
Yiya Chen
Professor Phonetics
- Name
- Prof.dr. Y. Chen
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 1688
- yiya.chen@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-0009-5882
Yiya Chen is a Professor of Phonetics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. She studies the sounds of languages with an interdisciplinary approach. The broad goal of her research is to understand the language structures and cognitive mechanisms that underlie speech and speech communication. Yiya is particularly intrigued by the way speakers of different languages employ melodic pitch variations (together with other cues) to convey layers of information in speech, signaling not only word-level meanings but also higher-level messages (such as asking questions, highlighting important information, signaling intention, and conveying attitude or emotion).
Research
My main research focus has been on the universality and diversity of melodic forms and functions in speech. I pay close attention to the biological constraints, cognitive representations, and neural processing capacities that enable speakers to produce and listeners to decipher marvelously complex melodic signals in typologically different languages. I take a multiple methods approach and draw evidence from acoustic analyses of speech, behavioral reaction time and eye-movement patterns, as well as event-related brain responses.
With respect to language area, I have a strong interest in Chinese (especially Mandarin and Wu dialect families). I do maintain an interest in other Sinitic varieties (e.g., Gan, Min, and Xiang dialects) and Tibeto-Burman languages (e.g., Lizu and Xumi). I have also had the opportunity to work on languages that are typologically different from the Sino-Tibetan family, such as Zulu & Ewe (Niger-Congo) and Kedang & Selayarese (Austronesian).
I currently serve on the editorial board of Journal of Phonetics (since 2012) and Journal of International Phonetic Association (since 2015)
Main Research Projects (as Principal Investigator):
2020-2024 | Melody in speech (VICI, NWO) |
2013-2017 | Neural encoding of prosodic variation in speech communication (KNAW-China Joint Research Project Grant (Chinese Co-PI: Xiaoqing Li)) |
2008-2014 | Representation and processing of pitch variation in tonal languages (ERC-Starting Grant, European Research Council (ERC)) |
2008 –2013 | An experimental approach to the interaction of tone sandhi and focus expression in six dialects of Chinese (VIDI, NWO) |
2004 – 2007 | A cross-linguistic account of focus realization: Evidence from Standard Chinese and the Shanghai Dialect (VENI, NWO) |
Curriculum Vitae
I graduated in 2003 from Stony Brook University with a PhD in linguistics, specializing in Phonetics and Phonology. Before moving to Leiden, I worked as Research Fellow at University of Edinburgh and Radboud University Nijmegen. Prior to my PhD, I studied at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BA), Stony Brook University (MA), and taught at various universities.
Teaching Activities and Supervision
I teach Phonetics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Leiden University Center for Linguistics (LUCL). Before moving to Leiden, I taught Chinese at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Phonetics at Cornell University, and Phonology at New York University.
I have been the supervisor and co-promotor of eight successfully completed PhD projects at Leiden University Center for Linguistics (LUCL). I also regularly supervise MA and BA projects.
- Franziska Scholz (2012)
Tone sandhi, prosodic phrasing, and focus marking in Wenzhou Chinese. - Jessie Nixon (2014)
Sound of Mind: Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence for the role of context, variation and informativity in human speech processing - Junru Wu (2015)
Tonal bilingual: the case of two closely related Chinese dialects. - Qian Li (2016)
Production and perception of tonal variation: Evidence from Tianjin Mandarin. - Man Wang (2017)
A psycholinguistic investigation of speech production in Mandarin Chinese. - Ting Zou (2017)
Production and perception of tones by Dutch learners of Mandarin. - Min Liu (2018)
Tone and intonation processing: From ambiguous acoustic signal to linguistic representation. - Yifei Bi (2019)
The production and perception of incomplete tonal neutralization
Selected Publications
Li, X. & Chen, Y. (2018). Unattended processing of hierarchical pitch variations in spoken sentences. Brain and Language 183: 21-31.
Chen, Y., Lee, P., & Pan, H. (2016). Focus and topic marking in Chinese. In Féry, C. & Ishihara, S. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Information Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chen, Y. (2016). Neutral tone. In Sybesma, R., Behr, W., Gu, Y. Handel, Z. and Huang, J. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
Chen, Y. & Gussenhoven, C. (2015). Shanghai Chinese. Journal of International Phonetic Association (JIPA) 45 (3): 321-337.
Li, X. and Chen, Y. (2015). Representation and processing of lexical tone and tonal variants: Evidence from the Mismatch Negativity. PLoS ONE 10: e0143097.
