What degree are you working on? How long have you been studying in this program?
I've been working on my PhD in Linguistics since 2018.

What are your research interests and/or career goals?
My research interests are bilingualism and second/heritage language acquisition. Upon graduation, I plan to stay in academia and become a Professor of Linguistics.

What are you working on right now? 
Currently, I am working on my dissertation project which addresses a fundamental issue at the heart of bilingualism and language acquisition: how flexible and malleable are grammars after puberty? My dissertation project has been awarded the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and two dissertation completion grants: SLCL Dissertation Completion Fellowship and Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

I will be presenting some data from my dissertation at the 48th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development on November 3rd, 2023.

I have also an article, co-authored with Silvina Montrul, that is currently in press in Language Acquisition.

Why should someone study Linguistics at Illinois?
At the University of Illinois, I have had the pleasure of working with the experts in the field. I have had guidance at every step of the way from publishing my first article to navigating in the academic job market. The department has been supportive of my work, encouraging me to achieve more.

Contact: aylinc2 AT illinois DOT edu

Published 10/30/2023