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