About Me

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the language processing lab at the University of Chicago, working with Ming Xiang. I received my PhD in Linguistics at UConn, where I was fortunately advised by Magdalena Kaufmann.

My research primarily focuses on semantics and pragmatics, including semantic/pragmatic theories and their implications for language processing. I investigate how different linguistic expressions organize and constrain discourse contexts, as well as how various semantic/pragmatic notions influence language processing. For instance:

• Why are certain speech acts and linguistic expressions chosen at some point in a conversation but not others?

• What are the inferences that the interlocutors want each other to understand beyond what is explicitly said?

• How are these inferences conventionally encoded in linguistic devices?

Topics that I have worked on include discourse structures, speech acts and clause types, discourse particles, conditionals, temporality and modality.

My research is also informed by a cross-linguistic perspective. In addition to my native language Mandarin, I have collaborated with other researchers on topics such as focus, prosody, additive particles, and speech verbs in Japanese, Cantonese and Shanghainese.

About my name: my given name Xuetong 雪桐 can be transcribed as [ɕye˨˩˦ tʰʊŋ˧˥], my surname Yuan 袁 as [yɛn˧˥].