Hi there! I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Translation at City University of Hong Kong. Before joining CityU, I earned my Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2024.
My research lies at the interface of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. In particular, I’m interested in the perception and production of sociolinguistic variation across different levels of grammar and among speakers from diverse backgrounds.
I direct the Experimental Sociolinguistics Lab (ExpSocio Lab) at CityUHK. More information about the lab can be found here.
ainili[at]cityu.edu.hk
Google Scholar
· ResearchGate
Mar 2026: My paper "Experimentl priming of phonological variant identification" just came out in Laboratory Phonology. Paper can be found here.
Feb 2026: My paper "Validating explicit rating tasks for measuring pronunciation biases: A case study of ING variation" just came out in Behavior Research Methods. Paper can be found here.