PhD Started
I began my PhD in Linguistics at the University of Stuttgart, supervised by Titus von der Malsburg and Sebastian Padó — bridging human sentence comprehension and transformer language models in Arabic language processing.
About
A doctoral researcher in linguistics at the University of Stuttgart, supervised by Titus von der Malsburg and Sebastian Padó, and a DAAD alumnus, working at the intersection of experimental psycholinguistics and computational linguistics. My dissertation bridges human sentence comprehension and transformer language models in Arabic language processing, investigating how language is processed in both humans and Large Language Models (LLMs). Previously completed an MA in English Linguistics at the University of Stuttgart. Experienced in conducting research in English and German, with a current focus on Arabic — in particular Palestinian Arabic.
News
MA Completed
I completed my MA in English Linguistics at the University of Stuttgart, graduating with sehr gut (very good).
Experience
Research Assistant
Assisted in psycholinguistic research projects, supported data collection and analysis for cognitive modeling studies, and contributed to experimental design.
Teaching & Research Assistant
Supported teaching activities in linguistics courses, including ESL instruction, and contributed to research initiatives through data analysis and literature reviews.
Tutor
Provided tutoring in semantics and syntax to undergraduate students, offering guidance and support in core linguistic concepts.
Education
PhD in Linguistics
- Supervisors: Titus von der Malsburg and Sebastian Padó
- Bridging human sentence comprehension and transformer language models in Arabic language processing
Master of Arts in English Linguistics
- Focus on Psycholinguistics
- Funded by DAAD scholarship
- GPA: 1.5 (Very Good), Thesis grade: 1.0 (Very Good)
- Completed June 2026
Bachelor of Arts in English Language & Literature
- Minor in Translation
- GPA: 90.6/100 (High Distinction)
- Dean's List throughout study period
Publications
Software
- Said, M. (2026). Distractor_software: Automated maze-task distractor generation for English, German, and Arabic (Version 1.0.2) [Computer software]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21570030 Developed for the Master's thesis stimuli, then generalized and released open source; source code on GitHub.
Talks
- Said, M., & von der Malsburg, T. (2026, May 26–28). Dissecting the maze task with eye-tracking. Talk presented at the Workshop on Human Sentence Processing, SFB 1287, University of Potsdam, Germany.
Manuscripts in preparation
- Said, M., & von der Malsburg, T. (in preparation). Dissecting the maze task with eye-tracking. Manuscript to be submitted to Journal of Memory and Language.
Skills
Experimental DesignjsPsych, PsychoPy, OpenSesame, PCIbex
Psycholinguistic Research
Eye-TrackingGazepoint, TrackPixx
Statistical Analysis (R/Python)Bambi, lme4, NumPy, and more
Data VisualizationMatplotlib, Seaborn, ggplot2
Computational ModelingHugging Face Transformers, PyTorch, spaCy
Programming (Python / JavaScript / R)
Academic Writing
Language Processing Analysis
Teaching
Languages
AR
Arabic
Native
EN
English
Highly Proficient
DE
German
Intermediate
