My name
[ˈma͡ɪə wæks ˌkɑvəˈlɑɹo͡ʊ] 
That’s roughly how I pronounce my name most of the time. I also accept and sometimes use Italian/Spanish pronunciations, as well as Yiddish /vaks/.
I have two last names, which has caused problems my entire life in the US, but at this point, I’m committed to defending it. Two last names is the norm in many places, and I am proud of my parents and my heritage. I have a middle name, too. Wax and Cavallaro are both last names. Space, no hyphen.
And no, I do not study Mayan languages because my name is Maya.
When I’m not doing linguistics…
I am really into music. I play upright bass and flute and dabble in guitar, clarinet, and a few other instruments. Music history/theory was one of my undergrad majors. I love going to live shows when there isn’t a pandemic. Recently I have been trying to get better at polyphonic overtone singing because I am both a music nerd and a phonetics nerd.
I have two parakeets named Rex and Stanley. They do not imitate human speech, despite my best efforts, but they are amazing little dinosaurs.
