DigiSyn Researcher Dr. Jennifer Hinnell receives Governor General’s Gold Medal

Digital Synergies researcher Dr. Jennifer Hinnell has received the Governor General's Gold Medal for her linguistics research into the relationship between body movement and speech.

Digital Synergies researcher and Linguistics PhD Dr. Jennifer Hinnell has received the Governor General's Gold Medal for her linguistics research into the relationship between body movement and speech. 

One of Dr. Hinnell's research projects includes Language in the body: Using big data and motion capture to explore the body’s contribution to communication. As she states, "I investigate properties of language use in face-to-face conversation. I use advances in data science, such as the availability of large audio-video language databases as well as 3D motion capture, to explore recurring patterns in both the speech signal and in coordinated body movements like gestures, shoulder shrugs, head nods, and others. My research helps us to understand the role of the body as part of the linguistic communciation system". 

She has interviews with both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Graduate and Research Studies about her award and her research. 

Dr. Hinnell is continuing her research with a Killam postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia with cognitive linguist Dr. Barbara Dancygier, and we look forward to future collaborations with her!