Staff Profile

I am an Associate Lecturer in Linguistics at Newcastle University, where I completed my PhD and Masters with distinction in the same field. Previously, I studied foreign modern languages and earned a qualification as an English, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian translator/interpreter.

My research interests include first and second language acquisition, ab-initio language processing, speech perception and segmentation, and early word learning.

I have taught a range of modules in language and linguistics in SELLL

In 2023/24 I help with the following modules:

First Semester:

SEL1008 : Nature of Language

SEL1027: Introduction to the Structure of Language (Phonology).

Second Semester:

SEL1028: Introduction to the Structure of Language (Morphology and Meaning).

SEL1032: Language Variation and Change: Dealing with Data.

Office hours are in room 3.23 (Percy Building Third Floor) Wednesday 14.00-16.00 (during teaching weeks)

My research is mainly focused on looking at how second language (L2) learners begin to segment an unfamiliar natural language and start attaching meanings to segmented words, as well as what mechanisms could guide early words detection after first exposure with unknown language which is, surprisingly, an under-explored area in L2 acquisition. So far, I drew inspiration from studies on first language (L1) acquisition which impacted my methodology.

My doctoral thesis focused exclusively on adults’ phonological development after about twenty minutes of an unfamiliar language exposure (Russian) contributing important findings: (1) showing some cross-linguistic similarities in how input is processed; (2) highlighting possible influences of linguistic universals according to which new phonological representations are constructed rather than transferred L1 patterns; (3) identifying a need for a longitudinal study design to disentangle influences of universals from transfer by looking at two L2s, and to examine how implicit vs. explicit processes impact development.

More recently, I have been working on complying a corpus of a multilingual language acquisition which involves a longitudinal analysis of early words productions.

• Article

  • Pavlovskaya N. Mimicking language acquisition “in the wild” online: What do non-speakers of English can acquire about English after brief exposure to it on-line, and whether it resembles English acquiring children?. 2024. In Preparation.

• Book Chapters

  • Pavlovskaya N, Riches N. What influence sonority sequencing distance and frequency have on words recognition after minimal input?. In: (eds), ed. Special Issue in Languages "Investigating L2 Phonological Acquisition from Different Perspectives. 2024. Submitted.
  • Pavlovskaya N, Riches N, Young-Scholten M. First Exposure to Russian Word Forms by Adult English Speakers: Disentangling Language-Specific and Language-Universal Factors. In: Lindsay Hracs, ed. Perspectives on Input, Evidence, and Exposure in Language Acquisition: Studies in honour of Susanne E. Carroll. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2024, pp.191-224. In Press.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Pavlovskaya N, Jarad S, Leung AH-C, Young-Scholten M. What do adult learners know about phonology after minimal exposure?. In: 46th Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics. 2013, Edinburgh, UK.