Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
*denotes student co-author
Ramage, A. E., Cote, K.*, Thorson, J. C., Lerner, K.*, Reidel, M. C. & Laird, A. R. (2024). Elucidating an implicit-statistical learning brain network: Coordinate-based meta analyses and functional connectivity profiles of artificial grammar learning in healthy adults. Imaging Neuroscience.
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J. M., & Nesbitt, K. (2024). Caregiver and child question types during a museum interaction. Frontiers in Psychology: Psychology of Language, 15. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1201772
Thorson, J. C., & Burdin, R. M. (2024). Phonetic implementation and interpretation of downstepping in Mainstream US English. Journal of Phonetics, 105, 101340. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2024.101340
Thorson, J. C., Franklin, L. R., & Morgan, J. L. (2023). Role of pitch in toddler looking to new and given referents in American English. Language, Learning, and Development, 19(1), 1-22.
Miller, M.*, Thorson, J. C., & Robertson, P. (2022). The categorical preference of the mind: Assessing the proposed cognitive hierarchy of templates in CSR using pictorial preference. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 8(1), 2–31. doi:10.1558/jcsr.20462
Thorson J. C., & Morgan J. L. (2021). Prosodic realizations of new, given, and corrective referents in the spontaneous speech of toddlers. Journal of Child Language, 48, 541-568. doi:10.1017/S0305000920000434
Brumberg, J. S., Thorson, J. C., & Patel, R. (2018). The Prosodic Marionette: a method to visualize speech prosody and assess perceptual and expressive prosodic abilities. Speech Communication. 104, 95-105. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2018.09.009
Thorson, J.C., Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Vanrell, M. M., & Prieto, P. (2015). The acquisition of melodic form and meaning in yes-no interrogatives by Catalan and Spanish speaking children. Probus, International Journal of Latin and Romance Linguistics, 27(1), 73-99. doi:10.1515/probus-2013-0019
Prieto, P., Estrella, E., Thorson, J. C., & Vanrell, M. M. (2012). Is prosodic development correlated with grammatical development? Evidence from emerging intonation in Catalan and Spanish. Journal of Child Language, 39(2), 221-257. doi:10.1017/S030500091100002X
Prieto, P., Thorson, J. C., Estrella, A., and Vanrell, M. M. (2011). Early Intonational Development in Spanish: A Case Study. Selected Proceedings of the 13th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (p. 203-213). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.
Prieto, P., Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Thorson, J. C., & Vanrell, M. M. (2011). Entonación y pragmática en los enunciados interrogativos del español en habla dirigida a niños [Intonation and pragmatics of a set of interrogative utterances in a corpus of Spanish child-directed speech]. Oralia: análisis del discurso oral, 14(1), 227-255. doi:10.25115/oralia.v14i1.8189
Thorson, J. C. (2007). The scaling of utterance-initial pitch peaks in Puerto Rican Spanish: Evidence for tonal preplanning. In L. Wolter and J. Thorson (Eds.), University of Rochester Working Papers in the Language Sciences, 3(1), 91-97.
Peer Reviewed Book Chapters
Thorson, J. C. (2023). Child prosody and approaches to assessment and intervention. In Grindrod, C., & Gurevich, N. (Eds.), Clinical Applications of Linguistics to Speech-Language Pathology: A Guide for Clinicians. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003045519
Thorson, J. C. (2019). Prosody. In M. J. Ball & J. Damico (Eds.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.
Thorson, J. C. (2018). The role of prosody in early word learning: Behavioral evidence. In P. Prieto & N. Esteve Gibert (Eds.), Prosodic Development in First Language Acquisition (pp. 59-77). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/tilar.23.04tho
Peer Reviewed Published Conference Proceedings
Thorson, J. C., & Nesbitt, K. (2024). Melodies of learning: A prosodic analysis of preschool teachers’ language patterns in the classroom. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 12, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Thorson, J. C., & Burdin, R. (2022). The interpretation and phonetic implementation of !H* in American English. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 11, Lisbon, Portugal.
