Research

Image credit: https://web.sas.upenn.edu/cogsci/program/major/

My research focuses primarily on bilingual speech perception and spoken word recognition. My main research program is couched within phonetic and psycholinguistic approaches to language comprehension in bilinguals, with three interconnected goals: (1) to determine how similarities and differences between a bilingual’s two sound systems affect speech perception and spoken word recognition; (2) to examine how linguistic experience shapes listeners’ weighting of acoustic information; and (3) to develop perceptual training stimuli and methods that enhance bilinguals’ speech perception and spoken word recognition.

Much of my work addresses these issues through the study of prosodic information, with particular emphasis on lexical stress and intonation—two areas that remain underexplored in speech perception and spoken word recognition research. This research has been supported through two external grants from the National Science Foundation (Linguistics Program, BCS-1423905 and BCS-2016750). Beyond this research, I have also published studies on bilingual speech production, morphological processing, and sentence processing.

Selected Papers

Tremblay, A. (in press). Processing second/foreign language prosody. In J. Levis and M. Reed (Eds.), Handbook of second language listening. Wiley/Blackwell.
Tremblay, A. (2025). French speech perception and spoken word recognition by second-language learners. In M. Howard (Ed.), Approaches and methods in French second language acquisition research (pp. 44-69). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tremblay, A., & Kim, H. (2025). Perceptual plasticity in bilinguals: Language dominance reshapes acoustic cue weightings. Brain Sciences, 15, 1053.
Kim, H., Tremblay, A., & Cho, T. (2024). Perceptual cue weighting matters in real-time integration of acoustic information during spoken word recognition. Cognitive Science, 48, e70026.
Tremblay, A. (2024). Input processing and the acquisition of phonology. In W. Wong & J. Barcroft (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and input processing (pp. 227-239). New York: Routledge.
Kim, H., & Tremblay, A. (2023). Korean listeners’ weighting and integration of cues to the three-way Korean stop contrast. In Proceedings of the International Congress for Phonetic Sciences 2023. Prague, Czech Republic.
Tremblay, A., Kim, H., Kim, S., & Cho, T. (2023). Perceptual training enhances the use of vowel quality cues to lexical stress: The benefits of intonational variability. In Proceedings of the International Congress for Phonetic Sciences 2023. Prague, Czech Republic.
Kim, H., & Tremblay, A. (2022). Intonational cues to a segmental contrast in the native language facilitate the processing of intonational cues to lexical stress in the second language. Frontiers in Communication. 7:845430.
Zora, H., Gussenhoven, C., Tremblay, A., & Liu, F. (Eds.) (2022). Crosstalk between intonation and lexical tones: Linguistic, cognitive and neuroscience perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:1101499.
Zora, H., Gussenhoven, C., Tremblay, A., & Liu, F. (2022). Editorial: Crosstalk between intonation and lexical tones: Linguistic, cognitive and neuroscience perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1101499.
Kim, H. & Tremblay, A. (2021). Korean listeners’ processing of suprasegmental lexical contrasts in Korean and English: A cue-based transfer approach. Journal of Phonetics, 87, 1–15.
Tremblay, A., Broersma, M., Zeng, Y., Kim, H., Lee, J., & Shin, S. (2021). Dutch listeners’ perception of English lexical stress: A cue-weighting approach. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 149, 3703–3714.
Tremblay, A. (2021). The past, present, and future of stress in second-language word production and recognition. In R. Wayland (Ed.), Second language speech learning: Theoretical and empirical progress (pp. 175–192). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tremblay, A., Kim, S., Shin, S., & Cho, T. (2021). Re-examining the effect of phonological similarity between the native- and second-language intonational systems in second-language speech segmentation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24, 401–413.
Jongman, A., & Tremblay, A. (2020). Word prosody in L2. In C. Gussenhoven & A. Chen (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language prosody (pp. 594–604). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Qin, Z., Tremblay, A., & Zhang, J. (2019). Influence of within-category tonal information in the recognition of Mandarin-Chinese words by native and non-native listeners: An eye-tracking study. Journal of Phonetics, 73, 144–157.
Tremblay, A., Cho, T., Kim, S., & Shin, S. (2019). Phonetic and phonological effects of tonal information in the segmentation of Korean speech. Applied Psycholinguistics, 40, 1221–1240.
