About Me

I study how iconicity — the perceived resemblance between linguistic form and meaning — shapes phonological grammar. I test this using both language-internal evidence (sound-symbolic alternations in ideophones and ordinary words) and language-external evidence (talking drums, music, and other speech surrogates). Much of this work is grounded in community-based documentation of endangered and understudied African languages, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana.

Methodologically, I combine phonological description and analysis with instrumental techniques — including ultrasound tongue imaging, acoustic analysis, and statistical modelling — to capture phonetic detail that older impressionistic methods could not.

Research Highlights

1. Iconicity in phonological grammar
My primary research asks how the structure of real-world events and entities shapes phonological patterning. I document and analyze iconic alternations across several domains: magnitude iconicity (e.g., vowel and tone patterns that depict size, weight, or distance), phonological disharmony (dissimilar features marking irregularity in reduplicated ideophones), and the grammatical integration of ideophones more broadly. These patterns challenge the traditional view that grammar is shaped by a language-specific cognitive capacity in which iconicity plays no role.

Phonetic and phonological description and analysis
Because the languages I study often have little or no prior linguistic description, an important part of my research program is documenting their general phonetics and phonology — including lexical and grammatical tone, vowel harmony (particularly Advanced Tongue Root harmony), and typologically rare segments such as labial-velar plosives and implosives. I use instrumental methods, including ultrasound tongue imaging and acoustic analysis, to ground these descriptions in phonetic detail.

2. Language-based music
I also explore language-based musical practices as language-external evidence for iconic form-meaning mapping and phonological patterns. Specifically, I investigate musical speech surrogates (e.g., "talking drums" of West Africa), which are systems of communication that transpose linguistic content onto a musical instrument (McPherson, 2026). I am also interested in the accommodation of linguistic features in singing and the vocalization of instrumental music using existing words in a language.

Documentation of endangered languages
A core part of my research is community-based fieldwork on endangered and understudied African languages, many of which had no peer-reviewed linguistic documentation before this work. This produces open datasets and corpora that support both the language communities and the broader research community — including illustrated storybooks and pedagogical materials for early-childhood language education, and multimodal corpora for corpus-linguistic and NLP research.

Peer-reviewed papers

Akinbo, Samuel & Tongpan Rabo Fwangwar. (2026). Iconicity and expressiveness of grammatical tones targeting ideophones in Mwaghavul. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 44(2), 21.
Akinbo, Samuel (2025). Iconicity of grammatical tonal polarity and reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin. Journal of Linguistics, 10(1), 20240013.
Akinbo, Samuel & Philip Oghenesuowho Ekiugbo. (2024). Iconicity as the motivation for morphophonological metathesis and truncation in Nigerian Pidgin. Open Linguistics, 10(1), 20240013.
Akinbo, Samuel, Avery Ozburn, Gerald Nweya & Douglas Pulleyblank (2023). Eleven vowels of Imilike Igbo including ATR and RTR schwa. Journal of International Phonetic Association, 1-24.
Ozburn, Avery & Canavesi, Gianna F Giovio and Akinbo, Samuel. (2023). Perception of ATR in Dàgáárè. Laboratory Phonology, 14(1).
Akinbo, Samuel. (2023). Sound-Meaning Mapping: Verbal imitation of Super Mario Music by Yorùbá Gamers. Language Sciences, 98
Akinbo, Samuel. (2023). Reduplication, repetition and sound symbolism in Fungwa. Phonological Data Analysis.
Akinbo, Samuel Kayode, Olanrewaju Samuel, Iyabo Alaga & Olawale Akingbade. (2022). An acoustic study of vocal expression in two genres of Yoruba oral poetry. Frontiers in Communication, 271
Akinbo, Samuel. (2021). Featural affixation and sound symbolism in Fungwa. Phonology 38, 537–569.
Akinbo, Samuel. (2021). The Language of Gángan, A Yorùbá Talking Drum. Frontiers in Communication, 180.
Angsongna, Alexander & Akinbo, Samuel. (2020). Dàgáárè (Central). Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 1-27.
Akinbo, Samuel. (2019). Representation of Yorùbá Tones by a Talking Drum: An Acoustic Analysis. Linguistique et Langues Africaines, 5, 11-23.
Lewis, Demola & Akinbo, Samuel. (2014). EEG cerebral localization of tone. Journal of West African Languages XLI, 2, 118.

Proceedings and book chapters

Akinbo, Samuel, Alexander Angsongna, Avery Ozburn, Murray Schellenberg & Douglas Pulleyblank. Languages XLI, 2, 118. (2019). Velar Tap in Dàgáárè. Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 49). Michigan.
Akinbo, Samuel. (2019). Minimality and Onset Conditions Interact with Vowel Harmony in Fungwa. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting on Phonology 2018.
Ozburn, Avery, Samuel Akinbo, Alexander Angsongna, Murray Schellenberg & Douglas Pulleyblank. (2019). Dagaare [a] Is Not Neutral To ATR Harmony. Canadian Acoustics, 46(4), 36-37.
Keough, Meagan, Avery Ozburn, Elise McClay, Michael Schwan, Murray Schellenberg, Samuel Akinbo & Bryan Gick. (2015). Acoustic and articulatory qualities of smiled speech. Canadian Acoustics,               43(3).

Unpublished Manuscripts and material

Akinbo, Samuel. (2021). Vowel harmony and some related processes in Fungwa (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia).
Akinbo, Samuel. (submitted). Morphophonological Exchange and Grammaticalised Sound Symbolism in Naijá, aka Nigerian Pidgin. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory.
Akinbo, Samuel, Avery Ozburn, Alexander Angsongna, Angelina Lloy & Douglas Pulleyblank. (submitted). Phonetics and Phonology of ATR harmony in Dàgáárè Phonetica
Akinbo, Samuel. (in prep). Sound Symbolism in Core Grammar of Naijá, aka Nigerian Pidgin.