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J. M., & Nesbitt, K. (2022). Expressing information status through prosody in the spontaneous speech of American English-speaking children. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 11, Lisbon, Portugal.
Thorson, J. C., & Shattuck-Hufnagel. (2020). Phonological and phonetic realizations of downstepping in child speech in American English. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 10, virtual conference hosted by the University of Tokyo.
Thorson, J. C., Meyer, S., Plesa-Skwerer, D., Patel, R., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Assessing prosody in minimally to nonverbal children with autism. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 8, Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., Usher, N., Patel, R., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Acoustic analysis of prosody in spontaneous productions of minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism. In the supplement to the proceedings of the 40th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2015). Acoustic correlates to information structure in child and adult speech. In the proceedings of the 39th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). The role of intonation in early word recognition and learning. In the proceedings of Speech Prosody 7, Dublin, Ireland.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). Directing toddler attention: Intonation contours and information structure. In the supplement to the proceedings of the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles - In Progress
*denotes student co-author
Revise & Resubmit
Thorson, J. C., Dempsey, O.*, & Courter, R.* (Revise & Resubmit). Understanding development of Mainstream US English lexical stress using semi-naturalistic stimuli. Plos One. Revise & Resubmit decision received: August 18, 2025.
Under Review
Thorson, J. C., Babcock, R.*, Fisher, J., Ballard, K., & Robin, D. (Under review). Declination and segmentation in childhood apraxia of speech. Submitted to Languages Special Issue: Advances in the Acquisition of Prosody, M. D’Imperio & S., Frota (Eds.).
Trumbell, J. M., Nesbitt, K., Merchant, C., & Thorson, J. C. (Under review). Assessing preschooler-parent attachment relationships in a children’s museum: Preliminary evidence supporting the sensitivity-security link in an ecologically relevant context. Submitted to Social Development.
In Preparation
Pegnam, K.*, Greenslade, K., Opuda, E., Thorson, J. C., & Prelock, P. (In preparation). Executive functioning and social communication supports for neurodiverse college students: A scoping review protocol.
Thorson, J. C., & McCreight, H. (In preparation). From wiggles to words: Acoustic and linguistic patterns in caregiver-child museum interactions. To be submitted to Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA).
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J. M., & Nesbitt, K. (In preparation). Prosodic patterns of questions by caregiver-child dyads in a museum.
Invited Talks
Thorson, J. C. (upcoming January 2026). Closing Plenary Talk Title: Developing Prosody: A Phonetic Perspective on Acquisition and Assessment. International Congress of Experimental Phonetics, Córdoba, Spain.
Thorson, J. C. (2025). Advancing prosodic sssessment: Building naturalistic, clinically relevant tools. NH-INBRE Annual Retreat, Bretton Woods, NH.
Thorson, J. C. (2025). The subtleties of child speech: Assessing the how, not just the what. Snacking on Science Seminar, New England College, NH.
Thorson, J. C. (2022 & 2024). How do we learn to talk? & why how we talk matters. Project Search, UNH, Durham, NH.
Thorson, J. C. (2024). Prosody across populations: From theory to assessment. Linguistics and Cognitive Science Department Speaker Series, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Thorson, J. C. (2023). Minding the melody: How prosody shapes early language learning across populations. Linguistics Department Colloquium Series, University of Calgary, Canada.
Thorson, J. C. (2022). It’s not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it: The role of speech acoustics in child language acquisition. Center for Acoustic Research and Education (CARE) and Communication Sciences and Disorders joint colloquium, University of New Hampshire.
Thorson, J. C. (2020). It’s not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it: The role of prosody in child language acquisition. Psychology Department, University of New Hampshire.
