About

Dan Olson is a Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, with appointments in Sociology, the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Religious Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1987. His research focuses on the ways that the religious composition of geographic areas influences various social variables. Olson examines how religious geography affects the religious behavior of individuals and organizations within these areas, as well as how it impacts non-religious attitudes and behaviors, such as social trust. He has contributed to the understanding of religious pluralism and participation, challenging previous research, and exploring the effects of religious heterogeneity on social trust and moral community. Olson is also a co-editor of The Role of Religion in Modern Societies and has held leadership roles including Chair of the ASA Section on Sociology of Religion, President of the Religious Research Association, and President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Linguistics
• Physics
• Natural Language Processing
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Medicine
• Programming language
• Optics
• Audiology
• Developmental psychology
• Acoustics
• Speech recognition
• Mathematics education

Selected publications

• Cross-linguistic phonetic interference in spontaneous code-switched speech: an analysis of the SEAME corpus

  Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory · 2026-05-23

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Previous research on the phonetic outcomes of code-switching has most commonly found a degree of cross-linguistic interference, although such studies have relied heavily on read-aloud paradigms. Moreover, while prior studies have mostly examined the effect at the point-of-switch, less work has examined potential impacts beyond the point-of-switch. The current study investigates whether the distance from the point-of-switch impacts phonetic outcomes in bilingual vowel production in a Mandarin–English corpus of bilingual speech. English and Mandarin vowels, /æ/ and /e/ respectively, produced by 30 Singaporean speakers were analyzed, along with the distance from the point-of-switch. Results showed evidence of cross-linguistic interference, with English tokens becoming more Mandarin-like, although these effects were modulated by the distance from the point-of-switch. This effect followed a nonlinear trajectory, with the strongest effect at the point-of-switch, indicating a short-term time course of phonetic interference. These results support a transient, decay-oriented cross-linguistic interference model driven by co-activation of both languages and adding to current understandings of language selection and separation mechanisms in bilinguals.

  PublisherDOI

• Phonetic outcomes in Mandarin–English code-switching: exploring the role of orthographic depth

  Phonetica · 2026-03-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Prior research on the phonetics of code-switching has shown that bilinguals often experience short-term cross-linguistic interference, where the productions of one language shift towards the opposite language. Yet, these studies, most frequently employing a read-aloud paradigm, have focused primarily on language pairings in which both languages employ phonological alphabets, largely ignoring languages with more opaque links between orthography and phonology. More transparent links between orthography and phonology (e.g., phonographic systems) have been suggested to more robustly engage phonological pathways during visual word processing, relative to those with opaque links (e.g., logographic systems). The current study examines the potential for cross-linguistic phonetic interference during code-switching between English and Mandarin, languages that differ with respect to their degree of orthographic transparency. Employing a read-aloud paradigm, twenty Mandarin-English bilinguals produced target tokens in monolingual and code-switched speech. Analysis focused on the productions of the English low-front vowel [æ] and its Mandarin counterpart [e]. In contrast to most previous findings, the results of the current study revealed no observable phonetic interference in the code-switched speech relative to monolingual speech. The current research adds to the literature by discussing orthographic depth as a potential underlying factor in the expression of cross-linguistic phonetic interference.

  PublisherDOI

• Making English the official US language can’t erase the fact that the US has millions of Spanish speakers and a long multilingual history

  2025-03-02

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Effect of Metalinguistic Awareness on Second Language Phonetic Acquisition

  2025-09-11

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Prior research on second language (L2) acquisition has shown that metalinguistic awareness leads to gains in learners’ overall L2 abilities. However, most studies have focused on syntax, morphology, lexical knowledge, and reading and writing skills, while the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and phonetic production has received less attention. The current study explores the potential impact of awareness, particularly phonetic awareness, on L2 phonetic outcomes. Twenty L1 Mandarin–L2 English learners produced target tokens in monolingual English speech. Phonetic awareness was measured through a previously-developed self-report questionnaire that assessed the frequency with which L2 learners used a variety of pronunciation learning strategies. Analysis focused on their production of the English low-front vowel [æ] embedded in the stimuli. Consistent with previous findings, the results showed that participants showed a degree of transfer from the L1 to the L2, as assessed by vowel formants. Yet phonetic awareness was not found to significantly predict phonetic production outcomes. These findings suggest that phonetic awareness alone may not directly contribute to facilitating L2 phonetic acquisition.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bilingual language experience and code-switching acceptability judgments: A constructive replication of the work by Stadthagen-González et al. (2019), Balam et al. (2020), and Stadthagen-González et al. (2018)

  International Journal of Bilingualism · 2024-12-05 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Aims and objectives: While a significant body of research has examined bilinguals’ preferences with respect to the acceptability of different structures in intrasentential code-switching, this line of work has largely ignored the potential effect of language experience on bilinguals’ judgments. Within bilingual language experience, two particular variables have garnered significant attention: language dominance and code-switching experience. The current study presents a constructive replication of three prior studies and examines the potential modulating role of language experience. Design/methodology: Seventy-one Spanish–English bilinguals participated in a constructive replication of three previously published studies. Experiment 1, replicating the study by Stadthagen-González et al. (2019), examines comparative judgments of noun–adjective order. Experiment 2, replicating the work of Balam et al. (2020), analyzes bilingual verbs. Experiment 3, replicating the study by Stadthagen-González et al. (2018), examines the adjacency condition. Bilinguals provided code-switching judgments via a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task and information about their language experience via a language-dominance questionnaire and a code-switching experience questionnaire. Data and analysis: Relative rankings of the different bilingual constructions, using Thurstone’s law of comparative judgments, allowed for comparison with previous studies. The effect of language dominance and code-switching experience was assessed using binomial logistic regressions. Findings/conclusions: Broad agreement with results from each of the replicated studies was found. In addition, results show a significant impact of language dominance on acceptability judgments across all three experiments and an impact of code-switching experience in one of the three experiments. Originality: This study responds directly to an ongoing call for replication studies in the field of bilingualism and is among the first to consider the role of prior language experiences on acceptability judgments. Significance/implications: The strong replicability of prior results serves to support prior findings in the literature. Moreover, this study highlights the potential impact of prior linguistic experiences, including language dominance and code-switching experience, on bilingual behaviors.

