Sam Kirkham

@lancaster.ac.uk

Lancaster University

I am senior lecturer in the Phonetics Lab, Department of Linguistics and English Language and Data Science Institute at Lancaster University. I am also associate editor at Journal of Phonetics. I was awarded my PhD in 2014 from the University of Sheffield. My research investigates the dynamics of spoken language, such as how people coordinate movements of the tongue, lips and larynx to produce speech. I do experiments that monitor acoustic signals and vocal tract movements using sensors and imaging technology, and build computational models of the cognitive and physical mechanisms that underpin spoken language. I apply these insights to a range of longstanding scientific puzzles, including the control of speech production and the mysteries of sound change.

EDUCATION

PhD University of Sheffield, 2014

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Language and Linguistics, Computer Science
848

Scholar Citations

16

Scholar h-index

25

Scholar i10-index

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Articulatory strategy as a source of variation in acoustic vowel dynamics
    P Strycharczuk, JJH Lo, S Kirkham
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 159 (5), 4068-4078 , 2026
    2026
  • AURORA Model of Formant-to-Tongue Inversion for Didactic and Clinical Applications
    P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.17543 , 2026
    2026
  • PyPhonPlan: Simulating phonetic planning with dynamic neural fields and task dynamics
    S Kirkham
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.16299 , 2026
    2026
  • Articulatory strategies in male and female vowel production
    P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham
    Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 68 (12), 5629-5649 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 3
  • Dynamical model parameters from ultrasound tongue kinematics
    S Kirkham, P Strycharczuk
    JASA Express Letters 5 (11) , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 2
  • Dimensionality reduction in lingual articulation of vowels: Evidence from lax vowels in Northern Anglo-English
    P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham, E Gorman, T Nagamine
    Language and Speech 68 (3), 689-721 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 6
  • Nosey: Open-source hardware for acoustic nasalance
    M Dewhurst, J Collins, JJH Lo, R Alderton, S Kirkham
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.23339 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 1
  • Articulatory strategy in vowel production as a basis for speaker discrimination
    JJH Lo, P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.20995 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 1
  • Discovering dynamical laws for speech gestures
    S Kirkham
    Cognitive Science 49 (5), e70064 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 7
  • Phonetic accommodation and inhibition in a dynamic neural field model
    S Kirkham, P Strycharczuk, R Davies, D Welburn
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.01210 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 2
  • Scaling laws for nonlinear dynamical models of articulatory control
    S Kirkham
    JASA Express Letters 5 (2) , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 10
  • Articulatory phonetics in the market: combining public engagement with ultrasound data collection
    C Nance, M Dewhurst, L Fairclough, P Forster, S Kirkham, JJH Lo, ...
    Linguistics Vanguard 10 (1), 51-62 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • Acquiring tongue shape complexity in consonants with multiple articulations
    C Nance, S Kirkham
    Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Applied Phonetics , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • Towards a dynamical model of English vowels. Evidence from diphthongisation
    P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham, E Gorman, T Nagamine
    Journal of Phonetics 107, 101349 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 15
  • Temporal Co-Registration of Simultaneous Electromagnetic Articulography and Electroencephalography for Precise Articulatory and Neural Data Alignment.
    D Friedrichs, M Lancheros, S Kirkham, L He, A Clark, C Lutz, V Dellwo, ...
    INTERSPEECH , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 2
  • Producing a smaller sound system: Acoustics and articulation of the subset scenario in Gaelic–English bilinguals
    C Nance, S Kirkham
    Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 27 (4), 572-584 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 4
  • Anatomical correlates of articulatory ranges of motion: An ema study
    D Friedrichs, AG Ekström, S Kirkham, S Moran
    Proceedings from FONETIK 2024, 123-128 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • Vocal tract proportions and the evolution of speech: New data to answer old questions
    S Moran, S Kirkham, D Friedrichs, DS Strait, AG Ekström
    Proceedings from FONETIK, 109-114 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • A dynamic neural field model of vowel diphthongisation
    S Kirkham, P Strycharczuk
    Proceedings of the 13th International Seminar on Speech Production , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 11
  • Discovering dynamical models of speech using physics-informed machine learning
    S Kirkham
    Proceedings of the ISSP 2024–13th International Seminar on Speech Production … , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 3

