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Bio

Sonya Bird received her BA Honours in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia (1993-1996) and then completed her MA and PhD at the University of Arizona (1997-2002). Her dissertation was on the phonetics and phonology of intervocalic consonants in the Lheidli dialect of Dakelh (Carrier), a Dene language spoken in British Columbia. After finishing her PhD, she returned to UBC as a SSHRC post-doctoral fellow to study the phonetic properties of glottalised resonants in St’át’imcets (Lillooet), an Interior Salish language also spoken in British Columbia (2002-2004). She joined the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria in 2004 and established the  in 2007, supported by funding from the .

Dr. Bird’s research combines Phonetics with Indigenous Language Documentation and Revitalization. She is particularly interested in the role of pronunciation and oral fluency in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Thanks to a  (2018-2023) and in collaboration with the Hul’q’umi’num’ Language & Culture Society, her recent work has focused on speech production and perception among Hul’q’umi’num’ speakers of different ages and proficiency levels. The goals are to (1) document the pronunciation details of Hul’q’umi’num’ across speakers, (2) understand what the challenges are for learners, and (3) help design tools and resources to overcome these challenges, with a focus on tools that incorporate “speech visualization” and phonetic analysis. Activities made possible by the SSHRC PDG can be found on the  website.

Dr. Bird has also been involved in supporting UVic’s undergraduate and graduate programs in Indigenous Language Revitalization. Since 2016, she has participated in designing and delivering the Masters in Indigenous Language Revitalization (MILR) program, offered jointly by the Departments of Linguistics and Indigenous Education, for which she acted as Graduate Advisor in 2020-22. She has also been the Academic Advisor of the (undergraduate) Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalization program.

Courses

• LING 380: Acoustic and Perceptual Phonetics 
• LING 381: Physiology of Speech Production 
• LING 486: Experimental Phonetics 
• LING 577: The Global Context of Language Revitalization  

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

Bird, Sonya, Rae Anne Claxton, & Tess Nolan (2023). Acoustic Phonetics. Handbook of North
American Languages.

Bliss Heather, Sonya Bird, & Bryan Gick (2023). Articulatory Phonetics. Handbook of North American Languages.

Journal Articles 

Bird, Sonya, Rae Anne Claxton & Maida Percival (2023). Seeing Speech: Using Praat to Visualize Hul’q’umi’num’ Sounds. Language Documentation & Conservation 17, 297-320. 

Bird, Sonya & Sky Onosson (2022). A phonetic case study of Tŝilhqot’in /z/ and /z^ʕ/. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 1-34.

Bird, Sonya (2020). Pronunciation among Adult Indigenous Language Learners: the case of SENĆOŦEN /t’/. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 6:2, 148-179.

Bird, Sonya & Natallia Litvin (2020) Belarusian. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 51(3), 1-18.

Bird, Sonya & Sarah Kell (2017). The role of pronunciation in SENĆOŦEN language revitalization. Canadian Modern Language Review 73(4): 538-569.

Other Publications 

Bird, Sonya, Janet Leonard, & Tess Nolan (2022). Pronunciation patterns among L2 Hul’q’umi’num’ learners: Preliminary findings and future directions. Proceedings of PSLLT 2021.

Bird, Sonya, Allison Benner, Sky Onosson, & Qian Wang (2019). . (Praat-based introduction to acoustic analysis of speech)

(collection of approximately 60 online quizzes designed to help support Hul’q’umi’num’ listening skills)

Selected Presentations/Talks

Bird, Sonya, Boey Kwan, Henny Yeung, & Martina Joe (2024). A first glimpse at pronunciation acquisition among Hul’q’umi’num’ learning children. Plenary talk. Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC). Vancouver, BC, March 1.

Bird, Sonya, Randeana Jack, Maida Percival & Henny Yeung (2024). Hul’q’umi’num’ listening quizzes: Blending research and pedagogy. Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA). New York, NY, January 6.

Bird, Sonya & Rae Anne Claxton (2022). Pronunciation in the context of Indigenous Language Revitalization. Invited talk. Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSSLT). St. Catharines ON. June 17.

Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa, Onowa McIvor, Sonya Bird, Megan Lukaniec, & Jean-Paul Restoule (2022). The Master’s & Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalization (University of Victoria): Developing Skills and Scholars. LSA-SSILA joint panel on Inclusive Pathways and Broadening Participation for Native Americans in the Language Sciences. January 7^th.

Bird, Sonya (2019). Documenting phonetic structures of Indigenous languages of Canada. Plenary talk. Acoustics Week in Canada. Edmonton AB, October 11.

Current Research Projects/Information

Sonya's recent research has focused on supporting adult learners of Hul’q’umi’num’ fine tune their speaking and listening skills. She has also been part of a team working to document the pronunciation of young children learning Hul’q’umi’num’.

See for more information on these projects, including various pedagogical tools and resources.