Biography
I am a second-year PhD student in the Phonetics Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Prof Brechtje Post and Prof John Williams. My research centres on the implicit learning of tonal phonology and connectionist modelling. Prior to embarking on my doctoral study, I obtained an MPhil degree in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge (supervised by Prof Brechtje Post). My MPhil dissertation delved into the implicit learning of tone-segment associations. I also hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University (supervised by Dr Ting Zou). My BA thesis looked in the implicit learning of Tianjin Mandarin tone sandhi patterns by Beijing Mandarin speakers. Additionally, I bring valuable experience from the Text-to-Speech (TTS) industry to my academic pursuits.
Research
tone sandhi, implicit learning, individual differences, cognitive science of music
Publications
Zou, T., & Luo, X. (2025) Implicit Learning of Unfamiliar Tone Sandhi Patterns in Lexical Recognition. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1414732. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1414732
Luo, X., Post, B. (2024) Implicit learning of tone-segment connections by adults with and without tonal language backgrounds. Proc. Speech Prosody 2024, 717-721. http://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2024-145
Luo, X., Post, B., Williams, J. (2025, accepted for poster presentation). Incidental learning of non-native tone sandhi by tonal and non-tonal L1 speakers. The 6th Phonetics and Phonology in Europe (PaPE 2025). [Poster]
Luo, X., Williams, J., & Post, B. (2024). Incidental learning of phonetically (un) motivated tone sandhi patterns by tonal and non-tonal L1 speakers. Cambridge Language Sciences Annual Symposium 2024, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.33774/coe-2024-xhswk [Poster]
Bakkouche, L., Cooper, S., Luo, X., Rees, M., Lau, E., McGhee, C., Alter, K., Post, B., & Schwarz, J. (2024). Finding the Human Voice in AI: Insights on the Perception of AI-Voice Clones from MUSHRA and Similarity Tests. Cambridge Language Sciences Annual Symposium 2024. https://doi.org/10.33774/coe-2024-mvrz5 [Poster]
Bakkouche, L., Cooper, S., Luo, X., Rees, M., Lau, E., McGhee, C., Alter, K., Post, B., & Schwarz, J. (2024). Research plan: Neural encoding of AI-generated speech prosody by L1 and L2 speakers. UKiS 2024 Cambridge. https://ukis2024.eng.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ukis2024-Abstr... [Poster]
Luo, X., & Post, B. (2024). Implicit learning of tone-segment connections. British Association of Academic Phoneticians Colloquium 2024, Cardiff. https://sites.google.com/view/baap-2024/en/programme [Oral Presentation]
Teaching and Supervisions
Li1 (2024-2025)
Li16 (2023-2024)
