People

Hyun Kyung Rachel Lee

Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD in Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences (HKU)

Dr. Rachel Lee’s research interests lie in the neural mechanisms underlying language processing in native and second language learners. She is also interested in utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate language learning and development in bilinguals and individuals with special educational needs.

Email: lhk759@connect.hku.hk

Junghwan Maeng

Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD in East Asian Languages, Literature, and Linguistics (UIUC)

Dr. Junghwan Maeng’s primary research interests center around sentence processing, with a particular focus on how structural information contributes to the formation of sentence representations across typologically distinct languages. Additionally, his work explores morphological processing across diverse populations, including native, nonnative, and bilingual speakers, with the goal of understanding the unique role of morphology within the mental lexicon.

Email: jmaeng@hku.hk

Joey Zhiyin Zhu

Ph.D. Candidate

Joey Zhu’s research interests lie in second language acquisition, especially in the phonological and morphological processing of L2 learners. Currently she is exploring whether there is a general structuring system across languages, with the help of structural priming in EEG studies.

Email: zzy0504@connect.hku.hk

Tilda Yingqi Wang

Lab Manager

I am an undergraduate year 5 BA student, majoring in General Linguistics. My academic interests within the field of Linguistics include language acquisition, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.

Email: yingqi_wang@connect.hku.hk

Lawrence Hoi Ki Cheung

Research Assistant

Lawrence Cheung is a year 4 undergraduate student pursuing a double major in Linguistics and Philosophy, with a minor in Cognitive Science. He is particularly interested in the nature of meaning, encompassing both semantics and pragmatics, as well as the processes through which individuals acquire this knowledge. He is also interested in the nature of linguistic knowledge in general and how it differs from other domains of knowledge, such as our understanding of the empirical world and morality.

Email: ulawlaw@connect.hku.hk

Anne Beatrice Ng

Research Assistant

Anne is a year 4 undergraduate student majoring in Linguistics. She first joined our lab in Spring 2024, and rejoined us in Fall 2025, after having spent a gap year in Almaty, Kazakhstan working for the UN and teaching English to native Kazakh and Russian speakers. She is interested in sociolinguistics, particularly language use, contact, and shift. Anne aspires to apply her knowledge of language acquisition in a classroom setting to contribute to the education of the English language, both in her native Hong Kong and overseas.

Email: annexbng@connect.hku.hk

Hanley Lee Hang

Research Assistant

Year 4 undergraduate majoring in Linguistics. I’m interested in phonetics and phonology, particularly the relationship between culture, history, and diachronic language change.

Email: hanley0807@gmail.com

Thea Hiu Ting Yeung

Research Assistant

A third-year undergraduate student pursuing a double major in General Linguistics and Psychology, with a minor in Spanish. Passionate about exploring the neural mechanisms underlying language processing, with a particular interest in phonological processing. Enthusiastically exploring all aspects of linguistics.

Email: yhthea@connect.hku.hk

Jonah Allan Lack

Postdoctoral Fellow (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

Dr. Jonah Lack’s research interests lie in L1 and L2 morphological processing through EEG. He is specifically interested in the roles that form and meaning play during L1 and L2 language processing and acquisition and whether these roles are similar or different. His MA dissertation discussed structural priming in bilinguals, including current theories, methodologies, and trends. He is heavily interested in L2 processing and acquisition broadly, and has been studying Korean and Mandarin since the start of his Bachelor’s degree with the goal of attaining fluency in both.

Email: jlack@hku.hk

Samuel Sui Lung Sze

Postdoctoral Fellow (City University of Hong Kong)

Dr. Samuel Sze’s research lies in second language acquisition. Deeply interested in L2 processing, he hopes to utilize electroencephalography (EEG) and psycholinguistic paradigms to probe into L2 syntactic and morphological processing and L1-L2 differences. To explore these research themes, his research work look into how Hong Kong L1-Cantonese L2-English speakers process L2 sentences and words.

Email: u3564255@connect.hku.hk

Ryan Wong

Research Assistant

Ryan Wong is a year 3 undergraduate student and an aspiring linguist. He is still exploring all things linguistics to determine his particular research interests, but has built up an especial passion for morphology and syntax.

Email: u3594288@connect.hku.hk

Philip Li

Research Assistant

Philip Li is a year 3 undergraduate student double majoring Design+ and neuroscience, with a minor in philosophy. He is interested in learning about the interdisciplinary applicational potential of EEG and related brain imaging technologies.

Email: plich@connect.hku.hk

Magenta Elizabeth Tan 

Research Assistant

Magenta is a year 3 undergraduate student double majoring in Psychology and Linguistics. In addition to her fascination with linguistic variation, she is particularly interested in the fields of second language acquisition and language cognition with the use of electroencephalography (EEG). 

Email: u3606395@connect.hku.hk