Dr. Yixin Zhang holds a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge, where she also completed an MPhil. She earned Bachelor's degrees in English Language from the University of Manchester and in English-Financial and Business Affairs from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Research Interest

Her research focuses on emotion processing in children with autism and their families, particularly how they perceive and respond to emotional cues in speech, music, and other modalities. She is also interested in apraxia of speech, including childhood apraxia of speech, and the challenges these conditions present in language development and communication. Dr. Zhang has collaborated extensively with Dr. Chen Si and Dr. Minney Wong on studies using behavioral experiments as well as electroencephalographic technologies examine speech production and perception as well as general social communication skills of these vulnerable populations.

Selected Publications

Zhang Y, Nolan F, Friedrichs D. Perceptual clustering of high-pitched vowels in Chinese Yue Opera. Speech Communication, 137(2022): 60-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2022.01.004 

Zhang Y, Schmidt E, Post B. Perception of intonation on Mandarin Neutral Tone. Perception of intonation on neutral tone in Mandarin. Frontiers in Communication, 7 (2022): 849132. 

Zhang, Y., Chen, X., Chen, S., Meng, Y., & Lee, A. (2023). Visual-auditory perception of prosodic focus in Japanese by native and non-native speakers. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 1237395.

Zhang, Y., Wong, ECH, Wong, MN. Tone-Vowel Interaction and Co-articulation in Cantonese Speakers with Apraxia of Speech and Co-existing Aphasia: A Preliminary Study. (Accepted by Aphasiology, in pressing)

Chen, S., Zhang, Y.(corresponding author), Zhou, F., Chan, A., Li, B., Li, B., Tang, T., Chun, E. & Chen, Z. (2024). Focus-marking in a tonal language: Prosodic differences between Cantonese-speaking children with and without autism spectrum disorder. PloS One, 19(7), e0306272

Chen, S., Zhang, Y.(corresponding author), Li,M., Li, B., Lv, S., Chan, A., Ge,H., Tang, T. & Chen, Z. Acquisition of Speech Prosody in a Non-native Tone Language by Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Accepted by Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, in pressing)