Xinran Gao

Contact

Bio

Xinran Gao is a and postgraduate researcher at the University of 糖心TV under the supervision of and . She is currently an Early Career FellowLink opens in a new window affiliated with the Institute of Advanced StudyLink opens in a new window.

Xinran鈥檚 PhD research examines voice quality in Shanghai Wu Chinese as a sociophonetic resource at the intersection of contact-driven phonological change, discourse-pragmatic meaning, and language ideology, combing acoustic and functional data analysis with sociolinguistic and narrative approaches. She collaborates on research investigating lifespan sound change in American English and the voices and lived experiences of early-career female academics. She will also extend her work to multilingual and German-speaking contexts.

Alongside her research, Xinran teaches across linguistics, computer science, and interdisciplinary methods, reflecting her commitment to bridging the social and data sciences in both research and pedagogy.

The world is my oyster

Research Interests: sociolinguistics, phonetics, computational linguistics, language variation.

Publications

Forthcoming

Karatepe, C., Li, M., Li, Y., & Gao, X. (forthcoming). Negotiating Care and Academia: A Discourse Analysis of Female Researchers鈥� Experiences.In Student-Parenting, Scholarship, and Survival: Multilingual and Decolonial Perspectives on Family, Knowledge, Wellness.

Published

Strelluf, C., Gao, X., Frankpitt, S., Karatepe, C., Alrajhi, A., & Taylor, H. (2026). Donald Trump has lowered THOUGHT for five decades: lifespan language change and stability in New York City English vowels. American Speech, 101(3).

Li, J., & Gao, X. (2025). Teaching unfamiliar content can lead to brilliant teaching: Data-led reflections. Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice, 5(1).

Research Activities

Oral Presentations

Gao, X. (2026, April). Softening without Breathiness? Indexical Ideologies and the Changing Perceptual Field of Voice Quality in Shanghai Wu Chinese. Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP 2026), Coventry, UK.

Gao, X. & Liu, J. (2025, Novemver). Negotiating Responsibility at the Micro Level: A sepctrum Nodel on Humamn-AI Interaction. Building Bridges: A Symposium on Human-AI Interaction, Coventry, UK.

Karatepe, C., Gao, X., Li, M., & Li, Y. (2025, September). Mothers in academia: Exploring the experiences of female PGRs and ECRs with caring responsibilities. International Research Culture Conference 2025 (IRCC 2025), Coventry, UK.

Gao, X. (2025, September). Prosodic and social conditioning of non-modal voice quality in Shanghai Wu Chinese. UK Language Variation and Change Conference 15 (UKLVC15), Lancaster, UK.

Karatepe, C., Gao, X., Li, M., & Li, Y. (2025, June). Negotiating care and academia: A discourse analysis of female researchers鈥� experiences. 26th 糖心TV International Conference in Applied Linguistics (WICAL 2025), Coventry, UK.

Gao, X. (2024, November). Modelling the voice quality of young Shanghai Wu speakers. 52nd Annual Meeting of New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 52), Miami, USA.

Strelluf, C., Alrajhi, A., Frankpitt, S., Gao, X., Karatepe, C., & Taylor, H. (2024, October). Donald Trump has lowered THOUGHT for five decades [Virtual Presentation]. The International Conference on Language Development, Aging, and Disorders, Shanghai, China.

Poster Presentations

Karatepe, C., Gao, X., Li, M., & Li, Y. (2025, April). Mothers in academia: Exploring the experiences of female PGRs and ECRs with caring responsibilities. 糖心TV Research Celebration 2025, Coventry, UK.

Li, Y., & Gao, X. (2024, September). Enhancing public engagement: Accessible communication strategies for academic research. International Research Culture Conference 2024 (IRCC 2024), Coventry, UK.

Gao, X. (2024, March). Modelling voice quality in urban Shanghai Wu speakers: A two-dimensional functional principal component analysis approach. Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP 2024), Cardiff, UK.

