Dr Ricky Chan | People | School of English | Faculty of Arts

PROFILE

Prof. Ricky Chan earned his BA&BEd in English Language Education (1st Class Honours) and an MPhil in Psycholinguistics from HKU, followed by an MPhil (distinction) and a PhD in Forensic Phonetics from the University of Cambridge. He is also a Fellow of Advance HE, UK.

As a phonetician and psycholinguist, Prof. Chan employs experimental and statistical methods in his research on experimental phonetics, forensic speaker comparison, implicit language learning, and second language speech learning. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Forensic Science International, Speech Communication, Language Learning, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Please visit the Speech, Language, and Cognition Laboratory for details on his research projects.

Research Expertise

Experimental phonetics; forensic phonetics; implicit and explicit language learning; psycholinguistics; cognitive approaches to second language acquisition.

Courses Taught

CCGL9038 Global Englishes

ENGL1051 English sounds

ENGL1061 Psycholinguistics and language acquisition

ENGL2158 Language processing and learning

ENGL2166 English phonetics

ENGL3041 Senior colloquium in English studies

ENGL3042 Extended essay in English studies

ENGL7102 Global Englishes

ENGL7115 Analysing speech

PUBLICATIONS

Refereed Journal Articles

Chan, R., Cayado, D. & Hui, B. (accepted). Covert activation of bilinguals' non-current language and implicit learning (registered report). Language Learning.

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2024). Do long-term acoustic-phonetic features and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients provide complementary speaker-specific information for forensic voice comparison? Forensic Science International, 363, 112199. [pdf]

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2024). Modelling lexical tones for speaker discrimination. Language and Speech, 68(1), 229-243. [pdf]

Cayado, D. & Chan, R. (2023) The influence of prior linguistic knowledge on L2 semantic implicit learning: Evidence from Cantonese-English bilinguals. Language Learning, 73(3), 657-682. [pdf]

Chan, R. (2023). Evidential Value of Voice Quality Acoustics in Forensic Voice Comparison. Forensic Science International, 348, 111725. [pdf]

Chan, R. (2020). Speaker discrimination: citation tones vs. coarticulated tones. Speech Communication, 117, 38-50. [pdf]

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2020). Why are lexical tones difficult to learn? Insights from the incidental learning of tone-segment connections. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(1), 33-59. [pdf]

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2018). Implicit knowledge of L2 lexical stress rules: evidence from the combined use of subjective and objective awareness measures. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(1), 37-66. [pdf]

Chan, R. (2016). Speaker variability in the realization of lexical tones. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 23(2), 195-214. [pdf]

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2014). Implicit learning of L2 word stress regularities. Second Language Research, 30(4), 463-484. [pdf]

Refereed Book Chapters

Chan, R. (accepted, expected in 2025). Forensic phonetics. In P. Pope (Ed.), Forensic Linguistics. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Chan, R. (accepted, expected in 2025). Tone languages. In F. Nolan, K. McDougall & T. Hudson (Eds), Oxford Handbook of Forensic Phonetics. Oxford University Press.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2024). Can phonetic theories predict speaker discrimination performance? Proceedings of the 38th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation. Tokyo, Japan.

Chan, R. (2023). Speaker discriminatory power of voice quality acoustics under forensic conditions. Proceedings of the 20^th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague, Czech Republic.

Chan, R. (2019). Difficulty in learning L2 tones: Insights from the incidental learning of tone-segment mappings. Proceedings of the 19^th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Melbourne, Australia.

Leemann, A., Kolly, M. J., Li, Y., Chan, R., Kwek, G. & Jesperson, A. (2016). Towards a typology of prominence perception: the role of duration. Proceedings of the 8^th International Conference on Speech Prosody (SP2016). Boston, MA.

Chan, R. (2015). Speaker variability in the production of coarticulated Tones. Proceedings of the 18^th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow, UK.

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2012). Implicit learning of L2 word stress rules. In Miyake, N., Peebles, D. & Cooper, R. P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34^th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

GRANTS AND AWARDS

SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COGNITION LABORATORY

PRESENTATIONS

(selected)

Keynote/Plenary/Invited Talks

What does your voice reveal about you? An introduction to forensic phonetics. Keynote talk at the 2nd Heterotopic Junction Graduate Conference (HJC-2), Hong Kong Baptist University, 30 April 2022.

Language co-activation and the development of new implicit linguistic knowledge in bilinguals. Invited talk at Hong Kong Second Language Acquisition Research Forum 2021. The Education University of Hong Kong. 13 March 2021.

