Yihan Li

Linguistics Specialist with expertise in corpus linguistics and fieldwork, complemented by extensive hands-on experience in linguistic data analysis and annotation for Machine Learning applications focused on the Kolyma Yukaghir language.
Proficient in analyzing intricate linguistic data, identifying patterns, and extracting insights related to language typology.
Skilled in utilizing advanced data annotation tools, including ELAN.
Meticulous approach to morphological, phonological, and syntactic analyses.

● The Undergraduate Dean’s Scholarships and Awards, UC Santa Cruz

● Honors in Linguistics, with distinction, UC Santa Barbara

● Honors in Comparative Literature, with distinction, UC Santa Barbara

● Honor Student, UC Santa Barbara

● Dean’s Honor List, UC Santa Cruz (four quarters)

● Dean’s Honor List, UC Santa Barbara (six quarters)

• University of California, Santa Barbara, Linguistics Department, 02/2020-12/2022
• Research Assistant
• Advisor: Stefan Th. Gries (09/2020-06/2021), Marianne Mithun (02/2020-09/2020), Albert Ventayol-Boada
• Description: Research assistant for corpus building of Kolyma Yukaghir for Machine Learning linguistic data analysis. Conducting linguistic data annotation. and union code for different texts, organizing and inputting Kolyma Yukaghir data. Classifying word classes by conducting morphological/phonological analysis. Coding for optical character recognition system for corpus building of Kolyma Yukaghir.

• University of California, Santa Barbara, Linguistics Department, 01/2021-09/2021
• Independent Research
• Advisor: Stefan Th. Gries, Albert Ventayol-Boada
• Description: Honor thesis writing, this project conducted a corpus-based quantitative analysis in R on Kolyma Yukaghir, primarily focused on analyzing the potential syntactic ordering between noun phrases, main verbs and adpositional phrases. Providing the (partial) explanations for the extraposition of postpositional phrases by applying theoretical analysis such as end-weight principle and phonological alternations.

• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Linguistics Department, 08/2023-now
• Advisor: Bradley McDonnell
• Research Project: Mood and Agreement in Palauan
• Description: Field works of Palauan Language, conducting research directly within the native speaker of Palauan language, collecting firsthand linguistic data and conduct data annotation. Uncover Realis-Irrealis marking patterns in Palauan and its interface with grammatical relation. Testing linguistic theories such as Wh-Agreement, and contribute to theoretical frameworks in linguistics.

• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Linguistics Department, 08/2023-now
• Research Project: Differential Object Marking in Kolyma Yukaghir: A Corpus Based Approach.
• Advisor: Bradley McDonnell, Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker
• Description: Conduct deep analysis of corpus data for the Kolyma Yukaghir language. This involved meticulously examining linguistic texts and spoken recordings to uncover patterns and structures inherent in the language. One significant aspect of the analysis focused on identifying object marking patterns within Kolyma Yukaghir by utilizing the framework of the Differential Object Marking (DOM) theory, which is a systematic approach to discerning how objects are marked in the language. This involved scrutinizing linguistic features such as case marking, word order variations, and agreement patterns to uncover any differential treatment of direct objects based on factors such as animacy, definiteness, and other discourse prominence.

• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Linguistics Department, 01/2024-now
• Research Project: Rejang Language Archiving
• Advisor: Bradley McDonnell
• Description: Curated and cataloged a diverse array of linguistic materials, including audio recordings, written texts, lexical databases, and ethnographic notes. Each item was meticulously annotated with detailed metadata, encompassing key linguistic features, cultural contexts, and informant demographics. Played a pivotal role in developing standardized protocols for organizing and categorizing the archival materials.

• University of California, Santa Barbara, Comparative Literature Program, 06/2020-12/2020
• Independent Research
• Advisor: Christina Vagt
• Description: Honor thesis writing, the project explored the divergence of madness and mental illness by applying Foucauldian discourse analysis. This project argued that the modern psychiatric drug provides performative "drag-alike" feedback to individuals by applying to disable/queer theory, and other literary theories.

• The Undergraduate Dean's Scholarships and Awards, UC Santa Cruz
• Honors in Linguistics, with distinction, UC Santa Barbara
• Honors in Comparative Literature, with distinction, UC Santa Barbara
• Honor Student, UC Santa Barbara
• Dean's Honor List, UC Santa Cruz (four quarters)
• Dean's Honor List, UC Santa Barbara (six quarters)