News
Research updates, publications, conference presentations, awards, and collaborations.
For an overview of my scientific contributions, visit my Research page or browse my Publications.
2026
September 2026 | LSA 2027 – Crosslinguistic Research Our work on the computational analysis of head nod trajectories in American Sign Language (ASL) and Turkish Sign Language (TİD) has been accepted for presentation at the 2027 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting! Our findings reveal how distinct linguistic functions are encoded through specific kinematic properties of head movements, rather than through holistic movement patterns.
September 2026 | AAAS 2027 – Research Vision My talk, Language Across Channels: The Organization of Language Across Body, Space, and Time, has been accepted for the 2027 AAAS Annual Meeting! I’ll present my broader research agenda on how sign languages organize linguistic information simultaneously across multiple channels and what this reveals about human language.
August 2026 | LSA 2027 – Sign Language AI My research on the linguistic capabilities of SHuBERT, a computational model of sign language, has been accepted for presentation at the Signed Languages and AI: Advances, Challenges, and Ethics symposium at LSA 2027. This work examines where current models succeed and struggle in capturing the multichannel structure of sign languages. I’m looking forward to discussing these findings with the sign linguistics and AI communities!
August 2026 | BUCLD 2026 – Language Acquisition My work, Age of Acquisition Effects on Head Nods in ASL: Computational Approaches, has been accepted as a poster at the 2026 Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD). This study investigates how language acquisition history shapes the production of head movements in ASL.
July 2026 | New Preprint – Head Movements Across Sign Languages Our new preprint examines how ASL and TİD signers use head nod trajectories to express semantic and prosodic functions. Using kinematic analysis and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), we found crosslinguistic differences in prosodic head nods but similarities in semantic head nods. These findings provide new insights into how linguistic functions shape the temporal organization of movements across sign languages.
July 2026 | Best Paper Award – CVPR GenSign Workshop Our paper on the linguistic evaluation of sign language models received the Best Paper Award at the CVPR 2026 GenSign Workshop! This work introduces linguistically grounded evaluation using minimal pairs and examines how computational models capture grammatical distinctions expressed across multiple channels. I’m especially happy to share this recognition with my collaborators!
July 2026 | FEAST 2026 – TİD Syntax and Semantics Our joint work with Cem Barutçu on Clausal Question–Answer Pairs (CQAs) in Turkish Sign Language was accepted for presentation at FEAST 2026 in Amsterdam! This project grew out of Cem’s course project and developed into a collaborative investigation of the syntax and semantics of CQAs. It’s particularly rewarding to see student research develop into a conference presentation!
June 2026 | CVPR GenSign Workshop – Sign Language Models Our work investigating the linguistic sensitivity of sign language models was accepted as a poster at the CVPR 2026 GenSign Workshop in Denver! Using linguistically motivated minimal pairs, we examine whether computational models capture grammatical information across manual and nonmanual channels.
May 2026 Our new preprint is out! We introduce ASL-MTP and use it to analyze how current models handle key linguistic phenomena in ASL. Our findings show that models rely heavily on manual cues and often miss crucial nonmanual information—highlighting a gap in modeling simultaneous structure in sign languages. This is a step toward more linguistically grounded evaluation of multimodal language models. The project was started with Shester’s idea and design, and huge shout-out to all my collaborators!
May 2026 I held a discussion on sign languages in Making Waves in May. If you miss the workshop, no worries, the recording of the presentation is available online in ASL, BSL, and English!
February 2026 I will present our study on evaluating sign language models in Second Workshop on Assistive and Inclusive Technology on 3rd February. If you are in Urbana, IL, hope to see you there!
January 2026 I will be presenting my work with Diane Brentari on prominence and atypicality in ASL and TİD at LSA 2026. Excited to meet and catch up with friends, and make new ones!
2025
November 2025 I shared my pose estimation study findings on head nods in ASL and TİD at Sign Language Grammars, Parsing Models, and the Brain Workshop.
October 2025 I presented how sign language affects signers’ and learners’ production and perception at APS Roundtable Perceiving Motion, Producing Meaning.
October 2025 I presented how prominence shapes simultaneity in ASL and TİD at the University of Chicago Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language Mini Conference.
