About Me
- My name is Yimei Xiang (向伊梅), pronounced as [i: mɛɪ, ɕiɑŋ].
- I’m an Assistant Professor at Rutgers Linguistics, specialized in formal semantics, syntax-semantics interface, and Chinese & East Asian linguistics. I study how meanings are drawn from complex structures, and how the underlying logical system is represented in human languages.
- I completed Ph.D. in Linguistics at Harvard Univ. in 2016 and B.A. in Chinese at Peking Univ. in 2010.
- My current research program focuses on the following topics:
- questions with complex structures and questions in embeddings;
- higher-order readings of questions;
- polarity items and free choice items;
- multi-functional words in East Asian languages.
- CV (updated to Oct 2019)
Upcoming
- Teaching
- Courses in Fall 2019: Semantics I (graduate), Semantics (undergrad)
- Presentations
- “Attitudes held of questions: Completeness and sensitivity to false answers.”
Invited talk. Workshop on Looks, Attitudes, and Syntactic Embedding. NYU. Nov 1, 2019. - “A variable-free approach to composing questions with functional dependency.”
Invited talk. Workshop on Complex multiple wh– constructions. Univ. of Nantes. Nov 25-26, 2019 - “Higher-order readings of WH-questions”.
Invited talk. Linguae Seminar. Ecole Normale Supérieure, Pairs. Nov 28, 2019. - “Two types of higher-order readings of questions.”
Talk. Amsterdam Colloquium. Dec 18-20, 2019. - Title TBD.
Invited colloquium. MIT. April 10, 2020.
- “Attitudes held of questions: Completeness and sensitivity to false answers.”
Recent & Ongoing
- Papers
- Xiang, Y. In Prep. A variable-free approach to composing questions with functional dependency. [Please send me an email if you are interested in seeing the draft!]
- Xiang, Y. 2019. Higher-order readings of wh-questions. Manuscript. [Updated in Oct. Comments and questions are very much appreciated. Suggestions about citations are especially welcome!]
- Xiang, Y. 2019. Getting quantifying-into questions uniformly: Functionality, domain exhaustivity, and quantificational variability. Proceedings of SALT 29. [Earlier: Poster at SALT 29. UCLA. May 17-19, 2019.]
- Xiang, Y. 2019. A hybrid categorial approach to question composition. Resubmitted. [Updated in July 2019]
- Xiang, Y. To appear. Function alternations of the Mandarin particle dou: Distributor, free choice licensor, and ‘even’. Journal of Semantics. [Accepted and updated in May 2019. Old title: “Alternations of logical functions: Mandarin particle dou as a pre-exhaustification exhaustifier”]
- Presentations
- “Higher-order readings of WH-questions.” (Slides)
Invited talk. Oberseminar Colloquium. Göttingen Univ., June 11, 2019. - “Not Exhaustivity: Completeness and false answer sensitivity in questions.” (Slides)
Invited talk. Workshop “Exhaustivity in questions and answers – Experimental and theoretical approaches”, Tübingen Univ., June 13-14, 2019,
- “Higher-order readings of WH-questions.” (Slides)
- Teaching
- Course in Spring 2019. Semantics of Questions (graduate seminar)
