Language Sciences is pleased to have supported the 8th Annual Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC) that happened on February 28 and 1 March, 2025, lending a dynamic space for undergraduates to present their research and learn from each other. As the conference came to a fruitful close, we spoke with winners from different categories about their experiences.
This year's best poster presentation went to Victor Wong, Dayeon Choi, and Ragul Loganathan who worked on Laughing Ultrasound: Speech-like or it's Own Behaviour?
I’m curious to hear more about your research project. What inspired you to pursue this topic, and what have been some of your key findings?
Dayeon started this project due to her research interest in non-speech modalities and found laughter to be fascinating as it can be seen to integrate speech sounds such as “ha ha”. Building upon this idea, we wanted to investigate further the possibility of whether volitional laughter which individuals may often have more control over draws on speech-like modalities compared to spontaneous laughter which feels less controlled. Our findings so far have indicated that in some participants, their volitional laughter is more speech-like than their spontaneous laughter. However, we believe that there may be various other underlying factors that contribute to laughter that we have not looked into just yet.
I would love to know your thoughts on the LSHURC experience. How did you find the event, and what do you think it means for undergraduate research at UBC?
We felt that the LSURC experience was an incredibly rewarding experience. It was a great way to showcase our research to a broader audience, and it also allowed us to become more comfortable with presenting not only our research but with general public speaking! We thought the event was also super fun and rewarding, and it was fascinating to see the interdisciplinary approach to language research for students.
Looking ahead, where do you see your research taking you in the next year or two?
Dayeon: I hope to continue my research while pursuing my Master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis, which I will be attending this fall. I hope to research more about communication in general, both non-verbal and verbal, and how I can contribute meaningfully to supporting individuals!
Ragul: Hopefully I get to continue research in grad school, but I’ve come to enjoy it quite a bit and would like to continue with it! Over the next year or so, I would also like to branch out and do more research regarding language, but the future is yet to come, and I still have quite a bit of time! :)
Victor: I am entering my last year of undergrad next year and plan to continue research in phonetics. Furthermore, I enjoyed the interdisciplinary approach using medical imaging and articulatory phonetics that created a new field of speech research. Finally, a huge thanks to the entire team for the support and kindness throughout the research process!
How do you think UBC can better support undergraduate research initiatives?
We feel that UBC as an institution could offer better support within undergrad research initiatives by giving opportunities to pursue creative research and authorship. The Integrated Speech Research Lab (ISRL) where we are supervised by Dr. Bryan Gick and Dr. Jahurul Islam is a unique space that gives all of these opportunities and hope that other faculties can learn how vital mentorship is towards supporting a new generation of researchers. This has been an incredible experience to learn and critically think about new ideas and rewards dedication and passion towards speech research. Their guidance has been invaluable and we are incredibly grateful to have been able to grow and find our individuality through the lab. Moreover, we are extremely lucky to have such great creative freedom in an interdisciplinary field!
Congratulations again to Victor, Dayeon, and Ragul. To read our Q&As with other winners, please follow the links below:
1st place oral presentation: "Assessing Intuitions about Obviation in Learners of Anishinaabemowin" presented by Hope Trischuk
2nd place poster presentation: "The Effect of Musical Genre Expectations on Sung Accent Perception" presented by Maddy Walter and Sabrina Luk