July 2025 Although I couldn’t make it in person, Aslı presented our work on the prosody of focus in TİD at ISGS 10 at Nijmegen, Netherland. I was also part of the presentation of our collaboration on developing guidelines for nonmanual annotations.
June 2025 Along with Austin German and Jeff Davis, we received a small grant from the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language at the University of Chicago to investigate the effects of animacy on word order across languages, ASL, TİD, LSN, and Z Sign. Stay tuned for the results!
April 2025 New article on the effects of focus on duration in TİD with Aslı Gürer and Burak Çavuşoğlu is published in Glossa!
March 2025 As one of the invited speakers, I presented my long standing puzzle, the role of head nod in TİD’s grammar at TU+ 10 at USC! It was great to catch up with old friends and meet with new ones, thank you, organizers!
January 2025 I presented our production and perception studies on (a)typicality and prominence in ASL and TİD at TISLR 15.
January 2025 Our study on the effects of learning sign language on temporal resolution in ASL learners is published in Journal of Vision! Huge thanks to my collaborators Sandra Wood, Chuck Bradley, Evie Malaia, and Ronnie Wilbur!
2024
December 2024 I started my new postdoctoral position at Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago!
December 2024 I presented our studies with Aslı on focus in TİD at the Max Planck Institute Psycholinguistics Department Multimodal Language Department. It was a great discussion, thank you for inviting me!
September 2024 My article from my dissertation on signer certainty and nonmanuals in TİD is published in Journal of Pragmatics!
August 2024 I was back at Ann Arbor, MI, this time for FEAST with two talks. One was stage talk about our studies on accommodation strategies in ASL and TİD with Diane. The other talk was poster talk about focus in TİD with Aslı. It was great cathcing up with all friends and colleagues!
May 2024 I presented our very first findings on the effect of number of nonmanuals on TİD signers’ accuracy and reaction time with Diane at HSP 2024 in Ann Arbor, MI.
March 2024 I presented my studies on how (a)typicality affects simultaneous structure in ASL and TİD at the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at Wichita State University. It was a great meeting with faculty and students!
February 2024 I was at DGfS in Bochum, Germany to present my dissertation study findings on nonmanuals and signer certainty with Ronnie and our initial findings on the effects of focus on focal and non-focal domains in TİD with Aslı and Burak.
January 2024 Our article with Aslı on prosody of focus in TİD is published in Language and Cognition!
January 2024 I presented my studies on how (a)typicality affects simultaneous structure in ASL and TİD at the Department of Languages and Cultures at Southern Illinois University. It was a great meeting with faculty and students!
January 2024 I was at LSA 2024 in New York. I presented our work with Diane on simultaneous accommodation strategies of ASL and TİD signers. I also presented my dissertation study on nonmanuals and signer certainty. It was great to catch up with everyone!
2023
November 2023 I was back at my alma mater, Linguistics Department at Bogazici University for data collection. I also presented our recent findings on accommodation to atypicality among ASL and TİD signers. It was great to be back home after such a long time!
September 2023 I presented my dissertation studies on signer certainty and nonmanuals in TİD as a poster at XPrag 10.
September 2023 I presented my dissertation studies on nonmanuals in TİD as a poster at Sinn und Bedeutung 28.
April 2023 I presented my study on evidentiality and epistemic signs in TİD at the Workshop on Modality in Underdescribed Languages.
March 2023 I presented my dissertation studies on signer certainty and nonmanuals in TİD at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas, Austin. I had a great time with fruitful discussions and meeting with old and new faces!
March 2023 I presented my study on borrowed sign in TİD at the DGfS 45 Workshop on The Dynamics of Asymmetric Language Contact.
January 2023 Our TU+ Proceeding with Aslı on nonmanual focus markers in TİD is out!
2022
December 2022 Now, I am officially graduated from Purdue with my PhD degree. Thank you so much, Ronnie for everything!
November 2022 I presented my dissertation studies on signer certainty and nonmanuals in TİD at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. Thank you for having me!
October 2022 I started my new position as a postdoctoral researcher under Dr. Diane Brentari’s guidance at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago!
