Website

https://sylviacho247.github.io/

Interests

Multilingualism; voice quality; acoustic phonetics; language acquisition; sociolinguistics; sound change

About

Sylvia Cho (she/her/hers) is a PhD candidate and Sessional Instructor in the Department of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University. Raised in Alberta and British Columbia by first-generation immigrant parents, she grew up toggling between Korean and English—an experience that attuned her ear to the subtle ways language impacts not just what we say, but how we sound.

Her research asks: Do multilingual speakers—like Korean-Canadians in Vancouver—sound different depending on the language they’re speaking? Can your voice, quite literally, shift shape across linguistic contexts? And does multilingualism reshape the broader soundscape, as speakers join, resist, or reinvent the sound changes sweeping through Canadian English?

At its heart, Sylvia’s work explores how multilingualism interacts with the full spectrum of speech—from acoustics and articulation to identity and social meaning. 

Selected publications and presentations

April 10, 2025: Presentation at the SFU 3MT Finals, titled Speaking in Two Tongues: The Impact of Multilingualism on Voice and Perception.

• 2024: Comparing speech to fine and gross motor skills in Parkinson’s patients
• 2020: Multi-modal cross-linguistic perception of fricatives in clear speech
• 2017: F0, long-term formants and LTAS in Korean-English Bilinguals

Awards

• SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
• C.D. Nelson Entrance Scholarship
• Provost Prize of Distinction