Name: Feier Gao
E-mail: feiergao@seu.edu.cn
Research Interests：
Psycholinguistics (phonological representation, spoken word recognition), Laboratory Phonology (tone sandhi, speech perception and production), Language and Cognition (sound symbolism), Language Variation (style and identity)
Brief Introduction：
I am an Assistant Professor and MA Supervisor of Southeast University. I graduated from the Department of Linguistics, Indiana University Bloomington in 2022 and obtained PhD degree in Linguistics. My research interests broadly cover the interaction between language and cognition, mainly involving tone-based empirical research in areas of psycholinguistics, laboratory phonology and sociolinguistics. I currently serve as principal investigator of one NSSFC grant and one provincial-level grant and have published several research articles in SSCI/A&HCI/EI journals. I was selected into the “Zhishan Young Scholar” scheme of Southeast University in 2024.
Education：
2016-2022 PhD in Linguistics. Indiana University Bloomington, USA
2014-2016 MA in English. University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
2010-2014 Bachelor in Education. Heilongjiang University
Employment：
2022/10- School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University
2020 Department of Linguistics, Indiana University Bloomington
2019-2020 College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington
Research Grants (as Principal Investigator) ：
[1] National Social Science Foundation of China, “Processing mechanism and AI-based perception of Mandarin tone sandhi” (No. 24CYY090，2024/10-2028/12, ongoing)
[2] Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Foundation, “Mental representation and acquisition for Mandarin tone 3 sandhi at the phonology-morphology interface” (No. 23YYC009，2023/08-2025/12, ongoing)
[3] Zhishan Young Scholar Supporting Scheme of Southeast University “Mechanism of tone-based sound symbolism in Chinese languages” (2242025RCB0047，2025/01-2027/12, ongoing)
Peer-reviewed journal articles (*indicates corresponding author):
[1] Feier Gao* & Chien-Jer Charles Lin (2025). Incorporating frequency effects in the lexical access of Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi. Language and Speech, 68(1):204-228 (SSCI) https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309241260062
[2] Feier Gao* (2024). Crossmodal correspondence between lexical tones and visual motions: A forced-choice mapping task on Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics Vanguard, 10(1):721-729 (SSCI, A&HCI) https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2023-0151
[3] Feier Gao* & Jon Forrest (2023). Indexical meaning of Mandarin full tone in the construction of femininity: Evidence from social perceptual data. Language & Communication, 91：1-20 (SSCI) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2023.04.001
[4] Feier Gao*, Siqi Lyu & Chien-Jer Charles Lin (2021). Processing Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi at the morphosyntactic interface: Reduplication and lexical compounds. Frontiers in Psychology 12:713665. (SSCI) https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713665
Peer-reviewed conference proceedings：
[1] Feier Gao*, Chun Hau Ngai & He Zhou (2025). Spatially upward and emotionally uncertain: A pilot study on mental representations of lexical tones. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (forthcoming) (计算机CCF-B类会议）
[2] Zuoyu Tian*, Xiao Dong, Feier Gao, Haining Wang, & Chien-Jer Charles Lin (2022). Mandarin tone sandhi realization: Evidence from large speech corpora. In Proceedings of Interspeech 2022. (EI)
[3] Feier Gao* (2020) Full tone to sound feminine: Analyzing the role of tonal variants in identity construction. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 25(2), Article 6. (Selective invitation)
Peer-reviewed conferences（international, 2020-present）：
[1] Feier Gao, Chun Hau Ngai & He Zhou. Spatially upward and emotionally uncertain: A pilot study on mental representations of lexical tones. The Cognitive Science Society Annual Conference, San Francisco, USA. July 30 -August 2, 2025.
[2] Feier Gao, Chun Hau Ngai & He Zhou. The iconic and metaphorical representations of lexical tones: Evidence from Hong Kong Cantonese. The 3rd International Conference on Tone and Intonation (TAI 2025), Herrsching, Germany, May 16–18, 2025.
[3] Feier Gao & Yu-Fu Chien. Morphemes, phones and phonological alternation: Retrieving lexical semantics and tonal representation of opaque words in Mandarin Chinese. Laboratory Phonology 19, Seoul, Korea, June 27-29th, 2024.
[4] Feier Gao & Chien-Jer Charles Lin. Frequency effects in the lexical access that involves phonological alternation: Evidence from Mandarin tone 3 sandhi. Architecture and Mechanisms of Language Processing Asia 2023 (AMLaP-Asia 2023), Hong Kong SAR, China. December 1-3rd, 2023.
[5] Zuoyu Tian, Xiao Dong, Feier Gao, Haining Wang & Chien-Jer Charles Lin. Mandarin tone sandhi realization: Evidence from large speech corpora. The 23rd INTERSPEECH Conference, Incheon, South Korea, September 18-22, 2022.
[6] Feier Gao & Jon Forrest. Mandarin Full Tone Realization and Indexical Meaning”. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting，New Orleans, USA. January 2-5, 2020.
Peer-reviewed conferences（domestic）：
[1] 汉语连上变调词汇加工过程中的构词、声调启动效应研究. 第八届全国第二语言加工学术研讨会. 浙江工商大学.2024年11月15-17日.
[2] Priming phonological and morphological relatedness in the lexical access of morphologically complex words in Mandarin Chinese.中西学者语言认知科学前沿百家讲坛(第三期)—语言习得与认知神经科学交叉论坛，北京语言大学. 2024年10月18日-20日.
[3] Cognitive aspects in socially meaningful language variations: A Matched Guise Task on Mandarin neutral tone variation. 中国语文现代化学会神经语言学研究分会第三届年会. 浙江大学城市学院. 2023年10月21-22日.
[4] 语言变异与社会认知：普通话轻声重读变项中的社会学感知研究. 江苏省外国语言学会第十一届年会. 扬州大学. 2023年10月28-29日.
Membership and Service：
Membership: Cognitive Science Society、Linguistic Society of America, Association of Laboratory Phonology
Reviewer：Language in Society、Journal of Psycholinguistics Research、Language and Speech、Frontiers in Psychology、NACCL-34、TAI2025
