Jack Mahlmann

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, and before that my Honors Bachelor of Arts 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, phonetics, and second-language learning. I'm currently preparing for my dissertation, for which I intend to focus on the application of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) - a training method used to teach learners new contrasts in laboratory experiments - to plain-ejective contrast (e.g., /k/ vs. /k'/) in both perception and production. My goal is to explore how this methodology can be used practically in a classroom setting to support learners of languages with ejective sounds, particularly in the case of Indigenous languages like Kaqchikel. 

My MA thesis was a study examining VOT of ejectives produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Itza' (proceedings paper here). 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 (proceedings paper here, online abstract here). Most recently, I completed an acoustic study of stop production in Kaqchikel.