Danielle Daidone
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Danielle Daidone [dæn.ˈjɛl  deɪ.ˈdoʊn​]

Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics
University of North Carolina Wilmington
​
PhD in Second Language Studies and Hispanic Linguistics, Indiana University

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Analyzing free classification results: Visualization of MDS analyses

The long awaited script for MDS visualization is finally here!  It took so long in part because I'm not great at math, and rotating the dimension scores is matrix multiplication.  Thankfully, with Ryan Lidster's help on that part, you can now plot your MDS output and rotate the points to your heart's content.

The R Markdown file is available here, and an example of its output is available in this pdf.  As you can see, MDS_visualization.Rmd takes the output files created by MDS_Analysis_new.Rmd as input, such as MDS_3D_AllContexts.txt.  It works with both 2D and 3D solutions, but make sure you pay attention to which you are choosing because there are different chunks you should run based on 2D versus 3D. 
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Analyzing free classification results: Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analyses

[Edited on 4/13/26 with additional information from my new and improved MDS script that also outputs Euclidean distances!  Make sure to download the newest version of the script: MDS_Analysis_new.Rmd]

Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) is a way of determining the placement of each stimulus in space so that the perceptual distances between the stimuli are recreated as closely as possible, with stimuli that were judged to be more similar placed closer together and stimuli judged to be less similar placed further apart.  If you're not familiar with MDS, you may find the explanation on pp. 1107-1108 of our 
2023 SSLA article on free classification to be useful. 

You can perform MDS analyses on any of the matrix outputs from the create_FC_similarity_matrices.Rmd file from the previous blog post using this R Markdown file [updated 4/13/26].  A pdf example using this script to analyze our Finnish length data can be viewed here [updated 4/13/26].
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ABOUT ME

My research focuses on second language phonology, with a particular emphasis on perception and lexical representations. I also work on input in the language classroom, as well as variation in L1 and L2 Spanish.  When I'm not analyzing speech, you can find me dancing or escaping reality with a good book.
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Download my CV

CONTACT ME
daidoned AT uncw DOT edu

UPDATES

Check out my latest publication "Second language speech perception" in The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (2nd edition).

I'm currently in Barcelona on a Fulbright US Scholar Award, and I'll be here through the end of June 2026.  I'm excited to work with other L2 speech researchers in the city!

I'll be in Lisbon for EuroSLA June 24-27, 2026.  Silvina Bongiovanni (Michigan State University) and I have a poster "Does HVPT improve the comprehension of Spanish regional variants for students in a phonetics course?". Come say hi!

If you're interested in beta testing our future HVPT website, funded by a Spencer Foundation Grant, sign up here.  At this point, it looks like we'll have a site ready for Fall 2026. 
Copyright © 2026
​Danielle Daidone
​daidoned AT uncw DOT edu
You can also check out my ResearchGate page
  • Home
  • Research
    • Publications
    • Current Research Projects
  • Teaching
  • Praat Scripts
  • Resources & Links
  • Blog