July 2022 I defended my dissertation on the semantics of modal signs and co-occurring nonmanuals! Thanks to all my participants for their time and patience with me, my committee members Elaine, Lori, Daniel, and my dear advisor Ronnie for everything!
February 2022 We presented our initial findings on focus and nonmanuals in TİD with Aslı at TU+ 7.
January 2022 I attended my first LSA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC to present our work on nonmanual annotation guidelines with Ashley and Ronnie.
2021
July 2021 Our article with Ronnie on aspect signs in TİD is published in Sign Language & Linguistics!
June 2021 I received the Purdue University Ross-Lynn Research Fund to carry out my dissertation studies!
April 2021 I am awarded with Kneale Literary Award in Linguistics for my dissertation chapter!
2020
December 2020 Our CLS proceeding on modal signs in TİD with Ronnie is published!
March 2020 Our article on machine readable TİD resource with Gülşen Eryiğit), Cihat Eryiğit, Meltem Kelepir, Aslı Özkul, Tuğba Pamay, Dilara Torunoğlu-Selamet, and Hatice Köse is published in Language Resources & Evaluation!
2019
September 2019 I was at TISLR in Hamburg, Germany to present our poster on the morphology of number signs in TİD with Aslı Özkul.
June 2019 I attended Expressing Evidentiality Workshop in Konstanz, Germany to present my evidentiality work on TİD mouth gesture with Ronnie. Konstanz was beautiful!
May 2019 I was at CLS 55 to present our work on modal semantics and nonmanuals with Ronnie in Chicago, IL. It was great to catch up with friends and colleagues!
2018
December 2018 Our FEAST proceeding with Fabian, Ronnie, and Daniel on modal signs and scope relations in TİD is published!
September 2018 Ruth presented our work with Ronnie on Japanese Sign Language modal at the 7th Meeting of Spoken and Signed Language Linguistics Conference in Osaka, Japan.
July 2018 I was at Sign Language Grammars through the Formal and Experimental Glass to present our work on Cinque’s Hierarchy mapping in sign languages with Ronnie in Crete, Greece. Conversation with friends, food, and the Aegean sea were amazing!
June 2018 I attended FEAST 2018 to present our work on modal signs in TİD with Fabian, Ronnie, and Daniel in Venice, Italy. It was great to be back at FEAST and in Venice!
May 2018 A new article on time expressions in TİD is out in the Journal of Linguistics!
2017
September 2017 My WAFL proceeding on aspect signs in TİD is published!
2016
September 2016 I was back to my very first conference FEAST in Venice to present my findings from my master thesis on aspect sign and nonmanual in TİD. It has always been beautiful to be back at FEAST and sign linguist community!
July 2016 I defended my master thesis on time and aspect in TİD! I am thnakful for my thesis committee Meltem Kelepir, Aslı Göksel, and Engin Arık.
May 2016 Our LREC proceeding on BosphorusSign TİD Recognition Corpus with Cihan Camgöz, Alp Kındıroğlu, Meltem Kelepir, Sumru Özsoy, and Lale Akarun is published!
May 2016 Cihan presented our work on BosphorusSign for automatic translation from TİD to Turkish with Alp Kındıroğlu, Meltem Kelepir, Sumru Özsoy, and Lale Akarun at LREC 2016.
May 2016 I attended WAFL 12 to present my master studies on perfective markers in TİD in Hartford, CT.
April 2016 I am awarded Lynn Doctoral Fellowship from Purdue University Graduate Office!
April 2016 I will be starting PhD program at the Department of Linguistics at Purdue University under Dr. Ronnie Wilbur’s supervision in August! I am excited for the new adventure!
2015
September 2015 I attended the 2015 International Congress on Barrier-Free Information Technology to present our work on online self learning platform of Turkish for TİD signers with Caner Derici, Meltem Kelepir, Sumru Özsoy, and Tunga Güngör in Manisa, Turkey.
May 2015 I attended FEAST to present my poster on the perfective sign in TİD in Barcelona, Spain. I also attended the SignGram Summer School.
February 2015 I received a travel grant to attend SignGram Summer School in Barcelona, Spain in May.
2014
June 2014 I attended COST SignGram Summer School to learn more about sign language research. I also attended my very first academic conference FEAST. It seems that I will be back!