Colin Phillips is a British

psycholinguist Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

who is the director of the Maryland Language Science Center at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. He is an elected fellow of the

Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...

and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

. He is also a co-

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the ''

Annual Review of Linguistics The ''Annual Review of Linguistics'' is an annual peer-reviewed review journal published by Annual Reviews. It was established in 2015 and covers developments in the broad field of linguistics The founding co-editors were Barbara Partee and Mark ...

''.

Early life and education

Colin Phillips grew up in a rural town in eastern England. He attended

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he studied

Medieval German literature Medieval German literature refers to the literature of Medieval Germany. It can be subdivided into two main periods: *Old High German literature (750–1050) is the product of the monasteries and is almost exclusively religious in nature *Middle H ...

. He then came to the United States on an exchange scholarship to study at

Rochester University Rochester University (formerly Rochester College) is a private Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was founded by members of the Churches of Christ in 1959. Rochester University is primarily undergraduate (though it offers some ...

for a year, where he became more interested in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. He then attended graduate school at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), where he planned to study

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

Career

Philipps researches

language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

and

language processing Language processing refers to the way humans use words to communicate ideas and feelings, and how such communications are processed and understood. Language processing is considered to be a uniquely human ability that is not produced with the sa ...

. In 1997 he was hired at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

as an assistant professor. In 2000 he accepted a position as an assistant professor at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

. He was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and full professor in 2008. He became the founding director of the Maryland Language Science Center in 2013. He has been co-

of the ''

'' with Mark Y. Liberman since 2021.

Awards and honors

The

elected him as a fellow in 2018. In 2020 he was elected as a fellow of the

Personal life

During his study-abroad year at Rochester University he met his future wife, Andrea Zukowski. They have one child. In 2016 he and Zukowski founded College Park

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

, a series of free running events in their area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Colin Living people Psycholinguists Linguists from the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of Oxford Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Delaware faculty University System of Maryland faculty Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Year of birth missing (living people) Annual Reviews (publisher) editors