Research Scientist, Phonetics Cluster

Email: dusan.nikolic(at)oeaw.ac.at

Academic Background

Dušan Nikolić received his BA degree (with honours) at the University of Niš, Serbia, in 2015. From 2015 to 2017, he completed an MA degree at the University of Belgrade and the University of Niš exploring the acoustic properties of speech in Serbian learners of English. In 2016, he was a part of an Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Warsaw, Poland. In 2018, he started his PhD studies at the University of Calgary where he worked on the perception of acoustic cues of lexical pitch accents by native and non-native listeners. From 2018 to 2023, he also worked as a teacher at both, the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University, in Canada. In 2021, he received a prestigious Canada-wide award, the Izaak Walton Killam Award for his academic, leadership, and professional achievements. He was a recipient of the Eyes High Doctoral Award, Eyes High International Award, Dositeja Fund, Dean’s Entrance Award, and LRC Fellowships. In 2023, he received his PhD and subsequently became a Visiting Researcher at the University of Calgary working on a project of the integration of acoustic cues in real-time spoken word recognition.

In 2025 he received the “Seal of Excellence” from the European Commission – Horizon Europe (Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions – MSCA) for the research project entitled “Processing of Acoustic Properties of Lexical Prosody”. In 2026 Dušan moved to Vienna and started working as a postdoctoral researcher at the ARI of the OeAW joining the Phonetics Cluster. Dušan will work with Dr. Eva Reinisch and Dr. Robert Baumgartner on this project.

Current Research

Dušan Nikolić is interested in the real-time processing of the acoustic cues used in speech perception and production by native and non-native speakers. In communication, a listener’s task is to reconstruct the speaker’s message using acoustic properties of speech. Even though these acoustic properties are gradient and often asynchronous, listeners are able to integrate them and process them within milliseconds in order to make a lexical decision. This means that listeners must rely on some sort of integration and memory mechanism. Two models that explain the integration mechanisms have been put forward: 1) the buffered integration model claims that cues are stored in a memory buffer, and once they are all available in the signal, the listeners make a lexical decision; and 2) the continuous cascaded model, that claims that listeners make a lexical decision as soon as the first cue is available, and then as the other cues arrive, listeners update their decision. The goal of the Seal of Excellence project is to inform the models of acoustic cue integration by shedding light on what acoustic cues listeners of different language backgrounds use to process speech, and what the time course of the processing of these cues is.  To that end, the project will employ cognitive and neurobiological methods such as eye-tracking and event-related potential (ERP) methods to track how speech unfolds over time.

ARI Publications

  • Perception of the acoustic properties of Serbian lexical pitch accents. / Nikolic, Dusan.
    In: Journal of Experimental Phonetics, Vol. 35, 30.01.2026, p. 1-32.
    DOIWebsiteRISENWBIB

    <p>In this study, we explored to what extent native speakers of Serbian are perceptually sensitive to the acoustic properties of Serbian lexical pitch accents—namely pitch and length—and how accurately they distinguish between different lexical pitch accent types. To this end, we conducted two perception experiments. The first was an AX discrimination task in which listeners contrasted the two main acoustic properties of lexical pitch accents: pitch and length. The results showed that Serbian listeners were generally highly sensitive to these contrasts, with length carrying greater perceptual weight than pitch. In the second experiment, listeners performed an identification task in which they attempted to determine the type of lexical pitch accent based on the stimulus they heard. The results revealed below-chance performance, attributed to the potentially low functional load of Serbian lexical pitch accents in perception.</p>

Other Publications

Publications

Nikolić, D. & Winters, S. (to appear, 2026). Native and non-native listeners’ perception of Serbian lexical pitch accents. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne De Linguistique.

Nikolić, D. (2026). Perception of the acoustic properties of Serbian lexical pitch accents. Journal of Experimental Linguistics, 35, 1-32. doi.org/10.1344/efe-2026-35-1-32

Coretta, S., Casillas, J. V., Roessig, S., Franke, M., Ahn, B., Al-Hoorie, A. H., ... & Wood, A. (2023). Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human-speech analyses. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 6(3), 25152459231162567.

Nikolić, D. & Winters, S. (2022). Are Serbian and English listeners insensitive to lexical pitch accents in Serbian?. Phonetica, 79(4), 397-423. doi.org/10.1515/phon-2022-2023

Nikolić, D. (2021). Effects of F0 acoustic parameters on the perception of Serbian lexical pitch accents. Anali Filološkog Fakulteta 33(1), 13–27. doi.org/10.18485/analiff.2021.33.1.1

Nikolić, D. (2021). F0 Acoustic Parameters’ Effects on Discrimination of Lexical Pitch Accents. In Hernández, A. & Butterworth E. (eds.) 2020 CLA Conference Proceedings. Western University, Canada.

Nikolić, D. (2020). Distribution of PRO in Serbian Subjunctives. In Nikolić, D., Daniel, A.D., Nelson, B.C., Oguz, M., & Xu, K. (eds.). Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics (CWPL). University of Calgary, Canada.

Nikolić, D. (2019). Tone and break-index (ToBi) theoretical framework applications with EFL speakers. Proceedings from Language, Literature, Theory. University of Nis, Serbia (27-28 April, 2018).

Nikolić, D. (2018). Empirical Analysis of Intonation Activities in EFL Student’s Books. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(3), 181-187.

Nikolić, D. (2017). Intelligibility within a Modified CLIL Framework. Glottodidactica. An International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 44(1), 119-130.