Chen, Y. (2012). Message-related variation. In Cohn, A., Fourgeron, C., and Huffman, M. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Laboratory Phonology. pp. 103-115. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chen, Y. (2011). What does phonology tell us about the phonetics of segment-f0 interaction? Journal of Phonetics 39: 612-625.
Chen, Y. (2008). The acoustic realization of Shanghai vowels. Journal of Phonetics 36 (4): 629-748.
Chen, Y., & Gussenhoven, C. (2008). Emphasis and tonal implementation in Standard Chinese. Journal of Phonetics 36 (4): 724-746.
Bard, E., Anderson, A., Chen, Y. Nicholson, H., Havard, C., & Dalziel-Job, S. (2007). Let’s you do that: Sharing the cognitive burdens of dialogue. Journal of Language and Memory57(4): 616-641.
Chen, Y., & Xu, Y. (2006). Production of weak elements in speech: Evidence from neutral tone in Standard Chinese. Phonetica 63: 47-75.
Chen, Y. (2006). Durational adjustment under corrective focus in Standard Chinese. Journal of Phonetics 34: 176-201.
Professor Phonetics
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL Taalwetenschap
- Wang M., Chen Y., Jiang M. & Schiller N.O. (2021), The time course of speech production revisited: no early orthographic effect, even in Mandarin Chinese, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 36(1): 13-24.
- Liu M., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2020), Tonal mapping of Xi’an Mandarin and Standard Chinese, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 147(4): 2803-2816.
- Klamer Marian, Shi M., Swenne J. & Chen Y. (2020), Breathy vowels are not phonemic in Kedang (Eastern Indonesia), Oceanic Linguistics 59(1): 1-22.
- Li X., Ren G., Zheng Y. & Chen Y. (2020), How does dialectal experience modulate anticipatory speech processing?, Journal of Memory and Language 115.
- Shi M., Chen Y. & Mous M.P.G.M. (2020), Tonal split and laryngeal contrast of onset consonant in Lili Wu Chinese, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 147(4): 2901-2916.
- Wu J., Chen Y., Heuven V.J. van & Schiller N.O. (2019), Dynamic effect of tonal similarity in bilingual auditory lexical processing, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 34(5): 580-598.
- Witteman J., Chen Y., Pablos-Robles L., Parafita Couto M.C., Wong, P.C.M., Schiller & N.O. (2018), (Pushing) the Limits of Neuroplasticity Induced by Adult Language Acquisition. Member of editorial staff Frontiers in Psychology 9.
- Wang M., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2019), Lexico-syntactic features are activated but not selected in bare noun production: Electrophysiological evidence from overt picture naming, Cortex 116: 294-307.
- Wu J., Chen Y., Heuven V.J.J.P. van & Schiller N.O. (2018), Applying functional partition in the investigation of lexical tonal-pattern categories in an under-resourced Chinese dialect. In: Tao J., Fang Z., Bao C., Wang D., Li Y. (Ed.) Man-machine speech communication. Singapore: Springer. 24-35.
- Timmer K. & Chen Y. (2017), Dutch-Cantonese Bilinguals Show Segmental Processing during Sinitic Language Production, Frontiers in Psychology 8: 1133.
- Wang M., Shao Z., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2018), Neural correlates of spoken word production in semantic and phonological blocked cyclic naming, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 33(5): 575-586.
- Li Q., Chen Y. & Xiong X. (2019), Tianjin Mandarin, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 49(1): 109-128.
- Chen Y. (2017), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Chen Y. (2017), Member of editorial staff Journal of the International Phonetic Association .
- Zou T., Chen Y. & Caspers J. (2016), The developmental trajectories of attention distribution and segment-tone integration in Dutch learners of Mandarin tones, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition : 1-13.
- Wu J., Chen Y, Heuven V.J. van & Schiller N.O. (2017), Interlingual two-to-one mapping of tonal categories, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(4): 813-833.
- Wu J., Chen Y., Heuven V.J.J.P. van & Schiller N.O. (2016), Predicting tonal realizations in one Chinese dialect from another, Speech Communication 76: 1-27.
- Chen Y. (2016), Member of editorial staff Journal of the International Phonetic Association .
- Chen Y. (2016), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Liu M., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2016), Context effects on tone and intonation processing in Mandarin. In: Proc. Speech Prosody 2016.. 1056-1060.
- Ganushchak L. & Chen Y. (2016), Incrementality in Planning of Speech During Speaking and Reading Aloud: Evidence from Eye-Tracking, Frontiers in Psychology 7(January): 33.
