Phonology. [Pre-publication draft (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, Joe Pater, Katya Pertsova, Brandon Prickett, Lisa Sanders, and Chris White (2024). Explicit and implicit reversal of musical and phonological stimuli. Poster presented at the 2nd Expression, Language, and Music Conference (ELM2), University of Connecticut, October 5. [Poster and bibliography (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, Jeff Lamontagne, and Monica Nesbitt (2024). Durational and spectral factors in judgements of American Raising. Abstract in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 155 (3, Part 2):A288-A289. [Poster and supplementary material (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2021). Phonological abstractness in English Diphthong Raising. In: Stuart Davis and Kelly Berkson (eds.), American Raising. Publications of the American Dialect Society (PADS) #106, Ch. 2. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. [Pre-publication draft (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, Brandon Prickett, Katya Pertsova, Josh Fennell, Joe Pater, and Lisa Sanders (2021). Learning repetition, but not syllable reversal. In: Ryan Bennett, Richard Bibbs, Mykel Loren Brinkerhoff, Max J. Kaplan, Stephanie Rich, Amanda Rysling, Nicholas Van Handel, and Maya Wax Cavallaro (eds.), Supplemental Proceedings of the 2020 Annual Meeting on Phonology. DOI: 10.3765/amp.v9i0.4912. [ pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott (2020). Evolving constraints and rules in Harmonic Grammar. In: Proceedings of the 2020 Meeting of the Society for Computation in Linguistics, Vol. 3, Article 8. [SCiL talk handout] [pdf] [software]
• Moreton, Elliott (2019). Abstract factors in English Diphthong Raising in a Mississippi dialect. Handout from a talk at NWAV 48 at the University of Oregon, Oct. 12. [pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott (2019). Constraint breeding during on-line incremental learning. In: Proceedings of the 2019 Meeting of the Society for Computation in Linguistics, Vol. 2, Article 9. [pdf] [SCiL talk handout]
• Moreton, Elliott (2018). Conditions on abruptness in a gradient-ascent Maximum Entropy learner. In: Proceedings of the 2018 Meeting of the Society for Computation in Linguistics (SCiL), Vol. 1, Article 19. [pdf] [SCiL poster]
• Moreton, Elliott, Jennifer L. Smith, Katya Pertsova, Rachel Broad, and Brandon Prickett (2017). Emergent positional privilege in novel English blends. Language 93 (2):347--380. [ pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott (2016). Prosody-morphology interaction in diphthong raising in a Mississippi dialect. Southern Journal of Linguistics 40 (2):15--58. [pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Katya Pertsova (2017). Implicit and explicit processes in phonotactic learning. In: Jennifer Scott and Deb Waugtal (eds.), Proceedings of the 40th Boston University Conference on Language Acquisition (BUCLD 40), pp. 277--290. [pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott, Joe Pater, and Katya Pertsova (2015/2017). Phonological concept learning. Cognitive Science 41 (1):4--69. [Offprint] [Demo software for the weightless MaxEnt algorithm (Replicator learner).] [Audio stimuli (same as Moreton 2012 JM&L)] [Visual stimuli (gzipped)]
• Broad, Rachel, Brandon Prickett, Elliott Moreton, Katya Pertsova, and Jennifer L. Smith (2015). Emergent faithfulness to proper nouns in novel English blends. In: Kyeong-min Kim (ed.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 33). [pdf]
• White, Andrew, Katherine Shaw, Fabian Monrose, and Elliott Moreton (2014). Isn't that fantabulous: security, linguistic, and usability challenges of pronounceable tokens. In: NSPW '14 (New Security Paradigms Workshop 2014) Proceedings. [paper]
• Smith, Jennifer L., Elliott Moreton, Katya Pertsova, and Rachel Broad (2014). Emergent noun faithfulness in novel English blends. Presentation at the 22nd Manchester Phonology Meeting, May 31. [ handout]
• Shaw, Katherine E., Andrew M. White, Elliott Moreton, and Fabian Monrose (2014). Emergent faithfulness to morphological and semantic heads in lexical blends. In: John Kingston, Claire Moore-Cantwell, Joe Pater, and Robert Staubs (eds.), Proceedings of Phonology 2013.