Nikolić, D. (2016). Acoustic analysis of English vowels produced by American speakers and highly competent Serbian L2 speakers. Facta Universitatis, Series: Linguistics and Literature, 85-101.

Book Reviews

Nikolić, D. (2023). Daniel Silverman. 2017. A Critical Introduction to Phonology. Functional and Usage-Based Perspectives. 2nd edition. London: Bloomsbury. Pp. xxi + 360. US $33.95. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de Linguistique, 68(1), 152–157. doi:10.1017/cnj.2022.17

Nikolić, D. (2022). Clausal complementation in South Slavic: edited by Björn Wiemer and Barbara Sonnenhauser, Berlin, De Gruyter Mouton, 2022, viii+ 490 pp., US $154.99 (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-11-072585-8.

Conferences

Nikolić, D. (2026). Perception of Lexical Pitch Accents: The Native Language Acoustic Cue Approach vs. The Target Language Acoustic Cue Approach. Presented at the Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting (LSA2026), New Orleans, USA (09 January, 2026).

Nikolić, D. (2025). Sci-fi Phonetics: Teaching Phonetics through Science Fiction. Presented at the Methods and Techniques in Phonetic Sciences conference (MATIPS 2025), University of Alberta, Canada (18 October, 2025).

Nikolić, D., Russell, C., Sheppard, B., Winters, S. (2025). Mapping the unknown: Exploring similarities in speech perception through a free classification method. Presented at the Methods and Techniques in Phonetic Sciences conference (MATIPS 2025), University of Alberta, Canada (18 October, 2025).

Nikolić, D. (2025). Perception of Serbian restricted tone by native and non-native listeners: Evidence from anonline free classification task. Presented at the Phonetics and Phonology in Europe conference (PaPE 2025), University of the Balearic Islands, Spain (25 - 27 Jun, 2025).

Nikolić, D. (2024). Processing of Serbian Restricted Tone by Native and Non-native Listeners. Presented at the Austrian Linguistics Conference (Österreichische Linguistiktagung, University of Innsbruck, Austria (17 - 19 Dec, 2024).

Nikolić, D. (2024). Dialectal Variation in the Perceptual Similarity Space of Serbian Lexical Pitch Accent. Presented at Language, Literature, Intersectionality (LLI), University of Niš, Serbia (27 April, 2024).

Nikolić, D. (2023). Perceptual similarity space of Serbian lexical pitch accents: evidence from Serbian and French listeners. Presented at International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPHS).(7-11 August, 2023).

Nikolić, D. (2022). Word Stress Acoustic Correlates: English Speakers versus Exemplar Models. Presented at Amlap 2022. University of York,  England (7-9 September, 2022).

Nikolić, D. (2022). Can Exemplar Models Replicate Human Production of Word Stress? A Case of Canadian English Speakers. Presented at SICOL , Sunkyungwan University (11-12 August, 2022).

Nikolić, D. (2022). Is There “Deafness” to Stress Contrasts: A Case of English and Serbian Speakers? Presented at Canadian Linguistic Association (CLA). University of Manitoba,  Canada (1-4, June, 2022).

Nikolić, D. (2021). Are Non-Native Speakers “Deaf” to Lexical Pitch Accents? Presented at Phonetics and Phonology in Europe 2021. Pompeu Fabra University,  Barcelona, Spain (21- 23, June, 2021).

Nikolić, D. (2021). “Deafness” to Lexical Pitch Accents: The Case of Non-native Listeners. Presented at Canadian Linguistic Association (CLA). University of Alberta,  Alberta, Canada (4 June, 2021).

Nikolić, D. (2021). Is There “Deafness” to Lexical Pitch Accent. Presented at STEP (LSA) (19 May, 2021). Poster.

Nikolić, D. (2021). F0 Acoustic Parameters Effects on Discrimination of Lexical Pitch Accents. Presented at Linguistic Society of America (LSA) (7-9 January, 2021).

Nikolić, D. (2020). Effects of Acoustic Parameters on the Perception of Serbian Lexical Pitch Accents. Presented at Canadian Linguistic Association (CLA). Western University,  Ontario, Canada (30 May, 2020).

Nikolić, D. (2020). Effects of F0 Acoustic Parameters on the Perception of Serbian Lexical Pitch Accents. Presented at BIMEP (Belgrade International Meeting of English Phoneticians). University of Belgrade, Serbia (20 March, 2020).

Nikolić, D. (2019). Perception of L2 Lexical Pitch Accents. Presented at Northwest Conference on Phonetics/Phonology (NowPhon). University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada (21 Sep, 2019).

Nikolić, D. (2018). ToBi Analysis of EFL Serbian Speakers’ Intonation Use. Presented at Alberta Conference on Linguistics. University of Calgary, Canada (27 October, 2018).

Nikolić, D. (2018). Contribution of Segmental and Intonation Features to the Perception of Foreign Accent. Presented at BIMEP (Belgrade International Meeting of English Phoneticians). University of Belgrade, Serbia (30 March, 2018).

Nikolić, D. (2017). Communication: An Overview of CLIL and Non-CLIL Classroom Practices. Presented at Osterreichische Linguistiktagung. Alpen-Adrian University Klagenfurt, Austria (7-10 December, 2017).

Talks

Nikolić, D. (2022). Perception of Lexical Pitch Accents by Serbian and French Listeners. Given at University of Trier. (13 December, 2022).