Thorson, J. C. (2017). Multiple lenses on prosodic development: Acquisition, autism, and dysarthria. Prosodic Studies Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
Thorson, J. C. (2016). Assessing prosody in autism. Computational Behavioral Science Laboratory Meeting, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C. (2016). Assessment of prosody. Center for Autism Research Excellence (CARE) Lab Meeting Series, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C. (2015). The assessment of prosodic abilities in individuals with neuromotor and communication impairments. MGH Institute for Health Professions PhD Seminar Series, MGH IHP, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C., & Patel, R. (2015). Assessing prosody in individuals with congenital versus acquired dysarthria. Speech Motor Control Working Group, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C. (2015). Multiple perspectives on understanding prosodic development. Department of Linguistics Invited Speaker’s Colloquium, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
Thorson, J. C. (2015). The development of intonation and information structure in early speech perception and production. Invited guest lecturer, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C. (2014). Labeling child speech using the ToBI transcription system. Invited guest lecturer, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thorson, J. C. (2008). Summary of the acquisition of intonation: Evidence from Spanish and Catalan. Department of Linguistics Invited Speaker’s Series, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
Thorson, J. C. (2007). Tonal preplanning in Puerto Rican Spanish. Center for Linguistic Theory Colloquium, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Peer Reviewed Oral Conference Presentations
Trumbell, J. M., Nesbitt, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2025). Preschoolers’ secure base behavior during child-parent interactions in a Children’s Museum: Links to social-emotional development. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
Smorenburg, L., Thorson, J. C., Chen, A., & Hinzen, W. (2024). Prosodic characteristics of non-verbal vocalisations by non- or minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism: a cross-linguistic perspective. Speech Prosody Conference Workshop, Beyond words: Exploring prosody in non-verbal vocalisations across diverse groups, July 6, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Thorson, J. C., & Burdin, R. (2022). The interpretation and phonetic implementation of !H* in American English. Speech Prosody 11, Lisbon, Portugal.
Burdin, R., & Thorson, J. C. (2022). Acoustic cues to downstep and accessibility in American English. The Linguistics Society of America conference, hybrid virtual/Washington, D. C.
Thorson, J. C., & Shattuck-Hufnagel. (2020). Phonological and phonetic realization of downstepping in child speech in American English. Speech Prosody 10, virtual conference hosted by the University of Tokyo.
Thorson, J. C., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2017). Vocalizations of minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism: A prosodic and acoustic analysis. International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), San Francisco, CA.
Thorson, J. C., Morgan, J. L., & Patel, R. (2015). The issue of methodology in prosodic development. At the Workshop on Prosodic Development at Phonetics and Phonology in Europe (PaPE), Cambridge, England.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). Acoustic correlates of information structure in child and adult speech. At the 39th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). The role of intonation in early word recognition and learning. At the Speech Prosody 7 Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). Differences in the acoustic correlates of intonation in child and adult speech. At the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Conference, Providence, Rhode Island.
Thorson, J. C., & Demuth, K. (2012). Acoustic and Articulatory Explorations of Children’s Early Syllables. At the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Thorson, J. C., & Demuth, K. (2011). Early syllable coordination in American English children’s speech: Acoustic and gestural investigations. At the Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia Conference (PaPI), Tarragona, Spain.
Thorson, J. C., & Demuth, K. (2011). Syllable coordination in children’s early American English: Acoustic evidence. At the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Thorson, J. C., Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Vanrell, M. M., & Prieto, P. (2009). The acquisition of melodic form and meaning by Catalan and Spanish speaking children. At the Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia Conference (PaPI), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Thorson, J. C., Vanrell, M. M., & Prieto, P. (2009). Phon-Cat & Phon-Esp. At the Workshop on Phon, Barcelona, Spain.
Thorson, J. C., Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Vanrell, M. M., & Prieto, P. (2009). The acquisition of melodic form and meaning by Catalan and Spanish speaking children. At the Workshop on Phon, Barcelona, Spain.
Vanrell, M. M., Prieto, P., & Thorson, J. C. (2009). El desarrollo gramatical y prosódico en la adquisición del catalán y del español. At the XXXVIII Conference of the Sociedad Española de Lingüística (SEL), Madrid, Spain.
