Research

Phonetics and Phonology of Sibilants

Using ultrasound and spectral analyses, I have studied the phonetic basis of the phonology of sibilant contrasts in languages with many sibilants in the inventory. My current work probe into the interactions between social factors and abstract linguistic representations that give rise to variations in the sibilant merger in Taiwan Mandarin.



Tones, Segments, and Acquisition

My research program addresses the broad question of how general cognitive biases and abstract phonological structures mediate the way in which novel categories are acquired. With this overarching goal in mind, I have developed various projects probing perception, production, and processing patterns of tones and segments by language learners.


Sino-Korean word processing by Cantonese learners. [PDF]


Phonology-Morphology Interface

Another branch of my research program focuses on the interaction between phonology and other modules in grammar. I have examined English intervocalic /l/s and Mandarin reduplication patterns, and I am hoping to investigate how the strength of the morphological boundary is manifested at the phonetic level in my future study.