Lara Kelly-Iturriaga
PhD Linguistics & English Language
- Linguistics and English Language
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Contact details
- Email: lara.kelly-iturriaga@ed.ac.uk
- Web: Academic website
Address
- Street
-
Dugald Stewart Building
- City
- 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AD
CV
150352.pdf
Qualifications
PhD in Linguistics and English Language - University of Edinburgh, September 2023 - present
- Provisional title: The role of language distance in bilingual lexical processing
- Exploring the effect of language distance on language co-activation in bilinguals and trilinguals during L2 processing using four psycholinguistic experiments
MA in Applied Linguistics and Language Acquisition in Multilingual Contexts - University of Barcelona (UB), September 2021 - July 2022
- MA Thesis: Do you eat pasta for dessert and tender your clothes? A comparison of cross-language activation in Turkish and Spanish learners of English
BA in Political Science and Public-Sector Management - University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), September 2016 - June 2020
- Dissertation: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Policies: Multilingualism and Minority Languages in the UK
Responsibilities & affiliations
AHRC PhD Scholarship managed by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH), September 2024 – present
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship covering maintenance, tuition fees and additional research funding
Associate Fellowship Advance HE, University of Edinburgh, June 2025
Received teaching accreditation for completion of the Introduction to Academic Practice course, demonstrating effective and inclusive teaching practice
Undergraduate teaching
Guest Lecturer, January 2026
Delivered lecture on ‘The bilingual lexicon’ for Second Language Acquisition (Honours) (LASC10030)
Tutor, September 2023 – present
2026-2027
- Data Analysis for Psychology in R-2 (PSYL08015)
2025-2026
- Quantitative Methods in Linguistics and English Language (Honours) (LASC10125)
- Second Language Acquisition (Honours) (LASC10030)
- First Language Acquisition (Honours) (LASC10029)
2024-2025
- Second Language Acquisition (Honours) (LASC10030)
- First Language Acquisition (Honours) (LASC10029)
2023-2024
- Linguistics and English Language 1B (LASC08023)
- LEL2B: Phonetic Analysis and Empirical Methods (LASC08018)
Postgraduate teaching
Guest Lecturer, January 2026
Delivered lecture on ‘The bilingual lexicon’ for Second Language Acquisition (LASC11014)
Tutor, September 2025 – present
2026-2027
- Univariate Statistics and Methodology using R (PSYL11099)
2025-2026
- Quantitative Methods in Linguistics and English Language (MSc) (LASC11187)
Research summary
Bilingual language processing, language distance and the bilingual mental lexicon, L2 word recognition, cross-linguistic influence
Knowledge exchange
First Place and People’s Choice Awards, PPLS Three Minute Thesis (3MT), The University of Edinburgh, March 2026
Prizes awarded for delivering the best research presentation in just 3 minutes (and one slide)
Chair, Bilingualism and Developmental Linguistics Research Group (BDLRG), September 2024 – September 2025
Organised, scheduled and chaired sessions; contacted internal and external speakers; managed budget and secured funding for external speakers’ travel and accommodation costs and catering
Conference details
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M.*, Ota, M. & Pickering, M. J. (2026). Language distance effects on trilingual lexical processing. Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing 2026 (AMLaP2026), Saarland University, Saarbrücken. Poster presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M.*, Ota, M. & Pickering, M. J. (2026). Does language distance affect bilingual lexical processing? 35th Annual Conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA 35), Research Center for Linguistics (CLUNL) at NOVA University Lisbon. Oral presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M.*, Ota, M. & Pickering, M. J. (2026). Language distance effects on bilingual lexical processing: evidence from interlingual homographs. 6th International Symposium on Bilingual and L2 Processing in Adults and Children (ISBPAC 2026), University of Reading. Oral presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M.*, Ota, M. & Pickering, M. J. (2025). The effect of language distance on bilingual lexical processing. Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing 2025 (AMLaP2025), Charles University, Prague. Poster presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M. (2025). The role of language distance in bilingual language processing. 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), Donostia-San Sebastián. Poster presentation.
Leivada, E.*, Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M., Masullo, C., Westergaard, M. & Rothman, J. (2025). The impact of language similarity on cognitive adaptations to bilingualism. 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), BCBL, Donostia-San Sebastián. Poster presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M. (2025). The role of language distance in bilingual language processing. Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference 2025, The University of Edinburgh. Oral presentation.
Leivada, E., Blanco-Elorrieta, E., Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M.*, Masullo, C., Westergaard, M. & Rothman, J. (2025). Exploring the role of language distance in bilingual cognition: A systematic review. Bilingualism Matters Symposium 2025, Edinburgh. Poster presentation.
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M. (2024). Do you eat pasta for dessert and tender your clothes? Cross-language activation in L1-Turkish and L1-Spanish learners of English. 30th Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, The University of Edinburgh. Poster presentation.
Invited speaker
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M. (2026). Does language distance affect bilingual lexical processing? Simone Sulpizio’s lab, The University of Milano-Bicocca, 27th February 2026.
Organiser
- Local organiser, Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB) Annual Meeting 2026, The University of Edinburgh
- Organising committee, Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, September 2024 – September 2025
- Organising committee, 30th Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing, September 2024
- Organising committee, Language Lunch @ Edinburgh, September 2023 – June 2024
Published
Leivada, E., Kelly-Iturriaga, L., Masullo, C., Westergaard, M. and Rothman, J. (2025). The unpredictable role of language distance in bilingual cognition: A systematic review from brain to behavior. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728925100746
Pre-prints & in prep
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M., Uzun, L., Salihoğlu, U. M., & Çetinavcı, U. R. (2026). Introducing LexTurk: A quick lexical test for learners of Turkish. PsyArXiv. osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tbhgv_v1
Kelly-Iturriaga, L. M., Ota, M., & Pickering, M. J. (2026). The effect of language distance on bilingual lexical processing: Evidence from interlingual homographs. [Invited revision].
Honours dissertation co-supervision, September 2026 - present
- Rika Bod: co-supervision with Professor Mitsuhiko Ota