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Intersectionality and the social meanings of variation: Class, ethnicity, and social practice
    S Kirkham
    Language in Society 44 (5), 629-652 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 73
  • Ethnicity and phonetic variation in Sheffield English liquids
    S Kirkham
    Journal of the International Phonetic Association 47 (1), 17-35 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 67
  • Constructing social meaning in political discourse: Phonetic variation and verb processes in Ed Miliband's speeches
    S Kirkham, E Moore
    Language in Society 45 (1), 87-111 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 67
  • The acoustics of coronal stops in British Asian English
    S Kirkham
    Proceedings of the XVII International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1102-1105 , 2011
    2011
    Citations: 67
  • Personal style and epistemic stance in classroom discussion
    S Kirkham
    Language and Literature 20 (3), 201-217 , 2011
    2011
    Citations: 54
  • Dialect variation in formant dynamics: The acoustics of lateral and vowel sequences in Manchester and Liverpool English
    S Kirkham, C Nance, B Littlewood, K Lightfoot, E Groarke
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 145 (2), 784-794 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 52
  • An acoustic-articulatory study of bilingual vowel production: Advanced tongue root vowels in Twi and tense/lax vowels in Ghanaian English
    S Kirkham, C Nance
    Journal of Phonetics 62, 65-81 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 49
  • Ethnicity, social practice and phonetic variation in a Sheffield secondary school
    S Kirkham
    University of Sheffield , 2013
    2013
    Citations: 38
  • Acquiring allophonic structure and phonetic detail in a bilingual community: The production of laterals by Sylheti-English bilingual children
    S Kirkham, KM McCarthy
    International Journal of Bilingualism 25 (3), 531-547 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 37
  • Acoustic and articulatory variation in British Asian English liquids
    S Kirkham, J Wormald
    Proceedings of the XVIII International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1-5 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 35
  • A typology of laterals in twelve English dialects
    S Kirkham, D Turton, A Leemann
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 148 (1), EL72-EL76 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 33
  • Constructing multiculturalism at school: negotiating tensions in talk about ethnic diversity
    S Kirkham
    Discourse and Society 27 (4), 383-400 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 31
  • Intonational variation in Liverpool English
    C Nance, S Kirkham, E Groarke
    Proceedings of the XVIII International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1-5 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 20
  • Intonational variation in the North-West of England: The origins of a rising contour in Liverpool
    C Nance, S Kirkham, K Lightfoot, L Carroll
    Language and Speech 65 (4), 1007-1033 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 19
  • The acoustics of three-way lateral and nasal palatalisation contrasts in Scottish Gaelic
    C Nance, S Kirkham
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 147 (4), 2858-2872 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 18
  • Phonetic typology and articulatory constraints: The realization of secondary articulations in Scottish Gaelic rhotics
    C Nance, S Kirkham
    Language 98 (3), 419-460 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 16
  • Towards a dynamical model of English vowels. Evidence from diphthongisation
    P Strycharczuk, S Kirkham, E Gorman, T Nagamine
    Journal of Phonetics 107, 101349 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 15
  • Studying intonation in varieties of English: Gender and individual variation in Liverpool
    C Nance, S Kirkham, E Groarke
    Sociolinguistics in england, 275-295 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 15
  • Dynamic acoustic-articulatory relations in back vowel fronting: Examining the effects of coda consonants in two dialects of British English
    E Gorman, S Kirkham
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 148 (2), 724-733 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 14
  • Co-registration of simultaneous high-speed ultrasound and electromagnetic articulography for speech production research
    S Kirkham, P Strycharczuk, E Gorman, T Nagamine, A Wrench
    Proceedings of the 20th international congress of phonetic sciences, 918-922 , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 12