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I do scientific research into the human faculty of language. I address questions such as: What does our subconscious knowledge of language consists of? How is knowledge of language acquired? How is it incorporated in the brain? How is it deployed in acts of speech production and perception?

I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistics, phonetics, and cognitive neuroscience.

Books

Phonetics: The Science of Speech

2025, forthcoming. MIT Press.

Phonetics: The Science of Speech is a comprehensive and accessible textbook that covers core phonetic areas such as the articulation of speech sounds, phonation, airstream mechanisms, acoustics of speech, and prosody. Its main strength is in an optimal balance between complexity and simplicity: the textbook provides the reader with a deep and thorough insight into the state-of-the-art in speech science, and yet it does so in a clear, systematic, highly accessible way that requires no prior background in linguistics or phonetics. The book is ideal for an undergraduate student of any field related to language and speech (as a learning tool and a reference work), and it is just as useful to a professor of linguistics, phonetics, speech-language pathology or communication science (as a teaching tool and a summary of the cutting edge in current phonetics). Beautifully illustrated and equipped with a plethora of supplementary pedagogical materials, it is a highly effective learning and teaching tool for anyone interested in the remarkable intricacies of speech.

Generative Phonology

2020. Ibis grafika.

The book presents the main principles of various phonological theories such as classical rule-based phonology, Lexical Phonology and Optimality Theory, and applies them in the description of Croatian.

Papers

  1. Cognitive Phonetics: The Universal Phonology-Phonetics Interface. 2025, forthcoming. In Pons-Moll, Clàudia et al. (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  2. Adopting Large Language Models as a theory of language actually does refute Chomsky (but not like you think). 2025, forthcoming. Linguistics and Philosophy. 

  3. The Neurobiological Reality of Phonological Features. 2025, forthcoming. In Liker, Marko et al. (eds.). Language Between the Two Hemispheres. University of Zagreb Press. 

  4. Votic Vowel Harmony in Substance Free Logical Phonology. 2024. In van der Hulst, Harry & Nancy Ritter (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony. 145–163. Oxford: Oxford University Press. With Charles Reiss and Marjorie Leduc.

  5. Anticipatory Labialization in C[u] Clusters – A Cross-linguistic Study. 2023. Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague, Czech Republic.

  6. Children’s Learning of Standard Croatian Accent. 2022. Jezik (Language) 69/4: 31–59.

  7. Conquer Primal Fear: Phonological Features are Innate and Substance-Free. 2022. Canadian Journal of Linguistics (Special Issue: Melodic Primes in Phonology, edited by Scheer, T. & A. Chabot) 67/4: 1–30. With Charles Reiss.

  8. Naturalism, Internalism, Nativism: <What> The Legacy of The Sound Pattern of English <Should Be>. 2021. In Allot, Nicholas et al. (eds.) A Companion to Chomsky. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 96–108. With Charles Reiss.

  9. Phonetics and Phonology of L2 Telugu English. 2021. Studies in Linguistics and Literature 5/1: 46–69. With Katerina Pisegna.

  10. Formal Generative Phonology. 2020. Radical: A Journal of Phonology 2/1: 1–147. With Charles Reiss.

  11. Croatian Place Assimilation of Sibilant Fricatives. 2019. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Meeting on Phonology. Stony Brook University.

  12. Continuancy in Nasal Place Assimilation: An Electropalatographic Study. 2019. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetics Sciences. University of Melbourne. With Marko Liker.

  13. The Intervocalic Palatal Glide in Cognitive Phonetics. 2018. Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the North American Linguistic Society. Cornell University. With Charles Reiss.

  14. Nasal Place Assimilation in Substance Free Logical Phonology. 2018. Loquens 3/1.

  15. Cognitive Phonetics: The Transduction of Distinctive Features at the Phonology-Phonetics Interface. 2017. Biolinguistics 11: 251–294. With Charles Reiss.

  16. Optimality Theory in Phonology, Part 2. 2016. Croatica et Slavica Iadertina 12/2.

  17. Optimality Theory in Phonology, Part 1. 2015. Croatica et Slavica Iadertina 11/2.

  18. A Short History of Neurolinguistics. 2015. Journal of the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics 41/2.

  19. Croatian Voicing Assimilation in Optimality Theory. 2015. Jezik (Language) 62/5.

  20. Coarticulation. 2015. In Davis, Jasmine (ed.) Phonetics: Fundamentals, Potential Application and Role in Communicative Disorders. §2. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

  21. Sociolinguistic Research of Croatian Orthography. 2015. Jezikoslovlje (Linguistics) 16/1.

  22. Acoustic Analysis of the Intervocalic J in Croatian Speech. 2013. Govor (Speech) 30/2.

  23. Review of Croatian Morphonology. 2013. Suvremena lingvistika (Contemporary Linguistics) 77/1.

  24. Bank Statements as a Text Form. 2012. In Petrović, B. et al. (ed.) With Text About Text. §3. Zagreb: FF Press.

Presentations

  1. The Logical Organization of Segmental Phonological Alternations. The 22nd Old World Conference in Phonology (OCP). February 2025. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

  2. The Neurobiological Reality of Phonological Features. Morris Halle @ 100. September 2023. MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

  3. Anticipatory Labialization in C[u] Clusters – A Cross-linguistic Study. The 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). August 2023. Prague, Czech Republic.

  4. Two Logical Operations Underlie All Major Types of Segmental Alternations. The 30th Manchester Phonology Meeting (MFM). May 2023. University of Manchester.