- Liu M., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2016), Online processing of tone and intonation in Mandarin: Evidence from ERPs, Neuropsychologia 91: 307-317.
- Bi Y., Lesya Y. Ganushchak, Agnieszka E. Konopka, Guiqin Ren, Xue Sui & Chen Y. (2016), Prosodic encoding of information structure in Mandarin Chinese: Evidence from picture description task.
- Chen Y. (2016), Speech variants are processed as abstract categories and context-specific instantiations: evidence from Mandarin lexical tone production [Representation and Processing of Pitch Variation] (translation: Nixon J., Rij J. van, Mok P., Baayen H. & Chen Y.), 90: 103-125.
- Li Q. & Chen Y. (2015), An acoustic study of contextual tonal variation in Tianjin Mandarin, Journal of Phonetics 54: 123-150.
- Nixon J.S., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2015), Multi-level processing of phonetic variants in speech production and visual word processing: evidence from Mandarin lexical tones, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 30(5): 491-505.
- Zou T., Chen Y. & Caspers J. (2015), Attention redistribution and segment-tone integration in Mandarin tone acquisition by L2 learners. In: The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.) Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
- Chen Y. (2015), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Chen Y. (2015), Member of editorial staff Journal of the International Phonetic Association .
- Li Q. & Chen Y. (2015), Effect of contextual tonal variation on speech recognition: Evidence from eye movements.
- Chirkova K., Wang D., Antolík T.K. & Chen Y. (2015), Ersu, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 45: 187-211.
- Nixon J.S., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2015), Multi-level processing of phonetic variants in speech production and visual word processing: evidence from Mandarin lexical tones., Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 30: 491-505.
- Li X. & Chen Y. (2015), Representation and Processing of Lexical Tone and Tonal Variants: Evidence from the Mismatch Negativity, PLoS ONE 10(12): e0143097.
- Chen Y. & Gussenhoven C. (2015), Shanghai Chinese, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 45: 321-337.
- Bi Y., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2015), The effect of word frequency and neighbourhood density on tone merge.
- Yuan J.H. & Chen Y. (2014), 3rd tone sandhi in Standard Chinese: A corpus approach, Journal of Chinese Linguistics 42(1): 218-237.
- Caspers J., Chen Y., Heeren W.F.L., Pacilly J.J.A., Schiller N.O. & Zanten E.A van (Eds.) (2014), Above and beyond the segments. Experimental linguistics and phonetics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Chen Y. (2014), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Chen Y., Lee P. & Pan H. (2014), Focus and topic marking in Chinese. In: Féry C., Ishihara S. (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Information Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Ganushchak L., Konopka A. & Chen Y. (2014), Focus planning during sentence production: An eye-tracking study.
- Nixon J., Chen Y. & Schiller N.O. (2014), Speech variants are processed as abstract categories and context-specific instantiations: evidence from Mandarin lexical tone production, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience .
- Scholz F. & Chen Y. (2014), The independent effects of prosodic structure and information status on tonal coarticulation: Evidence from Wenzhou Chinese. In: J. Caspers, Y. Chen, W. Heeren, J. Pacilly, N. O. Schiller, & E. van Zanten (Eds.) Above and beyond the segments: Experimental linguistics and phonetics..
- Wu J. & Chen Y. (2014), Tonal Variability in Bilingual Mental Lexicon.
- Wu J., Chen Y.,V.J. van Heuven & Schiller N.O. (2014), Tonal Variability in Lexical Access, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience .
- Ganushchak L.Y., Konopka A.E. & Chen Y. (2014), What the eyes say about planning of focused referents during sentence formulation: A cross-linguistic investigation, Frontiers in Psychology 5: e1124.
- Chirkova K & Chen Y. (2013), Beijing Mandarin. In: Sybesma R., Behr W., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
- Chen Y. (2013), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Gussenhoven C., Chen Y., Frota S. & Prieto P. (2013), Intonation. In: Aronoff M. (Ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Chirkova K. & Chen Y. (2013), Lizu, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43(1): 75-87.
- Chirkova K. & Chen Y. (2013), Lower Xumi, the variety of the lower and middle reaches of the Shuiluo river, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43: 363-379.
- Chen Y. (2013), Neutral tone. In: Sybesma R., Behr W., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
- Chirkova K. & Chen Y. (2013), Upper Xumi, the variety of the upper reaches of the Shuiluo river, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43: 381-396.