• Moreton, Elliott, and Katya Pertsova (2014). Pastry phonotactics: Is phonological learning special? In: Huang, Hsin-Lun, Ethan Poole and Amanda Rysling (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 43, Vol. II, pp. 1--12. [Handout (pdf), 2012 October 19.] [Paper (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Joe Pater (2012). Structure and substance in artificial-phonology learning. Part I, Structure. Part II, Substance. Language and Linguistics Compass 6 (11): 686--701 and 702--718. [Part I (pdf), Part II (pdf), final draft, June 2012] An earlier draft (April 2011) circulated under the title "Learning artificial phonology: a review".
• Pater, Joe, and Elliott Moreton (2012). Structurally biased phonology: complexity in learning and typology. Journal of the English and Foreign Languages University (Hyderabad), 3(2):1--44. [final version (pdf), August 2012]
• Smith, Jennifer L., and Elliott Moreton (2012). Sonority variation in Stochastic OT: Implications for markedness hierarchies. In: Steve Parker (ed.), The Sonority Controversy, 167--194. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter. [Published version (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2012). Inter- and intra-dimensional dependencies in implicit phonotactic learning. Journal of Memory and Language 67 (1):165-183. [Draft (pdf), December 2011] [Stimuli]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Joe Pater (2011). Formally biased phonology: complexity in learning and typology. Workshop on Testing Models of Phonetics and Phonology, Linguistic Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, July 13, 2011. [Handout (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2010). Constraint induction and simplicity bias in phonological learning. Workshop on Grammar Induction, Cornell University, May 14, 2010. [Handout (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2010). Underphonologization and modularity bias. In: Steve Parker (ed.), Phonological Argumentation: Essays on Evidence and Motivation, 79-101. London: Equinox. [Abstract] [Draft (pdf)] [Draft of 2006/5/27 at ROA-830]
• Moreton, Elliott (2009). Phonological Learning and Typology, LSA Institute Course 224. [Handouts (tarred, gzipped)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2008). Modelling modularity bias in phonological pattern learning. In: Natasha Abner, Jason Bishop, and Kevin Ryan (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL), 1-16. [ Abstract and paper] [paper] [BLUMPS 2.0 (tarred and gzipped)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2008). Analytic bias and phonological typology. Phonology 25(1):83--127. [Abstract] [Paper (pdf), version of 2008 Jan. 17.] [Stimuli for Experiments 1 and 2] [Scripts that produced the frequency counts in Section 7]
• Moreton, Elliott (2008). Learning bias as a factor in phonological typology. In: Charles Chang and Anna Haynie (eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL), 393--401. [Handout] [ Abstract and paper ] (This is essentially the NELS talk plus two more experiments.)
• Moreton, Elliott, Gary Feng, and Jennifer L. Smith (2008). Syllabification, sonority, and perception: new evidence from a language game. In: Rodney L. Edwards, Patrick J. Midtlyng, Colin L. Sprague, and Kjersti G. Stensrud (eds.), Proceedings from the Main Session of the Forty-First Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 341-355. [Abstract] [Draft (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Erik R. Thomas (2007). Origins of Canadian Raising in voiceless-coda effects: a case study in phonologization. Jennifer S. Cole and Jose' Ignacio Hualde (eds.), Laboratory Phonology 9, 37-64. Berlin: Mouton [Abstract] [Manuscript (pdf) ]
• Moreton, Elliott (2007). Competition in perception grammar. Presentation at the workshop on "Experimental Approaches to Optimality Theory (ExpOT)", Ann Arbor, May 18-20, 2007. [Handout].
