I’m a fifth year PhD student specializing in phonetics, laboratory phonology and speech research in general. Currently my work focuses on investigating the role of statistical inference in the perceptual learning of non-native speech categories. Another line of my research involves using both corpus and experimental approaches to investigate phonetic variation across genres and styles. One of the main goals of my previous research is to model phonetic variation in conversations and in different speech genres, such as foreigner-directed speech and emotional speech. I’m also interested in lexicon-internal factors that influence our speech production and recognition, especially how lexical factors such as word frequency and neighborhood influence word production. I’ve also been working on disfluencies and in particular the role of disfluencies in speech production and comprehension. At the application end, I’ve been collaborating with my colleagues on the automatic detection of disfluencies in natural conversations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (accepted). The effect of lexical frequency and Lombard reflex on tone  hyperarticulation.  Journal of Phonetics.

   Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (2007). The effect of lexical frequency on tone production. Proceedings of 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Germany. [pdf]

   Scarborough, R., Brenier, J., Zhao, Y., Hall-Lew, L., & Dmitrieva, O. (2007). An acoustic study of real and imaginary foreigner-directed speech. Proceedings of 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Germany. [pdf]

   Chu, Cheng-tao, Yun-hsuan Sung, Yuan Zhao & Dan Jurafsky (2006). Detection of word fragments in Mandarin telephone conversation. Proceedings of ICSLP 2006, Pittsburgh. [pdf]

   Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky. (2005). A preliminary study of Mandarin filled pauses. Proceedings of Disfluency in Spontaneous Speech 2005, Aix-en-Provence. 179-182. [pdf]

   Gao, Yihong, Yuan Zhao, Ying Cheng & Yan Zhou. (2007). Relationship between English learning motivation types and self-identity changes among Chinese students. TESOL Quarterly, vol.41 (1), 133-155. [pdf]

   Gao, Yihong, Ying Cheng, Yuan Zhao & Yan Zhou. (2005). Self-identity changes and English learning among Chinese undergraduates. World Englishes, vol. 24, 39-51. [pdf]

   Gao, Yihong, Yuan Zhao, Ying Cheng & Yan Zhou. (2004). Motivation types of English learning among Chinese university undergraduates. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, vol.14, 45-64.  [pdf]

  Zhao, Yuan (2009). Statistical inference in the learning of novel phonetic categories. Talk presented at LSA Annual Meeting, San Francisco.

   Dmitrieva, O., Adams, M., Grafmiller, J.,  Grimm, S., Zhao, Y., and Anttila, A. (2008). Gradient OCP and harmonic    alignment in English phonotactics.  LSA Annual Meeting,  Chicago.

   Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (2007). The effect of lexical frequency on tone production. Talk to be presented at the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Germany.

   Scarborough, R., Brenier, J., Zhao, Y., Hall-Lew, L., & Dmitrieva, O. (2007). An acoustic study of real and imaginary foreigner-directed speech.. Poster to be presented at the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Germany.

    Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (2007). Effect of word frequency on tonal variation. Poster presented at Workshop on Variation, Gradience and Frequency in Phonology, Stanford.

    Scarborough, R., Dmitrieva, O., Hall-Lew, L., Zhao, Y. & J. Brenier. (2007). An acoustic study of real and imaginary foreigner-directed speech. Poster to be presented at the Annual Meeting of Acoustical Society of America, June 2007.

    Zhao, Yuan (2007). The effect of lexical frequency on tone production. Talk presented at LSA Annual Meeting 2007, Anaheim, Janunary 2007.

    Chu, Cheng-tao, Yun-hsuan Sung, Yuan Zhao & Dan Jurafsky (2006). Detection of word fragments in Mandarin telephone conversation. Poster presented at ICSLP 2006, Pittsburgh. [pdf]

    Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (2006). Tone or toneless: The prosody of Mandarin filled pauses. Poster presented at 10^th Conference on Laboratory Phonology, Paris. [abstract] [poster]

    Zhao, Yuan (2006). Do disfluencies have tones: A case study of Mandarin filled pauses. Poster presented at LSA summer meeting, Michigan. [ppt]

    Zhao, Yuan & Dan Jurafsky (2005) A preliminary study of Mandarin filled pauses. Paper presented at Disfluency

In Spontaneous Speech 2005, Aix-en-Provence. [pdf]

   Zhao, Yuan (2005) Event structure and sub-classification of Mandarin verbs of cognition. Paper presented at 17^th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Monterey.

 

◇ Statistical Inference in Phonetic Category Learning( Advising Committee: Dan Jurafsky, Meghan Sumner, Eve Clark, Jay McClelland)

 

◇ Effect of Lexical Frequency on Tone Production (Collaborator: Dan Jurafsky)

 

◇ Disfluency in Spontaneous Speech (Collaborator: Dan Jurafsky, Yun-Hsuan Sung)

 

◇ Emotional Speech  (Collaborators: Heriberto Avelino, Lauren Hall-Lew, Olga Dmitrieva)

 

◇ Foreigner-directed speech (Collaborators: Rebecca Scarborough, Jason Brienier, Lauren Hall-Lew, Olga Dmitrieva)

 

◇ Prosody and Dative Alternation (Collaborators: Tom Wasow, Jan Strunk,, Nick Romero, Rowyn McDonald, Huihsin Tseng)

 

 

 

2008 Spring Quarter Teaching: Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

Yuan Zhao

 

PhD Candidate, Linguistics

Stanford University

Email: yuanzhao@stanford.edu

 

◇                  Statistical inference in perceptual learning of speech category

◇                  Phonetic variation, hyperarticulation and reduction

◇                  Lexical effects, lexical representation

◇                  Perception of non-native categories

◇                  Disfluencies in spontaneous speech

◇                  Tone and intonation

◇                  Phonation and voice quality

◇                  Sociophonetics, identity issues in second language learning