Sandra Disner

Research & Practice Areas
Forensic linguistics, phonetics and phonology,
accents of American English.
Education
- Ph.D. Linguistics, UCLA, 6/1983
- M.A. Linguistics, UCLA, 6/1978
- B.A. , Wellesley College, 6/1972
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Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments
- Associate Professor (Teaching), USC,
- Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC, 2014-2015
- Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC, 2013-2014
- Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC,
- Lecturer, USC,
- Lecturer, USC,
- Lecturer, USC,
Visiting and Temporary Appointments
- Lecturer, USC, 2008-2009
- Lecturer, USC,
- Lecturer, UCLA,
- Lecturer, USC,
- Lecturer, U.C. Riverside, Spring Fall
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USC Funding
- Larger Faculty Development Grant. Conference travel — Int’l Assn for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics $1,500, 2016-2017
- Larger Faculty Development Grant. Conference travel — Int’l Assn for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics $1,500, 2015-2016
- Larger Faculty Development Grant. West Coast Roundtable on Language & Law $1,500, 2012-2013
- Faculty Travel Grant. International Assn of Forensic Linguists $500, 2011-2012
- Fund for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching. Speaker Identification $5,000, 2008-2010
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Conference Presentations
- “F2 and F3 Covariance as evidence of speaker identity” , 27th annual IAFPA conferencePoster, International Association for Forensic Phonetica a, Huddersfield, England, 2018 –
- “Case Study on Earwitness Reliability” , International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, 26th annual conferenceTalk/Oral Presentation, Split Croatia, 2017 –
- “A Trademark Case which relies crucially on phonetics and dialectology” , International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, 25th annual conferenceTalk/Oral Presentation, York, England, 2016 –
- “The fine structure of phonation as a biometric” , Acoustical Society of AmericaPoster, Cancun, Mexico, 2010 –
- “Utility of length-normalization for predicting confusion.” , 30th annual conference of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and AcousticsTalk/Oral Presentation, Prague, Czech Republic, 07/2022
- “On the phonetics of trademark infringement.” , 29th annual conference of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and AcousticsTalk/Oral Presentation, Marburg, Germany, 07/2021
- “” , Phonetics and Phonology in Europe 2019Session chair, Lecce, Italy, 2019
- “Closing remarks of Discussant Session on Forensic Phonetics & Speaker Characteristics” , International Congress of Phonetic SciencesTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Glasgow, Scotland, 08/14/2015
- “Sound analysis of trademarks” , 11th Biennial, International Association of Forensic LinguistsTalk/Oral Presentation, Mexico City, 07/2013
- “Examining the voice bar” , Acoustical Society of AmericaPoster, San Diego, CA, Fall 2011
- “Individuating vocal characteristics with the reassigned spectrogram” , International Association of Forensic LinguistsPoster, Birmingham, England, Spring 2011
- “Advanced time-frequency displays applied to forensic speaker identification ” , Acoustical Society of AmericaPoster, Portland, Oregon, 2008-2009
Other Presentations
- “Linguistics in Legal Disputes”, “Distinguished Voices” lecture, Univ. of California, Irvine, 2018-CONT
- “Fanciful trademarks require some sleuthing”, 6th West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law, San Francisco, CA, 2012-CONT
- “Phonetic complements to linguistic evidence”, 5th West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law, Vancouver, Canada, 2011-CONT
- “Cross-language differences in related vowels”, Participant in “Pisa Lectures” series, Pisa, Italy, 1987-1988
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Book
- Ladefoged, P., Disner, S. F. (2012). Vowels and Consonants. Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book Chapter
- Van Heuven, V., Afshar, N., Disner, S. F. (2020). Mapping perceptual vowel spaces in native and foreign language. Bilingualism: Hungarian and non- Hungarian contex pp. 12. Veszprém: University of Pannonia.
Encyclopedia Article
- Disner, S. F. (2013). Forensic Linguistics. Heidelberg: Springer: Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
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Other Advisement or Time Devoted to Students
- Supervised three Independent Study courses for undergraduates in the Linguistics Department
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Administrative Appointments
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Linguistics, 2018
Committees
- Secretary, Eta of California chapter, Phi Beta Kappa society, 2018-2019
- Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair.,
- Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of an Interim Department Chair., 2015-2016
- Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair., 2012-2013
Other Service to the University
- Presented research findings at the annual breakfast meeting of the Fund for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching, 2010-2011
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Committees
- “Secretary, Eta of California chapter, Phi Beta Kappa society”, 2018-2019
- “Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair.”, 2018-2019
- “Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of an Interim Department Chair.”, 2015-2016
- “Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair.”, 2012-2013
Media, Alumni, and Community Relations
- Quoted by USA Today on the lasting importance of spelling,
- Quoted by Yahoo News on early childhood language,
- Interviewed by CNN http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/03/did-bowe-bergdahl-forget-english/,
- Quoted by USA Today in an article on bilingualism,