Prieto, P., Estrella, E., Thorson, J. C., & Vanrell, M. M. (2008). Is prosodic development correlated with grammatical development? Evidence from emerging intonation in Catalan and Spanish. Paper presented at the Symposium at the XI International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), Edinburgh, Scotland.
Peer Reviewed Poster Conference Presentations
*denotes student co-author
MacLean*, P., Steindel Burdin, R., Greenslade, R., & Thorson, J. C. (upcoming November 2025). Shifting focus: Advancing prosodic assessment with naturalistic tasks. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Washington, D. C.
*Meritorious Poster Submission Winner*
McCreight*, H., & Thorson, J. C. (upcoming November 2025). From wiggles to words: Acoustic and linguistic patterns in caregiver-child museum interactions. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Washington, D.C.
Pegnam, K.*, Greenslade, K., Thorson, J. C., Opuda, E., & Prelock, P. (upcoming November 2025). Social communication and executive functioning supports for college students who are neurodiverse: A scoping review. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Washington, D.C.
MacLean*, P., Steindel Burdin, R., & Thorson, J. C. (2025). Shifting focus: Advancing prosodic assessment with naturalistic tasks. The 187thMeeting of the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA.
McCreight*, H., & Thorson, J. C. (2025). From wiggles to words: Acoustic and linguistic patterns in caregiver-child museum interactions. The 187thMeeting of the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA.
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J. M., & Nesbitt, K. (2025). Parental sensitivity, parental language use, and children’s language development: Associations in a children’s museum. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
MacLean*, P., Steindel Burdin, R., Greenslade, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2025). Development of ecologically valid prosody tasks. Northeast Acoustics Symposium, Durham, NH.
McCreight*, H., & Thorson, J. C. (2025). Exploring caregiver-child prosody and language complexity in naturalistic museum interactions. Northeast Acoustics Symposium, Durham, NH.
Courter*, R., & Thorson, J. C. (2024). Naturalistic prosodic assessment in children. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Seattle, WA.
Pride*, O., & Thorson, J. C. (2024). Exploring lexical stress perception: An investigation across varied listener experience with prosody. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Seattle, WA.
Thorson, J. C., & Nesbitt, K. (2024). Melodies of learning: A prosodic analysis of preschool teachers’ language patterns in the classroom. Speech Prosody 12, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Courter*, R., & Thorson, J. C. (2024). Melody of Speech Assessment in Children. Northeast Acoustics Symposium, Durham, NH.
Dempsey*, O., & Thorson, J. C. (2023). Prosodic assessment of language and speech. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Boston, MA.
Gould*, M., Greenslade, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2023). Assessing conversational overlap in a naturalistic museum setting and its correlation with child language skills. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Boston, MA.
Stariknok*, K., Morgan, M., & Thorson, J. C. (2023). Impact of accent receptive language assessments for bilingual children. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., & Nesbitt, K. (2023). Prosodic variation and rich linguistic environments in a preschool setting. The 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Chicago, IL.
Dempsey*, O., & Thorson, J. C. (2023). Prosodic assessment of language and speech. Presented at the Northeast Acoustics Symposium, Durham, NH.
Stariknok*, K., Morgan, M., and Thorson, J. C. (2023). Impact of accent on receptive language assessment for bilingual children. Presented at the Northeast Acoustics Symposium, Durham, NH.
Courter*, R., & Thorson, J. C. (2022). Assessing how adults produce and understand the melody and rhythm of speech in English. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J. M., & Nesbitt, K. (2022). Expressing information status through prosody in the spontaneous speech of American English-speaking children. Speech Prosody 11, Lisbon, Portugal.
Murphy, A.*, Trumbell, J. M., Nesbitt, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2021). The impact of child-directed speech during parent-child interactions in a children’s museum. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Washington, D. C.
Mueller, S.*, Trumbell, J. M., Nesbitt, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2021; cancelled 2020 due to COVID-19). The role of socio-economic status on the language output of 3-6-year old’s during a naturalistic museum study. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Washington, D. C.