  PublisherDOI

• Code-switching experience as a mitigating factor for cross-linguistic phonetic interference

  Journal of Phonetics · 2024-09-19 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Complementary Principle and language dominance: mapping the language–domain relationships of Spanish–English bilinguals

  Multilingua · 2024-12-23

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract While language dominance has been crucial in the study of bilingualism, recent research has called for more detailed measures to systematically account for the observation that bilinguals use different languages in different domains, a phenomenon formalized in the Complementary Principle. Few studies have systematically measured these language–domain relationships. Addressing these gaps, this study employs a novel, mixed-methods approach to identify the links between domain (i.e., topic) and language and to examine the effect of language dominance on language–domain relationships. Spanish–English bilinguals in the U.S. ( N = 443) responded to open-ended prompts about the topics they discuss in each of their two languages and when code-switching. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify relevant topic categories and examine the relationships between topic and language. Subsequent analysis examined variability in language-domain mappings of bilinguals from across the language dominance continuum. Results showed that Spanish was most associated with topics of family and day-to-day life and English with academics and work. Little differentiation in language–domain mappings was found between English-dominant, Spanish-dominant, and balanced bilinguals. Findings are discussed with a focus on the methodological contributions and the implications for integrating the Complementary Principle in measures of language dominance.

  PublisherDOI

• Code-Switching and Language Mode Effects in the Phonetics and Phonology of Bilinguals

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-11-14 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Phonetic shifts in bilingual vowels: Evidence from intersentential and intrasentential code-switching

  International Journal of Bilingualism · 2024-05-14 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  Aims and objectives: While previous research on code-switching, defined as the alternation between two languages in a single interaction, has focused on syntactic sociopragmatic patterns, significantly less work has focused on the impact of code-switching on phonetics. Distinct types of code-switching have been previously identified, with the distinction between intersentential and intrasentential code-switches being among the most basic. Yet, existing work on the phonetics of code-switching has largely relied on single feature (i.e., voice onset time) and has exclusively examined one type of code-switch (i.e., intrasentential). The current study investigates the potential for cross-linguistic interference in vowel production and examines the potential role of different code-switch types: intersentential and intrasentential code-switching. Design/Methodology: Thirty-seven Korean–English bilinguals participated in a controlled reading paradigm, producing monolingual English, monolingual Korean, intersentential code-switches, and intrasentential code-switches. Data and analysis: Analysis leveraged differences in the Korean and English vowel inventories and focused on the production of English [æ] and the corresponding Korean vowel [e~ε]. Findings/Conclusions: Results indicated that code-switched English vowels shifted in the direction of Korean vowels with respect to both height and backness. Code-switch type was shown to be significant, with a greater degree of vowel shift for intrasentential than intersentential code-switching. Originality: This study adds to the limited prior literature examining the effect of code-switching on vowel quality and is one of the first studies to systematically examine the role of code-switching typology on cross-linguistic interference in the phonetic domain. Significance/Implications: First, this study adds to the limited prior research that specifically examines the effect of code-switching on phonetic production of vowel quality. Second, this study highlights the nuances of short-term cross-linguistic interference, and notably the possibility for differential outcomes of interference across different linguistic domains (e.g., phonetics and syntax), showing a clear role for code-switching typology at the phonetic level.

  PublisherDOI

• Bilingual Language Dominance and Code-switching Patterns

  Heritage Language Journal · 2024-05-07 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Code-switching, the alternation between two languages in an interaction, is a salient characteristic of bilingual speech, but there is substantial variability in code-switching patterns among bilinguals. Language dominance, the relative strength of a bilingual’s languages, has been suggested as a key factor that impacts both the frequency with which a bilingual engages in code-switching and the directionality of code-switching. This study examines the relationship between language dominance and code-switching engagement and directionality. A total of 454 Spanish–English bilinguals completed questionnaires regarding language dominance, code-switching engagement, and code-switching directionality. Results demonstrated an impact of language dominance on code-switching engagement, with more balanced bilinguals reporting greater code-switching, although significant individual variation remained. A weak link between language dominance and directionality was also found. These findings suggest that while language dominance may serve to constrain a bilingual’s range of possible engagement with code-switching, it represents a distinct characteristic of a bilingual’s language profile.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Lori Czerwionka

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  4 shared

• Marta Ortega-Llebaría

  3 shared

• Yuhyeon Seo

  2 shared

• Alexis Zhou

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  2 shared

• Alejandro Cuza

  Purdue University System

  2 shared

• Heather M. Offerman

  Davidson College

  2 shared

• Yuanyuan Zha

  Second Military Medical University

  1 shared

• Timothy P. McGinnis

  University of Chicago

  1 shared

Education

• B.A. Spanish and International Studies

  University of Dayton

• Ph.D. Hispanic Linguistics, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

  University of Texas at Austin

• M.A. Ibero-Romance Linguistics, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

  University of Texas at Austin