RESEARCH INTERESTS

How do crosslinguistic differences in morphosyntactic structure affect first language development? What aspects of language learning are universal vs. language-specific? How do the two languages of a bilingual or second language speaker interact and influence each other in acquisition and processing? I investigate these questions in several different research projects. 

CURRICULUM VITAE

 [click here  for full CV]

EDUCATION

1995
Ph.D. in Linguistics, McGill University

1985
B.A. in Hispanic Studies (Great Distinction), McGill University

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT 

2023-2026
Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau 

2014-2020
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kaiserslautern 
Elected Member University Senate, University of Kaiserslautern

since 2010
Professor (W2/W3), University of Kaiserslautern
Psycholinguistics and Language Development Group, Department of Social Sciences

2006-2010
Department Chair, Boston University
Department of Literacy & Language, Counseling & Development, School of Education

1999-2010
Assistant/Associate Professor, Boston University
Department of Literacy & Language, Counseling & Development, School of Education   
Program in Applied Linguistics, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

1994-1998
Research Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Language Acquisition Group

 

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS  [Click here for full list of publications]

Fernandez, L. B. & Allen, S. E. M. (2025). Reduced capacity for parafoveal processing (ReCaPP) leads to differences in prediction between first and second language readers of English. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 18(3), 1-19.  doi.org/10.3390/jemr18020003 

Pashkova, T., & Allen, S. E. M. (2025). Explicitness of referring expressions in heritage speakers’ majority English. Lingua, 314, 103854. doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103854

Karkaletsou, F., Kholodova, A., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024). Exploring bilingual adaptation to structural innovations: Evidence from Canadian French. Languages, 9, 375. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9120375

Gamboa, J. C. B., Kolesova, K., Järvikivi, J., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024).  The distributional properties of long nominal compounds in scientific articles: An investigation based on the Uniform Information Density hypothesis. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory.  doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2023-0028

Katsika, K., Lialou, M., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024). Bilingual children’s online processing of relative clauses: Evidence from heritage Greek. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 14(4), 446-475.  doi.org/10.1075/lab.22103.kat 

Kapia, E., Allen, S. E. M., & Zogaj, D. (2024). Early vocabulary and grammar development in Albanian-speaking children: An MB-CDI adaptation study. Language Development Research, 4(1), 175-206. http://doi.org/10.34842/wve8-yn80

Lee, H., & Allen, S. E. M. (2023). An acquisition sketch of Inuktitut. Language Documentation and Conservation, 28, 135-213. hdl.handle.net/10125/74723

SELECTED RECENT PRESENTATIONS [Click here for full list of presentations]

Johnson, O. A., Lee, H., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024, September). Acquisition of complex structures and measuring lexical diversity in Inuktitut. 30^th Conference on Architecture and Mechanisms of Language Processing, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Kholodova, A., Karkaletsou, F., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024, September). Investigation of core priming effects in monolingual and bilingual children: A developmental approach. Poster at 30^th Conference on Architecture and Mechanisms of Language Processing, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Karkaletsou, F., Jacob, G., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024, September). Cross-linguistic structural priming of ditransitive innovations in Canadian French-English bilinguals. Poster at 30^th Conference on Architecture and Mechanisms of Language Processing, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Byambasuren, D., & Allen, S. E. M.  (2024, September). Acquisition of negation in Mongolian using the sketch acquisition approach. Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Processing and Learning Workshop, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Byambasuren, D., & Allen, S. E. M. (2024, July). Acquisition of converbs in Mongolian-speaking rural and urban children. 16^th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

TEACHING

• Heritage Language Acquisition
• Language Development
• Linguistics and Language Processing
• Scientific Writing for Cognitive Science
• Vocabulary Acquisition
• Working with Human Subjects

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

• Co-Editor, Trends in Language Acquisition Research (TiLAR) book series, Benjamins Publishing
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Child Language
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Language Studies
• Advisory Board Member, Linguistic Research Infrastructure

HONORS AND AWARDS

• President, International Association for the Study of Child Language
• Elected Member, Academia Europaea