My main research interest pertains to the articulatory and acoustic details of speech plans; specifically, I am concerned with the preparation and execution of speech behaviours under feedforward control. In my research, I have contended first, that speech production is based on preplanned programs which temporally and spatially coordinate different muscular structures, and second, that preplanned contents and interarticulator coordination can be revealed by eliciting production that uses feedforward control (i.e., no or limited feedback adjustments). I am also interested in using 3D model simulations to uncover biomechanical bases in speech motor control. My research agenda, which incorporates experiments and simulations, also ties in with research concerning neural pathways for forward speech plans, which I believe serves as supporting evidence for the so-called speech (pre)-planning.
Another research line of mine pertains to how tongue postures may contribute to sound merging or contrasts. As acoustics and articulation do not always bear a one-to-one mapping relationship, similarities measured in acoustics may not necessarily reflect the uniform in articulatory mechanisms. Using ultrasound allows us to uncover how tongue postures may contribute to such sound merging. Current projects involve sibilant merger and nasal merger in Taiwan Mandarin, and the pharyngealized contrasts in Northern Horpa (one of the Sino-Tibetan languages in Sichuan, China).