Jiuzhou Hao

Postdoctoral Researcher

  • Linguistics and English Language
  • School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Dugald Stewart Building
3 Charles Street

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9AD

Biography

Background

I received my MSc in Linguistics (2018–2019) and my PhD in Linguistics and English Language (2019–2022) from the University of Edinburgh. Following my doctoral studies, I joined UiT The Arctic University of Norway as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in psycholinguistics and neurocognition, supported by the Tromsø Research Foundation (2022–2024). In this role, I investigated how individual differences shape language processing and neural-cognitive outcomes across the lifespan. I subsequently held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (2024–2026), funded by the European Commission, at the same institution, where I examined heritage language development during adolescence.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Edinburgh, working on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Input and Uptake in Bilingualism and Language Disorders (PI: Prof. Vicky Chondrogianni; Co-I: Prof. Holly Branigan).

For a full list of my publications, please refer to my Google Scholar profile at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b5buQB4AAAAJ&hl=en. 

Research summary

Child Bilingualism, Heritage Language Bilingualism, Psycho/Neurolinguistics, Developmental Language Disorders

Current research interests

I am a developmental (psycho-/neuro-)linguist. My primary research centres on language development and processing in monolingual and bilingual children and adults with and without Developmental Language Disorders. Aiming to unpack how and why languages develop the way they do, this line of research studies the factors that modulate language development and use and the learning mechanisms behind language development.  I also study the potential effects of language experience, e.g., being/becoming bilingual, via the mind/brain on cognition and the potential knock-on effects in extra-linguistic and linguistic performance. 

Project activity

Selected Publications

Hao, J., Kubota, M., Bayram, F., González Alonso, J., Grüter, T., Li, M., & Rothman, J. (2025). Schooling and language usage matter in heritage bilingual processing: Sortal classifiers in Mandarin. Second Language Research, 41(4), 649–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/02676583241270900

Hao, J., Chondrogianni, V., & Sturt, P. (2025). The production, online processing, and offline comprehension of non-canonical structures in Mandarin-speaking children with Developmental Language Disorder. Applied Psycholinguistics, 46, e48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716425100386

Hao, J., Rossi, E., Nakamura, M., Luque, A., & Rothman, J. (2025). Individual differences matter in heritage language bilingual processing: An electroencephalography (EEG) study of grammatical gender. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263125101149

Prystauka, Y., Hao, J., Cabrera Perez, R., & Rothman, J. (2024). Lexical interference and prediction in sentence processing among Russian heritage speakers: An individual differences approach. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 8(3), 223–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-024-00148-4

Hao, J., Chondrogianni, V. & Sturt, P. (2024). Sources of children’s difficulties with non-canonical sentence structures: Insights from Mandarin. Journal of Child Language. 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000924000424 

Voits, T., DeLuca, V., Hao, J., Elin. K., Abutalebi. J., Duñabeitia. J.A., Berglund, G., Gabrielsen. A., Rook. J., Thomsen. H., Waagen. P., & Rothman, J. (2024) Degree of bilingual engagement modulates resting state oscillatory activity across the lifespan. Neurobiology of Ageing. 140, 70–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.04.009

Hao, J., Chondrogianni, V. & Sturt, P. (2023). Heritage language development and processing: Non-canonical word orders in Mandarin–English child heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728923000639 

Rothman, J., Bayram, F., DeLuca, V., Di Pisa, G., Duñabetia, J.A., Gharibi, K., Hao, J., Kolb, N., Kubota, M., Kupisch, T., Laméris, T., Luque, A., Osch, B.V., Soares, S.M.P., Prystauka, Y., Tat, D., Voits, T. & Wulff, S. (2023). Monolingual comparative normativity in (heritage language) empirical bilingualism research is out of “control”: Arguments and alternatives. Applied Psycholinguistics, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716422000315

Hao, J. & Chondrogianni, V. (2021). Comprehension and Production of Non-Canonical Word Orders in Mandarin-Speaking Child Heritage Speakers. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.20096.hao. Authors' accepted version.

Past project grants

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship Horizon Europe, European Commission (€210,911/$230,000)
Aurora Outstanding Operative Funds, UiT The Arctic University of Norway (£10,500)

This article was published on