Connell, K., Hüls, S., Martínez-García, M. T., Qin, Z., Shin, S., Yan, H., & Tremblay, A. (2018). English learners’ use of segmental and suprasegmental cues to stress in lexical access: An eye-tracking study. Language Learning, 68, 635–668.
Tremblay, A., Broersma, M., & Coughlin, C. E. (2018). The functional weight of a prosodic cue in the native language predicts speech segmentation in a second language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 640–652.
Tremblay, A., Spinelli, E., Coughlin, C. E., & Namjoshi, J. (2018). Syntactic cues take precedence over distributional cues in native and non-native speech segmentation. Language and Speech, 61, 615–631.
Darcy, I., Simonet, M., & Tremblay, A. (Eds.). (2017). Language Sciences series: Phonology in the bilingual and bidialectal lexicon. Frontiers in Psychology.
Qin, Z., Chien, Y.-F., & Tremblay, A. (2017). Processing of word-level stress by Mandarin-Speaking second-language learners of English. Applied Psycholinguistics, 38, 541–570.
Tremblay, A., & Coughlin, C. E. (2017). Cue-weighting mechanism and bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 708–709.
Tremblay, A., Namjoshi, J., Spinelli, E., Broersma, M., Cho, T., Kim, S., Martínez-García, M. T., & Connell, K. (2017). Experience with a second language affects the use of fundamental frequency in speech segmentation. PLoS One, 12, e0181709.
Gaillard, S., & Tremblay, A. (2016). Oral proficiency assessment in second language acquisition research: The Elicited Imitation Task. Language Learning, 66, 419–447.
Reichle, R., Tremblay, A., & Coughlin, C.E. (2016). Working memory capacity in L2 processing. Probus, 28, 29–55.
Tremblay, A. (2016). Linguistic convergence/divergence or degree of bilingualism? Journal of French Language Studies, 26, 167–170.
Tremblay, A., Broersma, M., Coughlin, C. E., & Choi, J. (2016). Effects of native language on the use of fundamental frequency in non-native speech segmentation. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 985.
Coughlin, C. E., & Tremblay, A. (2015). Morphological decomposition in native and non-native French speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 524–542.
Felker, E., Tremblay, A., & Golato, P. (2015). Traitement de l’accord dans la parole continue chez les apprenants anglophones tardifs du français. Arborescences, 5, 28–62.
Huensch, A., & Tremblay, A. (2015). Effects of perceptual phonetic training on the perception and production of second language syllable structure. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 105–120.
Kim, E., Baek, S., & Tremblay, A. (2015). The role of island constraints in second language sentence processing. Language Acquisition, 22, 384–426.
Tremblay, A., & Spinelli, E. (2014). English listeners' use of distributional and acoustic-phonetic cues to liaison in French: Evidence from eye movements. Language and Speech, 57, 310–337.
Coughlin, C. E., & Tremblay, A. (2013). Proficiency and working-memory-based explanations for non-native speakers' sensitivity to agreement in sentence processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34, 615–646.
Tremblay, A., & Spinelli, E. (2013). Segmenting liaison-initial words: The role of predictive dependencies. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28, 1093–1113.
Trude, A., Tremblay, A., & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2013). Limitations on adaptation to foreign accents. Journal of Memory and Language, 69, 349–367.
Kandel, S., Spinelli, E., Tremblay, A., Guerassimovitch, H., & Alvarez, C. (2012). Processing prefixes and suffixes in handwriting production. Acta Psychologica, 140, 187–195.
Tremblay, A., Coughlin, C. E., Bahler, C., & Gaillard, S. (2012). Differential contributions of prosodic cues in the native and non-native segmentation of French speech. Laboratory Phonology, 3, 385–423.
Tremblay, A. (2011a). Proficiency assessment standards in second language acquisition research: “Clozing” the gap. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 339–372.
Tremblay, A. (2011b). Learning to parse liaison-initial words: An eye-tracking study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14, 257–279.
Tremblay, A., & Owens, N. (2010). The role of acoustic cues in the development of (non-)target-like L2 prosodic representations. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 55, 85–114.
Tremblay, A. (2009). Phonetic variability and the variable perception of L2 word stress by French Canadian listeners. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13, 35–62.
Demuth, K., & Tremblay, A. (2008). Prosodically conditioned variability in children's production of French determiners. Journal of Child Language, 35, 99–127.
Tremblay, A. (2008). Is L2 lexical access prosodically constrained? On the processing of word stress by French Canadian L2 learners of English. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 553–584.

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