• Moreton, Elliott (2006). Phonotactic learning and phonological typology. Presentation at the 37th meeting of the Northeast Linguistics Society, Urbana, Illinois, October 13-15, 2006. [Abstract]. [Handout].
• Moreton, Elliott (2004). Diachronically inaccessible grammars: a diachronic-phonetic study of the English /ai/ alternations. Presentation at the workshop on "Redefining Elicitation: Novel Data in Phonological Theory", New York University, April 9-11, 2004). [Abstract] [Handout (pdf)] Work done in collaboration with Erik R. Thomas, North Carolina State University.
• Moreton, Elliott (2004). Phonotactic constraints, frequency, and legality in English onset-cluster perception. Poster at Acoustical Society of America meeting, New York City, May 24-28, 2004. Abstract in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 115(5, Part 2):2630. [Abstract] [Poster (pdf)] [References (pdf).]
• Moreton, Elliott (2004). Realization of the English postvocalic [voice] contrast in F1 and F2. Journal of Phonetics 32:1-33. [Abstract] [Stimuli for Experiments 2 and 3] [Script for finding formants at nucleus (F1 max) and offglide (F2 max)]
• Moreton, Elliott (2004). Non-computable functions in Optimality Theory. In: John J. McCarthy (ed.), Optimality Theory in Phonology, 141-164. [Abstract] [Early and rather buggy draft in pdf.]
• Jusczyk, Peter, Paul Smolensky, Karen Arnold, and Elliott Moreton (2003). Acquisition of nasal place assimilation by 4.5-month-old infants. In: D. Houston, A. Seidl, G. Hollich, E. Johnson, and A. Jusczyk (eds.), Jusczyk Lab Final Report. [pdf]
• Moreton, Elliott (2002). Structural constraints in the perception of English stop-sonorant clusters. Cognition 84:55-71. [Abstract] [Manuscript (pdf)] [Stimuli for Experiments 1 and 2] [Missing panel from Fig. 1 of the published version.] [Data from Experiments 1 (``08'') and 2 (``09'')]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Paul Smolensky (2002). Typological consequences of local constraint conjunction. In: L. Mikkelsen and C. Potts (eds.), Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 21:306-319. [Abstract] [ Paper (pdf).]
• Moreton, Elliott (2002). Phonological grammar in speech perception. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [pdfs]
• Kingston, John, and Elliott Moreton (2001). How do listeners learn foreign vowel categories: as disjunctive sets, through selective attention, or as prototypes? In: R. Smits, J. Kingston, T. M. Nearey, and R. Zondervan (eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Speech Recognition as Pattern Classification, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, July 11-13, 2001. [Abstract] [Paper (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (1999). Evidence for phonological grammar in speech perception. In: J. J. Ohala, Y. Hasegawa, M. Ohala, D. Granville, and A. C. Bailey (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, San Francisco, pp. 2215-2217. [Abstract] [Paper (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott, and Shigeaki Amano (1999). Phonotactics in the perception of Japanese vowel length: Evidence for long-distance dependencies. Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology, Budapest. [Abstract] [Paper (pdf)]
• Moreton, Elliott (1999). Raise-/alpha/. Unpublished MS, Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. (Descriptive and historical notes on the Southern American English counterpart to Canadian Raising.) [pdf].
• Kingston, John, and Elliott Moreton (1998). Discovery of natural categories by non-native listeners. Abstract in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 103(5, Part 2):2986.
• Oviatt, Sharon L., Gina A. Levow, Elliott Moreton, and Margaret MacEachern (1998). Modeling global and focal hyperarticulation during human-computer error resolution. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 104(5):1-19.
• Moreton, Elliott (1997). Phonotactic rules in speech perception. Abstract in : Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 102(5, Part 2):3091-3092.
• Kusumoto, Kiyomi, and Elliott Moreton (1997). Native language determines parsing of nonlinguistic rhythmic stimuli. Abstract in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 102(5, Part 2):3204. [Poster (pdf)].

Last updated 2024 October 8 (Tu).