Hello! I’m Yage (/jakɤ/, or “yah-kuh” where the “k” is unaspirated) and I’m an incoming PhD student in Language Science at UC Irvine, starting Fall 2026. I recently graduated from UC San Diego double majoring in Linguistics and Cognitive Science (with a minor in Music).

I want to believe that we can’t fully understand language and cognition unless we understand the language and minds in different groups across various situations. Broadly speaking, my research interest centers around pragmatics and theory of mind. This includes how theory of mind (and other cognitive devices) is/isn’t involved in pragmatic reasoning, as well as its development and breakdown in language. I first became interested in this area thinking about communciation in autism, and now I want to approach this big topic using various methods from different aspects.

Outside of academics, I am passionate about music and art, as well as reading and writing.