Jessica Johnson

I am a computational linguist who has developed my skills through research, and coursework, and in the field. I have reinforced those skills by teaching undergrads different aspects of how language can be manipulated through computational means.

Research: To be filled in shortly

University of Southern California: Teaching Assistant for undergraduate courses

2022   Language & Technology; general education course and required for 2nd year linguistics majors

• Supervisor: Dr. Mary Byram Washburn (Spring 2020 and Spring 2022 semesters)
• Course summary: Using computer programming (Matlab and Python) to investigate natural speech sounds and artificial speech generation and recognition; 
  Some concepts covered: phonetics, signal processing, speech recognition, speech synthesis, neural networks
   

2021  Human Language as Computation; required course for 3rd year linguistics majors

• Supervisor: Dr. Khalil Iskarous (Fall 2021 semester)
• Course summary: An introduction to modern neural network approaches to natural language processing, based on Deep Learning, e.g., using computer programming (python) and machine learning to investigate sentence structure. Some concepts covered: recursive and recurrent neural networks, backpropagation, n-gram models.
   

2020   Human Speech; honors degree track general education course

• Supervisor: Dr. Dani Byrd ( Fall 2020 semester)
  Course summary: Learn about all aspects of natural spoken and signed languages, child language acquisition, as well as speech and language disorders, and the implications for technology

2018 Language & Society; general education course 

• Supervisors: Dr. Andrew Simpson (Fall 2018 and Fall 2019 semesters)
• Created handouts each week for guided discussion and applying sociolinguistic concepts
  
   

2018 University of Southern California; PhD Linguistics program (Jan 2018-May 2022; received masters)
Masters Thesis: Vowel Height and Backness are Unequally Distributed in the Spectrum

2017 The Australian National University; M.A. General and Applied Linguistics  
Masters Thesis: Disentangling Tone in Ḍanḍagaon Tamang: The Tonology of a Western Tamang Variety 

2013 Central Connecticut State University; B.A. Special Studies in Linguistics

2011 Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea; exchange year studying linguistics and learning Korean