Ben Gibb-Reid
Lecturer in Forensic Speech Science

Profile

Biography

My research primarily lies across forensic speech science, discourse-pragmatic variation and language variation and change. My work focuses on how language is used to communicate in terms of both identity (individual and group) and discourse-pragmatic meaning. I use a range of quantitative methods in my work to analyse auditory and acoustic features alongside language attitudes.

Career

• Lecturer
  University of York (2024-)
• PhD in Linguistics
  University of York (2021-24)
• MSc in Forensic Speech Science
  University of York (2017-18)
• BA in Linguistics
  University of York (2014-17)

Teaching

Undergraduate

• LAN00058I Linguistics as Data Science
• LAN00005H Forensic Phonetics 
• LAN00013H Topics in Phonetics & Phonology

Postgraduate

• LAN00032M Research in Forensic Speech Science

Research

Overview

Interests

• Forensic speech science
• Discourse-pragmatic variation
• Language variation and change
• Phonological theory
• Quantitative methods

Grants

• International Association of Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics Research Grant. 2025-2026 - You’re having me on: assessing deepfake audio performance across regional and L2 dialects of English.
• Humanities Research Centre. 2025 University of York Doctoral Fellowship
• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). 2021-2024. ‘Investigating the phonetic properties of discourse-pragmatic markers with implications for forensic voice comparison’. White Rose College of Arts and Humanities Open Competition PhD studentship. [link]

Publications

Selected publications

• Gibb-Reid, B. & Diskin-Holdaway, C. (2025) "Yeah, but how?" Operationalizing the functions of the discourse-pragmatic marker yeah. Linguistics Vanguard. https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2024-0085. [PDF].
• Gibb-Reid, B. (2023) Just one word: An analysis of just as a speaker discriminant using various acoustic measures. In: Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 3775-3779). Guarant International. [PDF]
• Gibb-Reid, B., Foulkes, P. & Hughes V. (2022) Exploring the phonetic variation of ‘yeah’ and ‘like’. York Papers in Linguistics 2, Issue 18, pp.1-27, December 2022. [PDF]

External activities

Memberships

• International Association of Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA)
• British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP)
• International Phonetic Association (IPA) 
• Discourse-Pragmatic Variation & Change (DiPVaC) Research Network