Introduction to forensic speech science and tonal parameters for forensic voice comparison. Chulalongkorn University. 12 March 2019.

Speaker variability in the realisation of coarticulated tones. University of Glasgow. 19 January 2017.

Cantonese: the biggest endangered language? Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group. University of Cambridge. 2 March 2016 (with Cherry Lam)

Conference Presentations

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2025). Complementarity of acoustic-phonetic and automatic approaches in forensic voice comparison: the case of long-term features. Talk at the Humans, Machines, Language (HuMaLa) Annual Conference 2025. 24-25 June.

Wang, B., Huang, S. & Chan, R. (2025). Speaker discriminatory power of Cantonese filled pause. Talk at the UK and Ireland Speech Workshop 2025. 16–17 June.

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2024). Can phonetic theories predict speaker discrimination performance? Talk at the 38th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation. 7-9 December.

Chan, R. (2023). Speaker discriminatory power of voice quality acoustics under forensic conditions. Talk at the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2023). 7-11 August.

Cayado, D. & Chan, R. (2023). The influence of prior linguistic knowledge on second language semantic implicit learning: Evidence from Cantonese–English Bilinguals. Talk at the International Symposium of Bilingualism 14 (ISB14). 26-30 June.

Niu, Y. & Chan, R. (2023). Phonetic cue-weighting in the production of Mandarin rising [T2] and low [T3] tones by Japanese learners. Poster at the Hanyang International Symposium on Phonetics and Cognitive Sciences of Language (HISPhonCog (2023). 26-27 May.

Chan, R. & Wang, B. (2022) Evidential value of long-term laryngeal voice quality acoustics. Poster at the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA) conference. 10-13 July.

Cayado, D. & Chan, R. (2021). Language co-activation influences the development of new implicit linguistic knowledge in bilinguals. Talk at Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP). 2-4 September.

Chan, R. (2019). L2 Difficulty in acquiring L2 tones: Insights from the incidental learning of tone-segment mapping. Talk at New Sounds 2019. 30 August-1 September.

Chan, R. (2019). Difficulty in learning L2 tones: Insights from the incidental learning of tone-segment mappings. Talk at the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019). 5-9 August.

Chan, R. (2019). Difficulty of L2 tone acquisition as revealed by the incidental learning of tone-segment mappings. Talk at the International Symposium of Bilingualism 12 (ISB12). 23-28 June.

Chan, R. (2019). L2 tone processing as revealed by the incidental learning of tone- segment mappings. Poster at the Hanyang International Symposium on Phonetics and Cognitive Sciences of Language (HISPhonCog 2019). 24-25 May.

Chan, R. (2017). Speaker discrimination: citation tones vs. coarticulated tone. Talk at the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists (IAFL). 10-14 July.

Chan, R. & Li, Y. (2017). Effect of segmental composition on f0 peak alignment of Cantonese rising tones. Talk at Tone and Intonation in Europe (TIE 2016). 1-3 September. (Winner of the IPA student award)

Chan, R. (2016). Correlations between tonal F0 and vowel formants. Talk at the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA). 24-27 July.

Leemann, A., Kolly, M. J., Li, Y., Chan, R., Kwek, G. & Jesperson, A. (2016). Towards a typology of prominence perception: the role of duration. Poster at the 8th International Conference on Speech Prosody (SP2016). 31 May-3 June.

Li, Y., Chan, R., Leemann, A., Kwek, G., Jesperson, A. & Kolly, M. J. (2016). The role of duration in the perception of prominence in typologically different and related language. Talk at the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP) Colloquium. 30 March-1 April.

Chan, R. (2015). Speaker Variability in the Production of Coarticulated Tones. Paper presented at the discussion panel “Forensic phonetics and speaker characteristics” in the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). 10-14 August. (Winner of Gösta Bruce Scholarship)

Chan, R. (2015). Tone Coarticulation and Forensic Speaker Comparison. Talk at the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA) Annual Conference. 8-10 July.

Chan, R. Speaker-specific Realization of Lexical Tone: The Case of Cantonese. Poster at the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP) Colloquium. 7-9 April.

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2012). Implicit Learning of L2 Word Stress Rules. Talk at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci). 1-4 August. (Winner of Glushko Travel Grant)

Chan, R. & Leung, J. (2011). Implicit Learning of L2 Spanish Stress Regularities. Talk at the 16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics. 23-29 August.

CONFERENCE ORGANISATION