Phonology
French phonology is particularly interesting to me because it distinguishes itself from that of other Romance Languages in many ways. One specific domain that I find particularly interesting is intonation. Because there has been so little research in that field concerning non-standard dialects of French, I became motivated to discover those features myself. I started studying the variety spoken in francophone Switzerland, as such a multilingual country was bound to have noteworthy characteristics due to its history, politics, and geographical location.

I have recently finished my doctoral dissertation "Swiss French Prosody: Intonation, Rate, and Speaking Style in the Vaud Canton" (for an electronic copy, please e-mail-me) . This research project involved extensive field work in Switzerland to collect production and perception data. I have been to the Vaud and Neuchâtel cantons three times and have gathered read as well as spontaneous speech samples.

In the past I have also worked on the liaison phenomenon in French within an autosegmental-metrical framework. I mainly focused on the special cases of liaison sans enchaînement.

• Go to my Praat script page
• See a list of my publications

Second language acquisition
As an instructor of French, I am very sensitive to issues related to second language acquisition. Linguistics is a subject that I always try to introduce in the non-specialized courses I teach. Students are keen on learning the history of words as it helps them understand the reasons behind French spelling, for instance. Furthermore, I strongly believe in the benefits of teaching pronunciation through the International Phonetics Alphabet, even in beginning classes. In collaboration with a UW-Eau Claire Blugold Fellow (an undergraduate sturent who received a scholarship award) I have started a research project testing the effects of the introduction of phonetics symbols in courses of beginning French.

Furthermore, I have started to use podcasting in my French phonetics course and would eventually like to investigate how that new tool can enhance students' learning.

Sociolinguistics
My interest for both English and French led to my Master's thesis on anglicisms. I studied that sociolinguistic phenomenon in France and looked for the reasons of such an enthusiasm towards anglicisms compared with an apparent dislike of the American consumer's culture.

In addition, I became interested in language change through new technology, with a concentration of spelling. Recently, weblogs, instant messengers, and cell phone text messenging have become popular ways for the youth to communicate. This has resulted in the creation of identity codes conveyed through alternative ways of spelling.

French literature & culture
As a native of France, I am always looking forward to promoting the French culture around me. With a Master's degree in French literature, I understand the importance of teaching more than just grammar rules to my students. It is essential to me to contextualize the subjects I teach, so that students learn about important aspects of the French culture.

My favorite topics include 19th and 20th century literature, with an emphasis on fantastic stories (Théophile Gautier) for the former, and musicality for the latter (Pascal Quignard). But as an avid cinephile, I am also interested in learning more about that field. I have already done research on early French films as I find René Clair's movies fascinating.

To download handouts and PowerPoint files of my presentations, visit my conference page.