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About Me

• My name is Yimei Xiang (向伊梅), pronounced as [i: mɛɪ, ɕiɑŋ].
• I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, specializing in formal semantics, syntax-semantics interface, philosophy of language, and Chinese & East Asian linguistics. My research investigates how meaning is drawn from complex linguistic structures and how logical principles are encoded in natural language. I received my Ph.D. in Linguistics from Harvard University in 2016 and my B.A. in Chinese from Peking University in 2010. I currently serve as an Associate Editor for Linguistics and Philosophy and  Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, and I am a member of the editorial boards of Natural Language Semantics and Semantics and Pragmatics. 
• My current research program focuses on the following topics:
  • semantics of questions
  • polarity items and free choice items;
  • multi-functional particles in East Asian languages (e.g., dou, ye);
  • compositionality (categorial, variable-free) and binding
  • plural semantics, homogeneity
• CV (updated to Jan 2026)
• Email: yimei.xiang AT rutgers.edu

Updates of research projects

My work on questions, free choice, and the Mandarin particle dou, starting from my 2016 dissertation Interpreting questions with non-exhaustive answers, have been superseded by peer-reviewed journal articles, with substantial reworking and rewriting. I recommend consulting these journal articles instead of the dissertation. For details, please visit this page.

Recent & Ongoing

• Papers recently published/accepted (since 2020)
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2025. Quantification into non-truth-denoting objects. Proceedings of WCCFL 42: 1–19. Paper. 
  • Zhu, Ziling and Yimei Xiang. 2023. Why surprise doesn’t embed whether?: question-to-cleft reduction. Proceedings of NELS 53: 227-241.
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2023. Quantifying into wh-dependencies: Multiple-wh questions and questions with quantifiers. Linguistics and Philosophy 46 (3): 429–482. DOI: 10.1007/s10988-022-09366-x (Free access link; Lingbuzz link)
  • Zhu, Ziling, and Yimei Xiang. 2022. *Be surprised whether: question-to-cleft reduction. Proceedings of Amsterdam Colloquium 23. [Analysis updated in Zhu & Xiang 2023, NELS 53]
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2022. Relativized Exhaustivity: mention-some and uniqueness. Natural Language Semantics 30 (3): 311–362. DOI: 10.1007/s11050-022-09197-3 (Free access link; presentation: video and slides)
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2021. Binding without variable: Solving the under-generation problems. Proceedings of SALT 31: 1–20. (OSF page) (Paper)
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2021. Higher-order readings of wh-questions. Natural Language Semantics 29 (1): 1–45. DOI: 10.1007/s11050-020-09166-8 (Free access link; Lingbuzz link)
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2021. A hybrid categorial approach to question composition. Linguistics and Philosophy 44:587–647. DOI: 10.1007/s10988-020-09294-8 (Free access link; Lingbuzz link)
  • Xiang, Yimei. 2020. Function alternations of the Mandarin particle dou: Distributor, free choice licensor, and ‘even’. Journal of Semantics 37(2): 171–217. DOI: 10.1093/jos/ffz018 (Link for free-access, Lingbuzz link)

• Other news
  • March 2026. Talk. Function alternations of the Mandarin particle ye: from ‘also’ to ‘even’, MIT Ling Lunch, March 12.
  • Nov/Dec 2025. Invited talks in Beijing, China:
    1. 汉语虚词“也”的功能转换：从also到even, Peking Univ, Nov 28; Fudan Univ, Dec 23. [Analysis updated, new handout to be uploaded soon.]
    2. A theory of anti-exhaustification: FCI/NPI renhe ‘any’, PPI he ‘and’, and homogeneity-remover dou [反穷尽化理论], Tsinghua Univ, Nov 29. (Handout)
    3. The PI-association use of the Mandarin particle ye [汉语虚词“也”的极项关联功能], Beijing Language and Culture Univ., Dec 5. (Handout)
  • Fall 2025. Sabbatical leave.
  • June 2025. Joined the editor team of  Natural Language & Linguistic Theory as an Associate Editor.
  • April 2024. Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. 
  • April 2024. Invited talk. Quantification into non-truth-denoting objects. WCCFL 42, UC Berkeley. (Slides)
  • March 2024, Invited talk. A variable-free approach to composing questions. NYU Semantics Group.
  • January 2024. Joined the editor team of Linguistics and Philosophy as an Associate Editor.
  • December 2022 to March 2023. Maternity leave and parental leave.
  • June 2022. Joined the editorial board of Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 
  • March 2022. Invited talks at TaLK 2022 @ Keio and UConn Logic Colloquium. (video and slides)
  • February 2022. Joined the editorial board of Natural Language Semantics.