Sandra Disner

Associate Professor (Teaching) of Linguistics
Sandra Disner
Email sdisner@usc.edu Office GFS 301 Office Phone (213) 821-2309

Research & Practice Areas

Forensic linguistics, phonetics and phonology,
accents of American English.

Center, Institute & Lab Affiliations

  • NIST Scientific Area Committee on Speaker Recognition, member

Education

  • Ph.D. Linguistics, UCLA, 6/1983
  • M.A. Linguistics, UCLA, 6/1978
  • B.A. Wellesley College, 6/1972
  • Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments

    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2022-2023
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2021-2022
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2020-2021
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2019-2020
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2018-2019
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2017-2018
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2016-2017
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC, 2015-2016
    • Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC, 2014-2015
    • Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC, 2013-2014
    • Assistant Professor (Teaching) , USC, 2012-2013
    • Lecturer, USC, 2011-2012
    • Lecturer, USC, 2010-2011
    • Lecturer, USC, 2009-2010
    • Associate Professor (Teaching), USC,

    Visiting and Temporary Appointments

    • Lecturer, USC, 2008-2009
    • Lecturer, USC,
    • Lecturer, UCLA,
    • Lecturer, USC,
    • Lecturer, U.C. Riverside, Spring Fall
  • Research Specialties

    Forensic linguistics, phonetics and phonology,
    accents of American English.

  • Contracts and Grants Awarded

    • Toward an improved American English word list, with frequencies and transcriptions, (Int’l Assn. for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics), Sandra Disner, V. van Heuven, W. Heeringa, $1,900, 2023-2024

    USC Funding

    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. Some measures of phonetic similarity for use in legal trademark disputes: “Some measures of phonetic similarity for use in legal trademark disputes”, a talk presented the quadrennial International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, $1500, 07/2023
    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. F2 and F3 covariance as evidence of speaker identity: Presentation at the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, Huddersfield, England, $1500, 08/2018
    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. “Earwitness reliability through a lens of psycholinguistics and acoustics”: Talk at the annual conference of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics in Split, Croatia, and also participation in West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law in Bozeman, MT, $1500, Spring 2017
    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. “A Trademark case which relies crucially on phonetics and dialectology”: Travel to York, England for the annual conference of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics., $1500, 08/2016
    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. Closing remarks: Co-chair of Discussant Session on Forensic Phonetics & Speaker Characteristics at the Int’l Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow.

      Also participated in West Coast Roundtable for Language and Law., $1500, 06/2015

    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. “Sound analysis of trademarks”: Participated in the Int’l Assn. of Forensic Linguists, Mexico City. Also the West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law, San Francisco CA. , $1500, 07/2013
    • Larger Faculty Development Funds. “Phonetic complements to linguistic evidence”: Participated in the West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law, Vancouver, Canada, $500, 07/2012
    • Faculty Development Funds. “Individuating vocal characteristics with the reassigned spectrogram”: Travel funds to attend the International Assn of Forensic Linguists in Birmingham, England., $500, 07/2011
    • Fund for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching. Research on speaker Identification: Support for research into forensic linguistic issues, particularly the identification of a speaker by means of vocal acoustics., $5000, 05/2009 – 05/2010
  • 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 –
    • Some measures of phonetic similarity for use in legal trademark disputes , Int’l Congress of Phonetic SciencesTalk/Oral Presentation, International Phonetic Association, Prague, Czech Republic, 07/2024
    • 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
    • (Fall 2019) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm, WPH202
    • (Fall 2019) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, MW 05:00pm – 06:20pm, GFS109
    • (Fall 2019) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, MW 12:00pm – 01:50pm, GFS118
    • (Spring 2020) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law, and Literature, TTh 05:00pm – 06:20pm, VKC254
    • (Spring 2020) LING 115. Language and Society, TTh 02:00pm – 03:20pm, WPH B27
    • (Fall 2020) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, TTh 05:00pm – 06:20pm, ONLINE
    • (Fall 2020) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, MW 12:00pm – 01:50pm, ONLINE
    • (Spring 2021) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, MW 02:00pm – 03:20pm,
    • (Spring 2021) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm,
    • (Fall 2021) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm, ONLINE
    • (Fall 2021) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 05:00pm – 06:50pm, SOS B46
    • (Spring 2022) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, TTh 05:00pm – 06:20pm,
    • (Spring 2022) LING 412. Language and Law, TTh 12:30pm – 01:50pm,
    • (Fall 2022) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law and Literature, TTh 03:30pm – 04:50pm, CPA109
    • (Fall 2022) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm, SOS B46
    • (Spring 2023) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm,
    • (Spring 2023) LING 450. New Horizons in Forensic Speaker Identification, TTh 03:30pm – 04:50pm,
    • (Spring 2024) GESM 120. Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry – Language, Law, and Literature, TTh 03:30pm – 04:50pm,
    • (Spring 2024) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 11:00am – 12:20pm, ZHS163
    • (Fall 2024) LING 210. Introduction to Linguistics, TTh 09:30am – 10:50am,
    • (Fall 2024) LING 412. Language and Law, TTh 05:00pm – 06:20pm,
  • Book

