The Laboratory Phonology (Labphon) Conference series brings together a community of scholars who use experimental and quantitative measures to study the how the sound structure of human language is represented in the mind and in the brain. Laboratory Phonology transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. Though firmly rooted in the field of linguistics, the conference has attracted active participants from diverse fields including electrical engineering, psychology, speech and hearing sciences, and anthropology. Its scholarly impact extends even more broadly to disciplines like communication studies, speech-language pathology, and sociology. Each of the ten previous Labphon conferences has culminated in the publication of an edited volume. The Laboratory Phonology book series includes numerous widely cited papers, some of which are regarded as classics in the fields of phonetics and phonology. Many young investigators who have presented at previous Labphon conferences have gone on to have very successful academic and professional careers studying spoken language.
In 2008, Labphon will be held for the first time outside of the United States or Europe, in Wellington, New Zealand. This grant will provide travel support for ten early-career scholars, including students, to attend the Eleventh Conference on Laboratory Phonology. Travel grant applications will be evaluated by a committee of early-career investigators from the Ohio State University, New York University, Northwestern University, University of Oregon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, and the two Labphon Eleven host universities, the University of Wellington and Canterbury University. They will be administered by the University of Minnesota.
National Science Foundation support of young-investigator travel to Labphon Eleven is a tangible investment in the future research and scholarly endeavors of the ten travel-grant recipients. This support will further increase the visibility and prominence of research in spoken language across disciplines, and will increase the visibility of US research to a global audience.
