I am pursuing a PhD in the Linguistics program at Boston University. Currently, I hold the position of Visiting International Scholar at the Center for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics at McMaster University, Canada. My research focuses on understudied languages, such as Akan-Twi and Ga (Niger-Congo, Kwa), spoken in Ghana. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, I integrate insights from linguistics, psychology, and sociology to investigate factors constraining phonetic variation and learning within minority multilingual communities. Additionally, I explore how typically developing children, acquiring their first and second languages, navigate the complex linguistic systems in African languages and the implications for language development theories. Overall, my research program aims to stimulate theoretical interest in acquisition and variation in African languages, and to support work by speech scientists in an area with little research.
Expandable List
- PhD Linguistics, Boston University, May 2024 (expected)
- M. A. Linguistics, Florida International University, 2018
- B. A. Linguistics and Ghanaian Languages (Twi), cum laude, University of Cape Coast, 2014
Kpogo, F. & Chang, C. B. (in press). Developmental variation in production of complex-simplex
stop contrasts in Ga. Journal of Phonetics.
Kpogo, F. & Lindsey, K. (in press). Phonetic and phonological illustration of Asante Twi. Journal
of the International of Phonetics Association.
Kpogo, F., Gathercole, V. C. M. & Tetteh, J. N. (2021). The acquisition of doubly articulated stops
among Ga-speaking children. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 42(1), 101-146.
Kpogo, F. & Gathercole, V. C. M. (2020). The influence of native English speaking environment
on Akan-English bilinguals’ production of English inter-dental fricatives. International Journal of
Bilingualism 24 (4), 559-571.
Kpogo, F. & Abrefa, K. B. (2017). The structure of face-to-face casual conversation among the
Akans. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 6 (2), 56-84.
Kpogo, F. (2023) Age and sex effects on sound change: One size does not fit all. 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Chicago, Illinois, May 8-12 [poster].
Kpogo, F., Kohut, A., & Chang, C. B. (2022) Minimizing complexity while maintaining the grammar: The case of diminutives in heritage Twi. 47th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, Massachusetts, November 3-6 [poster].
Kpogo, F. (2022) A vowel shift in the Twi harmony system: A case of urban Twi speakers. 96th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Washington, DC, January 6-9 [poster].
Kpogo, F. (2021) Vowel Quality Shift in the Akan (Twi) Harmony System in the Accra. Paper presented at Phonology and Phonetics of the North-East (phoNE) Workshop, April
30.
Kpogo, F. & Chang, C. B. (2021) Developmental variation in production of complex-simplex stop contrasts in Ga. 95th Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of America, Virtual, January 8.
Mgonja, Z., Kodero, U. C., & Kpogo, F. (2017) Clothing Culture in East Africa/Wearing What Cannot Be Spoken: Applications for K-12 Classrooms. K-12 Teachers´ Workshop, African & African Diaspora Studies Program, Florida International University, January 26.
Kpogo F. & Kofi Busia Abrefa. (2015) “The Structure of Face-to-face Casual Conversation among Akan” presented at 8th Annual Linguistics Association of Ghana Conference, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, July 27-29.