- Chen Y. (2012), Member of editorial staff Journal of Phonetics .
- Chen Y. (2012), Message-related variation. In: Cohn A., Fourgeron C., Huffman M. (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Laboratory Phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Li Q. & Chen Y. (2012), Trisyllabic tone sandhi in Tianjin Mandarin.
- Chen Y. & Downing L. (2011), All depressors are not alike: Evidence from Shanghai Chinese and Bantu Zulu. In: Frota S., Gorka E., Prieto P. (Eds.) Prosodic Categories: Production, Perception and Comprehension. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory Dordrecht: Springer.
- Li X., Chen Y. & Yang Y. (2011), Immediate integration of different types of prosodic information during on-line spoken language comprehension: An ERP Study, Brain Research 1386: 139-152.
- Li Q. & Chen Y. (2011), Neutral tone in Tianjin Mandarin.
- Holger M., Chen Y. & Zhou X. (2011), Phonological abstraction in processing lexical tone variation: Evidence from a learning paradigm, Cognitive Science 35: 184-197.
- Chen Y., Shen R. & Schiller N.O. (2011), Representation of allophonic tone sandhi variants.
- Li X. & Chen Y. (2011), The cortical processing of tone and accentuation in Chinese sentence under non-attentional condition.
- Chen Y. (2011), What does phonology tell us about the phonetics of segment-f0 interaction?, Journal of Phonetics 39: 612-625.
- Chen Y. (2010), Post-focus suppression: Now you see it, now you don’t, Journal of Phonetics 38: 517-525.
- Jia Y., Li A. & Chen Y. (2009), Phonetic properties of shi- and lian- marked constituents in Chinese, Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and Technology) = Qinghua daxue xuebao (Ziran kexue ban) 49(1): 1294-1302.
- Chen Y. (2009), Prosody and information structure mapping: Evidence from Shanghai Chinese, Chinese Journal of Phonetics 2: 123-133.
- Chen Y. & Gussenhoven C. (2008), Emphasis and tonal implementation in Standard Chinese, Journal of Phonetics 36(4): 724-746.
- Jia Y., Li A. & Chen Y. (2008), Pitch and durational patterns of five-syllable constituents in Standard Chinese, Applied Linguistics (4): 53-61.
- Chen Y. (2008), Prosodic Realization of Topic and Focus in Shanghai Chinese.
- Chen Y. (2008), Revisiting the phonetics and phonology of Shanghai tone sandhi. 253-256.
- Chen Y. (2008), The acoustic realization of Shanghai vowels, Journal of Phonetics 36(4): 629-748.
- Chen Y. & Yuan J. (2007), A corpus study of the 3rd tone sandhi in Standard Chinese.
- Jia Y., Li A., Xiong Z. & Chen Y. (2007), Effects of focus upon durational patterns of five-syllable words in Standard Chinese.
- Bard E., Anderson A., Chen Y., Nicholson H., Havard C. & Dalziel-Job S. (2007), Let’s you do that: Sharing the cognitive burdens of dialogue, Journal of Memory and Language 57(4): 616-641.
- Chen Y. (2006), Durational adjustment under corrective focus in Standard Chinese, Journal of Phonetics 34: 176-201.
- Chen Y. (2006), Emphasis, duration, and tonal implementation in Standard Chinese.
- Chen Y. (2006), Pre-glottal vowels in Shanghai Chinese.
- Chen Y. & Xu Y. (2006), Production of weak elements in speech: Evidence from neutral tone in Standard Chinese, Phonetica 63: 47-75.
- Chen Y. & Braun B. (2006), Prosodic realization of information structure categories in Standard Chinese.
- Hannele N., Bard E., Lickley R., Anderson A., Havard C. & Chen Y. (2005), Disfluency and behaviour in dialogue: evidence from eye-gaze. 133-138.
- Chen Y. (2004), Focus and intonational phrase boundary in Standard Chinese.
- Chen Y. (2003), Accentual lengthening in Standard Chinese: Evidence from four-syllable monomorphemic words.
- Chen Y., Nicholson H. & Bard E.G. (2003), Disfluency under Feedback and Time-pressure.
- Chen Y. (2002), Accentual lengthening of monosyllabic constituents in Mandarin Chinese.
- Chen Y. & He A. (2001), Dui bu dui as a pragmatic marker: Evidence from Chinese classroom discourse, Journal of Pragmatics 33: 1441-1465.
- Basri H. & Chen Y. (2000), When harmony meets reduplication in Selayarese. 37-49.
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