  5. Using Elementary Logic to Teach Phonology. Invited speaker. March 2023. University of Siena, Italy.

  6. Principles and Applications of Cognitive Phonetics. Invited speaker. October 2022. The English and Foreign Languages University of Hyderabad, India.

  7. The Logical Structure of Phonological Theory. August 2022. Five invited lectures. Eastern Generative Grammar (EGG). The Masaryk University of Brno.

  8. Formal Rule-Based Phonology. July 2022. Five invited lectures. Eastern Generative Grammar (EGG). The Masaryk University of Brno.

  9. Place Assimilation of Croatian Sibilant Fricatives in Substance Free Logical Phonology. Invited speaker. June 2022. Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics (FASL31). McMaster University.

  10. Contemporary Phonological Theory. Four invited lectures. May 2022. University of Zagreb, Department of Phonetics.

  11. Cognitive Phonetics – A Theory of Phonetic Implementation. Invited speaker. December 2021. Vienna Linguistic Circle. University of Vienna.

  12. Externalization of Substance-free Phonological Primes. Invited speaker. Workshop in Theoretical Phonology (WTPh). June 2021. Concordia University.

  13. The Role of Generative Phonological Theory in Experimental Phonetic Research. Invited speaker. June 2021. University of Zagreb, Department of Phonetics.

  14. Phonology and Phonetics of L2 Telugu English. The 28th Manchester Phonology Meeting (MFM). May 2021. University of Manchester. With Katerina Pisegna.

  15. Generative Phonology. Four invited lectures. April 2021. University of Zagreb, Department of Phonetics.

  16. Phonological Features as Neural Symbols. PhonolEEGy: Workshop on Electrophysiological Research and Phonological Theory. October 2020. University of Côte d'Azur.

  17. Rationalism and Empiricism in the Study of Language. Invited speaker. Workshop on Research Methods in Linguistics and Phonetics. July 2020. Zürich VOX Institute.

  18. The Externalization of Language. Invited speaker. Meeting of the Linguistics Student Association. February 2020. Concordia University.

  19. Amodal Complements, Natural Classes, and the Poverty of the Stimulus. The 7th Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP). October 2019. Stony Brook University. With Charles Reiss.

  20. Croatian Place Assimilation in Logical Phonology. The 7th Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP). October 2019. Stony Brook University.

  21. Continuancy in Nasal Place Assimilation: An Electropalatographic Study. The 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). August 2019. University of Melbourne. With Marko Liker.

  22. Place Assimilation of Sibilant Fricatives in Logical Phonology.  The 27th Manchester Phonology Meeting (MFM). May 2019. University of Manchester.

  23. Logical Formalisms in Teaching Phonology. Teaching Phonology: The State of the Art (MFM27 Workshop). May 2019. University of Manchester. With Charles Reiss.

  24. The Phonology-Phonetics Interface. Invited speaker. Workshop in Theoretical Phonology (WTPh). May 2019. Concordia University.

  25. Cognitive Phonetics: From Linguistic Competence to Linguistic Performance. Invited speaker. Zagreb Linguistic Circle. December 2018. University of Zagreb.

  26. The Intervocalic Palatal Glide in Cognitive Phonetics. The 49th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS). October 2018. Cornell University.

  27. Continuancy in Nasal Place Assimilation. The 26th Manchester Phonology Meeting (MFM). May 2018. University of Manchester.

  28. Cognitive Phonetics: The Phonology-Phonetics Interface. Invited speaker. The 10th North American Phonology Conference (NAPhC). May 2018. Concordia University.

  29. Recognizing Intrasegmental Coarticulation. Représentations Cognitives, Journée Montréalaise des Sciences Cognitives. May 2017. UQAM. With Charles Reiss.

  30. Place Assimilation in Phonological Theory. Speech Research (SR). December 2016. University of Zagreb.

  31. Croatian Regressive Voicing Assimilation in Optimality Theory. Zagreb Linguistic Circle. January 2016. University of Zagreb.

  32. Some Controversial Aspects of Optimality Theory. Budapest Linguistics Conference (BLINC). June 2015. Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

  33. Sociolinguistic Research of Croatian Orthography. Croatian Applied Linguistics Society. June 2014. University of Zadar.

  34. Acoustic Analysis of the Intervocalic J in Croatian Speech. Speech Research (SR). December 2013. University of Zagreb.

Department of Phonetics, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb; 2024 – ongoing

​​

  • Research into Speech Production (graduate)

  • Scientific Methodology in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics (graduate)

  • Advanced Acoustic Phonetics (graduate)

  • Phonetics and Phonology (undergraduate)

​

 

Linguistics program, Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Science, Concordia University; 2019 – 2024

 

  • LING 200 – Introduction to Linguistic Science (undergraduate)

  • LING 372 – Introduction to Phonetics (undergraduate)

  • LING 373 – Phonology (undergraduate)

  • LING 380 – Morphology (undergraduate)

  • LING 421 – Non-Indo-European Structures (undergraduate)

  • LING 473 – Advanced Phonology (undergraduate)

  • LING 472 – Advanced Phonetics (undergraduate)

  • LING 475 – History of Linguistics (undergraduate)

  • LING 490 – The Language Instinct (honors undergraduate seminar)

  • LING 495 – Psycholinguistics (graduate)

  • LING 620 – Neurobiology of Language and Speech (graduate)​

Teaching

2025 © Veno Volenec

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