Mannesto, J.*, Trumbell, J. M., Nesbitt, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2021). Play behavior at a children’s museum: The role of parental sensitivity and child gender. To be virtually presented at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD).
Thorson, J. C., Trumbell, J., & Nesbitt, K. (December 2020, postponed from May 2020 due to COVID-19). The impact of question prosody during parent-child interactions in a museum setting. The 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, virtual.
Platt, R.*, Robin, D., Ballard, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2019). Segmentation and intonation in childhood apraxia of speech. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Orlando, FL.
Pepe, S.*, & Thorson, J. C. (2019). Storytelling study: The impact of prosody on visual-attention levels during read-alouds in preschoolers. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Orlando, FL.
Platt, R.*, Robin, D., Ballard, K., & Thorson, J. C. (2019). Segmentation and intonation in childhood apraxia of speech. Boston Speech Motor Control Symposium, Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C. (2019). Perception of prosody: How toddlers harness intonation to guide early attention. The 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Louisville, KY.
Thorson, J. C., & Shattuck-Hufnagel, S. (2018). Towards an inventory of prosodic contours produced by English-acquiring 2-year-olds: The use of H* and H+!H*. The 175th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Minneapolis, MN.
Thorson, J. C., Meyer, S., Plesa-Skwerer, D., Patel, R., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Prosodic assessment for minimally verbal and nonverbal children and adolescents with autism. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Philadelphia, PA.
Brumberg, J., Thorson, J. C., Pitt, K., & Patel, R. (2016). Speech and nonspeech motor control of prosody by individuals with congenital and acquired dysarthria. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Philadelphia, PA. *Meritorious Poster Submission Winner*
Thorson, J. C. (2016). Methodological considerations in prosodic development. Presented at Laboratory Phonology Satellite Workshop: Exploring speech planning and production in children, Ithaca, NY.
Thorson, J. C., Meyer, S., Plesa-Skwerer, D., Patel, R., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Assessing prosody in minimally to nonverbal children with autism. Presented at Speech Prosody 8, Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C. (2016). Analyzing the prosody of young children. Presented at Speech Prosody 8, Framing Speech: Celebrating 40 years of inquiry with Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., Brumberg, J., & Patel, R. (2016). Prosodic abilities in individuals with congenital versus acquired dysarthria. Presented at the Conference on Motor Speech, Newport Beach, CA.
Thorson, J. C., Usher, N., Patel, R., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2015). Acoustic analysis of prosody in spontaneous productions of minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism. Presented at the 40th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Thorson, J., & Morgan, J. L. (2014). Effects of pitch accent type and contrastiveness on a novel word learning task. At the International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS), Berlin, Germany.
Thorson, J. C., Kertz, L., & Morgan., J. L. (2014). How information structure and intonation guide toddler attention in discourse. At the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) conference, Minneapolis, MN.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2013). Directing toddler attention: Intonation contours and information structure. At the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, MA.
Thorson, J. C., & Morgan, J. L. (2013). “Now there is a cat and a BALL over there” How information structure and intonation direct toddler attention. At the Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia Conference (PaPI), Lisbon, Portugal.
Miles, K. M., Thorson, J. C., & Demuth, K. (2011). Exploring syllabification in early speech. At the Annual Conference for the Australian Linguistic Society (ALS), Canberra, Australia.
Thorson, J. C., & Demuth, K. (2010). Gestural and Acoustic Investigations of Syllabic Organization of Children’s Early Words. At the São Paolo School for the Advanced Study of Speech Dynamics, São Paolo, Brazil.
Vanrell, M. M., Borràs-Comes, J., Crespo-Sendra, V., Thorson, J. C., & Prieto, P. (2010). Between form and meaning: Early acquisition of yes-no questions by Spanish and Catalan children. At the VI Congrés Internacional d’Adquisició del Llenguatge, Barcelona, Spain.