    • Ladefoged, P., Disner, S. F. (2012). Vowels and Consonants. Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book Chapters

    • 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.
    • Language, Law and Literature, General Education GESM 120, 2015-2016
    • Leaving our own imprint, General Education GESM 120, 2015-2016
    • Language, Law and Literature, General Education ARLT 100, Fall 2014
    • Leaving Our Own Imprint: Adaptations of the novel, poem, story and play through the centuries, General Education ARLT 100, 2010-2011
    • New Horizons in Speaker Identification, Linguistics, Spring 2010
  • Other Advisement or Time Devoted to Students

    • Supervised three Independent Study courses for undergraduates in the Linguistics Department, 2012-2013
  • Administrative Appointments

    • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Linguistics, 2018 –

    Committees

    • Member, Secretary, Eta of California chapter, Phi Beta Kappa society, 2018-2019
    • Member, Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair., Spring 2019
    • Member, Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of an Interim Department Chair., 2015-2016
    • Member, Linguistics Department consultative committee on the selection of a Department Chair., 2012-2013

    Review Panels

    • USC Academic Honors & Fellowships, Fulbright applicants’ review committee, 2022 –
    • USC Dornsife, Committee to select Trustee and Presidential Scholars for 2022-23, Spring 2022
    • USC Dornsife, Committee to select Trustee and Presidential Scholars for 2019-20, Spring 2019
    • USC Dornsife, Committee to select Trustee and Presidential Scholars for 2015-16 , Spring 2015
    • USC Dornsife, Committee to select Trustee and Presidential Scholars for 2014-15, Spring 2014
    • USC Dornsife, Merit Evaluation Appeal Committee , Spring 2014

    Other Service to the University

    • Presented research findings at the annual breakfast meeting of the Fund for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching, 2010-2011
  • Committees

    • Member, Speaker Recognition Subcommittee, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2019 –
    • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Linguistics, 2018 –
    • Member, Linguistics Department Consultative Committee on the selection of a Department Chair., 2018-2019
    • Member, Linguistics Department Consultative Committee on the selection of a Department Chair., 2012-2013

    Professional Memberships

    • International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, 2015 –
    • International Phonetic Association, 2022-2023
    • Dictionary Society of North America, 2021-2022
    • International Association of Forensic Linguists, 2017-2018
    • Acoustical Society of America, 2014-2015
    • Linguistic Society of America, 2010-2011
    • The Association for Laboratory Phonology, 2010-2011

    Reviewer for Publications

    • Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Refereed papers on vowel quality, 2019 –
    • The Phonetician, International Society of Phonetic Sciences, Book reviews in the field of phonetics, 2012-2013
    • Journal of the International Phonetic Association, Refereed papers on Western European languages, 2003-2004

    Media, Alumni, and Community Relations

    • Quoted by USA Today on the lasting importance of spelling, 05/2015 –
    • Quoted by Yahoo News on early childhood language, 01/2015 –
    • Interviewed by CNN http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/03/did-bowe-bergdahl-forget-english/, 05/2014
    • Quoted by USA Today in an article on bilingualism, 05/2014

    Other Service to the Profession

    • Annual invitation to speak on forensic linguistics in the UCLA Ling 102 (“Applied Phonetics”) course, 2015 – 2024
    • Invited to speak on the topic of forensic linguistics to the Department of Language and Linguistic Science, York University, UK.

      (Sponsored by their departmentz0, 12/2023

    • Annual invitation to speak to the students in Macalester College’s Ling 494 course (“The Human Voice”), 2016 – 2020
    • Video conference on careers in Linguistics for the Boise State University Linguistics Association. (twice), 11/2012 – 10/2014
    • Served on coordinating committee of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory , Spring 2014
    • Reviewed grant proposals for the National Science Foundation, 1994 – 1997
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