Research
Empirical research: Joint Speech (chant).
Theoretical work: Embodiment and its consequences.
I began in phonetics, where I studied speech rhythm and timing using two experimental methods I developed: Speech Cycling and Synchronous Speech.
Work on synchronous speech led to the development of the topic of Joint Speech. This includes all situations in which two or more people say (or sing) the same thing at the same time. Such speech is typically found in situations of great social significance, e.g. during religious rites, secular rituals, and protest demonstrations. It is also common in schools. I see joint speech as a useful topic for exploring foundational issues in the sciences of the mind and behavior.
Beyond empirical science, I am very interested in how science is conducted. My recent writing is concerned with the way in which we treat of the relationship between our representations (sentences, texts, images, theories, models) and the indubitable ground from which we speak (H, here-and-now, the immanent dureé). I am organizing my ideas at a blog called the Gateless Gate. I do not know yet where this is going, but I am enjoying the experience of pursuing a number of parallel and interlocked themes that range from mysticism to the mundane, linked by the mathematical. Recent thought on our theories of seeing and vision led to this short series of videos.
My students have worked on a variety of projects including the visual perception of biological motion, the role of optimization in sequencing articulator movements, the nature of the coupling between speech and manual gesture, the synthesis of ecologically inspired sounds, blending in martial arts, the origin and nature of habits, mixed reality in psychotherapy, ethics in artificial intelligence, the phenomenology of singing, and gaze and blinking in conversation.