About me

Currently I teach phonetics and phonology at the University of Amsterdam. Previously I taught at Leiden University, Utrecht University and at Webster University Leiden Campus. I also supervise graduate and undergraduate theses concerning all things phonology. I am a founding member of the EmpiPhon ACLC Research Group, together with Silke Hamann.

My current main interest concerns typology, and the speech sounds and sound systems of underdescribed languages, specifically languages of Ecuador. In this, I work together with Martine Bruil.

Another research interest is the representation of sonorance, specifically within the framework of Element Theory (Harris, 1994, Backley, 2011). I’ve written and presented on this issue both solo and in collaboration with Bert Botma and others.

In 2015 I defended my dissertation, which deals with the acquisition of phonological segments. The theory developed in the dissertation is a very simple one: no more ingredients are needed than distinctive features and constraints on the co-occurrence of these features. The main innovation of the theory is that phonological acquisition is viewed as the tandem development of the representational (features) and computational (constraints) aspects of phonology. Previous accounts tended to focus on one of the two, mostly the representational side when it comes to the acquisition of the inventory. The thesis is available for download via the publisher.

View my photographic work at
www.marijnvantveer.com (independent work)
www.cargocollective.com/marijnvantveer (people)

I’m developing an interest in early and renaissance musical instrument building, some examples can be seen here.

There’s also a band that I play in (synths) called Edgar’s Hair. And another one in which I play double bass: Sores
And some solo electronic work (SoundCloud)