• Experimental phonetics/laboratory phonology
• Italian Linguistics
• Spanish dialectology, sociolinguistics
• Maasai Linguistics
• Field methods

Current research projects

• Does segment duration provide empirical evidence for prosodic structure in Italian:  e.g. consonant clusters syllabification, foot structure.
• What kind of knowledge do native Italian speakers have about syllable structure and where do they obtain this knowledge?
• Do native Italian speakers consistently treat consonant clusters as tautosyllabic or heterosyllabic across claimed syllable-dependent phenomena?
• Description and analysis of Kisongo Maasai phonology and morphology:  low harmony, ATR harmony, nominal and verbal morphology
• The classification of the Kisongo Maasai consonant inventory

• Description of the dialect of Tropea, Calabria, Italy (subject of M.A. thesis in Italian Studies)
• Romance historical linguistics and sound change, especially Ibero-Romance and southern/extreme southern Italian dialects (Neapolitan, Calabrian, Sicilian)
   

• Ph.D  Romance Linguistics and Literature, UCLA (2004)
  Dissertation:  Reassessing the Role of the Syllable in Italian Phonology:  An Experimental Study of Consonant Cluster Syllabification, Definite Article Allomorphy and Segment Duration. Committee co-chairs:  Donca Steriade (MIT) and Colin Wilson (UCLA).  (pdf)

• M.A. Italian Studies, Middlebury College (1994)
  Masters Thesis:  Primo approccio allo studio del dialetto di Tropeano
  Description of extreme southern Italian dialect spoken in Tropea, Calabria, Italy

• B.A. Linguistics and French, San Diego State University (1992)
  Linguistics and French double major, with Spanish and Italian double minor
  Cum Laude, Distinctions in the major field of French

• McCrary Kambourakis, K (accepted) Reassessing the Role of the Syllable in Italian Phonology:  An Experimental Study of Consonant Cluster Syllabification, Definite Article Allomorphy and Segment Duration.  Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics Series, Routledge. New York.

• McCrary, K.  (2004)  Prosodic Structure and Segment Duration in Italian Revisited.  Paper presented at 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, March 12-14, 2004, Salt Lake City. (pdf)

• McCrary, K. (2003)  La fonetica e la fonologia della durata segmentale nell'italiano pisano.  Paper to be presented at the Convengo "Italiano Parlato" February 13-15 2003, Naples, Italy

• Epstein, M.A. and K. McCrary (2002)  Apical and Laminal Articulations in Kisongo Maasai, UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, No. 101, August 2002.  61-72(pdf)

• McCrary, K. (2002)  Syllable Structure vs. Segmental Phonotactics:  The phonetics and phonology of segment duration in Italian.  Paper presented at the 9th International Phonology Meeting, Vienna, Austria, November 1-3 2002.

• McCrary, K. (2002) Vowel Length, Consonant Length and Raddoppiamento-Sintattico:  Segment Duration in Italian Revisited.  Paper presented at the 4th International Phonology Meeting of the GDR, Grenoble, France.

• McCrary, K. (2002) Vowel Length, Consonant Length and Raddoppiamento-Sintattico:  Segment Duration in Italian Revisited.  Paper presented at the 10th Manchester Phonology Meeting, Manchester. (pdf)

• McCrary, K. (2002)  Syllable Structure vs. Segmental Phonotactics:  Geminates and Clusters in Italian Revisited. Proceedings of the Texas Linguistics Society. University of Texas, Austin. (pdf)

• McCrary, K. (2002) Empirical evidence for syllable structure in Italian, paper presented at 76th annual conference of the Linguistics Society of America, San Francisco. (pdf)

• McCrary, K. (2001) Low harmony, ATR harmony and Verbal Morphology in Kisongo Maasai. Papers in Phonology 5, UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics 7. (pdf)

Awards and Academic Achievements

• 2001-2002 UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship
• Fall 2001 UCLA College of Letters and Science Lenart Travel Fellowship, support for research conducted at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in Italy
• 1997-1998 Fulbright Grant for courses and research at the University of Naples, Federico II, Italy
• 1995-1996 UCLA Program in Romance Linguistics departmental fellowship
• 1993-1994 Rotary Club of Milan Scholarship for M.A. studies at the University of Florence, Italy
• 1992 Certificate in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language, Dept. of Linguistics, San Diego State University
• 1986 Certificate in Hispanic Studies, University of Madrid, Complutense, Spain

Teaching

• UCLA, Dept. of Linguistics, Linguistics 120A:  Phonology 1, Spring 2005, Spring 2006
• California State University, San Marcos, Dept. of World Languages and Hispanic Literatures, Spring 2003:  Spanish Sociolinguistics:  http://courses.csusm.edu/span317km , Spanish/English Translation:  http://courses.csusm.edu/span330km
• Pasadena City College, Adjunct Italian Instructor
• UCLA, Italian Dept. Teaching .Associate:  Italian 1, Italian 2, Italian 3,  Fall 1996 to  Spring 2001