Jack Mahlmann

PhD Student in the Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto

Hello! My name is Jack Mahlmann, and I'm currently a PhD student in the University of Toronto's Department of Linguistics. I acquired my Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Toronto, where I also received my Honors Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Linguistics and Political Science. 

I'm interested in many areas of linguistics like sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and phonology, but my current research is with Mayan languages in the field of revitalization and documentation. Specifically, my goal is to utilize phonetic methods to investigate a language's acoustic characteristics and their impact on revitalization efforts. 

In support of this goal, my MA thesis was a study comparing VOT of ejectives produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Itza' (published here in CAA proceedings). I've also been working on the perception of plain-ejective contrast by naive English listeners to better understand how L2 learners acquire ejectives as a new sound category (abstract here), and am currently designing and planning a descriptive project on ejective production in several Mayan languages.

I'm also interested in revitalization and documentation of Indigenous languages more broadly, as well as other applied topics like first- and second-language acquisition, language education, and language policy and planning. 

Research languages:

Spoken languages:

Technical/other skills include Praat, R, and some Python. In the future, I'm looking for opportunities to work with GIS software. I also have experience in book editing/revising, and manipulating and extracting Canadian census report data.

My CV can be seen below, last updated September 2024:

Jack Mahlmann resume.docx

In my free time I like to play guitar and other stringed instruments like ukulele and baglamas. I'm a fan of lots of types of music including rock, folk, indie, punk, blues, big band, easy listening, and jazz. Other interests include history, political geography, music theory, and esports.