The University of Chicago
Department of Psychology
5848 South University Avenue
Chicago, IL, 60637
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Shiri Lev Ari
Background
I am a PhD student at the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago.
I received my MA summa cum laude from the program of Cognitive Studies of Language Use at Tel-Aviv University as part of my studies in the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students. In my thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. Rachel Giora, I argued that 'old' loanwords, that is, words of a foreign origin that have been borrowed long ago, lead speakers to evaluate members of the donor culture more positively than they would have if the words had not been borrowed or if the speakers had not been aware of the words' foreign origin.
Research Interest
My research focuses on language, particularly aspects of language processing and language use that have social consequences.
Currently, I am mainly looking at the differences between the way people process the speech of native and non-native speakers, and the implications of those differences on the interaction between native and non-native speakers.
I am also interested in the role of gestures, and embodiment in general, in language processing and in evaluation.