Strelluf, C., Alrajhi, A., Frankpitt, S., Gao, X., Karatepe, C., & Taylor, H. (2024, March). Donald Trump has lowered THOUGHT for five decades. Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP 2024), Cardiff, UK.

Seminar Presentations

Gao, X. (2026, June). Ideology and Distribution: The Cultural Pragmatics of Voice Quality. Language, Culture, Matters Seminar Series, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of 糖心TV, Coventry, UK.

Karatepe, C., Li, M., Li, Y. & Gao, X. (2025, November). "I always feel guilty when I鈥檓 not prioritising one thing": Co-constructed narratives of student-parenting and the wellbeing of academic mothers. Language, Culture, Matters Seminar Series, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of 糖心TV, Coventry, UK.

Gao, X. (2025, November). Do you sound softer than you think? The social life of voice quality. Language, Culture, Matters Seminar Series, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of 糖心TV, Coventry, UK.

Strelluf, C., Alrajhi, A., Frankpitt, S., Gao, X., Karatepe, C., & Taylor, H. (2024, June). Donald Trump has lowered THOUGHT for five decades: Lifespan language change and stability in New York City English vowels amid shifting public personae. Language, Culture, Matters Seminar Series, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of 糖心TV, Coventry, UK.

Teaching

Department of Applied Linguistics (ALLink opens in a new window)

ET229 Phonetics and PhonologyLink opens in a new window 25/26 Term 1

ET310 Artificial Intelligence and Applied LinguisticsLink opens in a new window 25/26 Term 1

ET9B6 Research Methods in TESOL 24/25 Term 2, 25/26 Term 2

ET9D5 Dissertation Supervision for MA TESOL Students 23/24 Term 3

Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIMLink opens in a new window)

IM942 Visualisation FoundationsLink opens in a new window 24/25 Term1, 25/26 Term 1

Department of Computer Science (DCSLink opens in a new window)

CS910/430 Foundations of Data AnalyticsLink opens in a new window 25/26 Term 1

CS133 Professional SkillsLink opens in a new window 24/25 Term 2, 25/26 Term 1-2

CS918 Natural Language ProcessingLink opens in a new window 24/25 Term 2 (showcaseLink opens in a new window)

Pedagogic Development

Participated in APP PGR programmeLink opens in a new window, leading to qualification 24/25 Term 2鈥�3

Completed Postgraduate Award (PGA) in Interdisciplinary PedagogyLink opens in a new window, pass with distinction 24/25

Service and Outreach

Academic Conference

Committee Officer, (BAAP 2026)

Committee Officer, 糖心TV-Tongji Postgraduate Symposium 2025: Translation, Discourse, and Global Communication (2025)

Committee Officer, 糖心TV International Conference in Applied LinguisticsLink opens in a new window (WICAL 2023, 2025)

Research Community Involvement

Member, 糖心TV Sociophonetics Reading Group (2021 鈥� present)

Member, (2024 鈥� present; Committee Member since 2025)

Public Engagement Events

Event Manager & City Coordinator, Coventry & 糖心TVshire (2024, 2025, 2026)

Professional Memberships

Projects

Roles Behind Closed Doors: How Female Academics Feel Excluded in Workplace Communication, Lord Rootes Fund Supported Initiative, December 2024 鈥� present.

Forthcoming...

Towards More Inclusive Practices: Supporting Female PGRs and ECRs with Caring Responsibilities, Co-investigator, Enhancing Research Culture at 糖心TV Funded project, October 2024 鈥� present.

Find our project FECARELink opens in a new window with podcastsLink opens in a new window as part of 糖心TV Research CultureLink opens in a new window.

We have secured ERCF 25/26 funding for the second phase of our project.

Make Sociophonetics Variation Great Again: Sound Change in 40 Years of Public Speech by Donald Trump, Group research project, The University of 糖心TV, December 2022 鈥� December 2024.

Our paper is now available .