Stanley Nam

Hi! I am Stanley Nam (he/him). I am a PhD candidate in linguistics at the University of British Columbia, preparing for my defence in Summer 2026.

My main research interest is phonology, with a focus on how speakers and machine-learning models perform phonological tasks and what their behaviour can reveal about phonological theory.

My dissertation investigates how speakers and Transformer models apply selective processes. The focus is on whether their behaviour can be explained through transparent information, such as phonotactics, rather than latent information, such as etymology.

My MA thesis compared phonological neighbourhood networks in English and Korean, examining how global network structure differs across the two languages while showing comparable organizing principles.

I have also worked on finiteness in syntax and loanword adaptation.

I am currently based in Vancouver, Canada.