Get to Know Your Instructors: Francisco Torreira

☑ A degree in Musicology ☑ Music as a pastime ☑ Musician in an alternative universe. Francisco Torreira (McGill University) will be teaching the Introduction to Prosody course at the Institute with Nigel Ward. We asked Francisco a few questions so we could get to know a little more about him and the Institute course they’re teaching come July 2019.

Can you please tell us about your linguistic background?

I studied translation, musicology, and linguistics in Belgium as an undergraduate student; as a grad student in the US and in the Netherlands, I focused on phonetics and laboratory phonology. Later on, I worked on phonetics, psycholinguistics, and turn-taking at the MPI for Psycholinguistics for several years. I am currently an assistant prof in the Linguistics Department at McGill University in Montreal.

Can you tell us about the course you are teaching at the Institute?

I will be co-teaching an introduction to prosody with Nigel Ward. Among other things, I’d like to help students learn to link impressionistic and acoustic prosodic phenomena, and to review a series of alternative approaches to intonational modeling.

What research are you currently working on?

The phonetics, phonology, and morphology of intonational tunes.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Music.

In a parallel universe in which you are not an academic/linguist, what would you be?

A musician.

What are you most looking forward to about Davis?

Interacting with students and colleagues who I have never met before.

Ice cream or Cake? Cats or Dogs? Quarter system or Semester system?

Ice cream. Dogs. Semester system.

What advice would you give to graduate students interested in pursuing a career in linguistics?

Follow your curiosity and do good science.