(11 May 2026) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) proudly presented the 2026 Yuen Ren Chao Prize in Language Science at a presentation ceremony held on 8 May. Prof. Brian MACWHINNEY, Theresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and Prof. Charles B. CHANG, Fellow of the Psychonomic Society were bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Early Career Contribution Award respectively for their remarkable achievements in and outstanding contributions to the field of language science.
Initiated and hosted by the PolyU Faculty of Humanities (FH), the Yuen Ren Chao Prize in Language Science (the Chao Prize) is awarded on a biennial basis. Named in honour of the late Prof. Yuen Ren Chao, widely regarded as the father of modern Chinese language studies, the Chao Prize commemorates Prof. Chao’s interdisciplinary legacy and recognises scholarly excellence that advances language research and education.
Addressing the ceremony, Prof. Jin-Guang TENG, PolyU President, noted, “The Chao Prize is perfectly aligned with PolyU’s motto, ‘To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind.’ It reflects the University’s pursuit of excellence in education and research, as well as its commitment to making positive impacts on Hong Kong, the nation and the world. At a time when artificial intelligence is transforming how people communicate, learn and create knowledge, language science plays a foundational role in helping us understand how people acquire and use language. The University recently established the Division of Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities under FH, reflecting our strong commitment to harnessing technology to enrich its humanity disciplines.”
This year, the Chao Prize is generously sponsored by PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (PTeC). Representing the patron, Prof. Christopher CHAO, PolyU Senior Vice President (Research and Innovation), stated, “The Prize reflects PolyU’s strong commitment to research that is both scientifically rigorous and socially relevant. By translating academic excellence into practice, PTeC aims to create value beyond the University and make a lasting difference to industry and society.”
Prof. HU Guangwei, Interim Dean of FH, highlighted the broader academic vision underpinning the Chao Prize and said, “This occasion is not only a celebration of the work of two outstanding scholars, but also a reflection of PolyU’s shared belief that humanistic knowledge is essential to innovation in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.”
The two 2026 Yuen Ren Chao Prize in Language Science laureates are both internationally renowned scholars who have made significant contributions with far-reaching impact on language science research worldwide.
Prof. Brian MacWhinney has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for this year’s Chao Prize.
Prof. Brian MacWhinney has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifetime of distinguished contributions to language science, encompassing integrative theoretical innovation, research infrastructure development and lasting international impact on the study of human language. At the forefront of language science research for over five decades, he pushes forward research addressing the complexity of human language by integrating experimental methods, large-scale data resources and theoretically motivated computational approaches. He is also the founding Director of the Child Language Data Exchange System and TalkBank, the world’s largest open-access integrated repository for spoken-language data.
Prof. Charles B. Chang has been awarded the Early Career Contribution Award for this year’s Chao Prize.
Prof. Charles B. Chang has been awarded the Early Career Contribution Award in recognition of his outstanding early career contributions to the study of bilingual speech and language development, as well as his demonstrated leadership and international impact in advancing language science. Through meticulous experimental phonetic analyses, he has demonstrated that a speaker’s first language can change under the influence of a second language within a relatively short period of time, leading a breakthrough in language science at the international level. His research continues to investigate factors that drive language change when multiple languages interact in the bilingual and multilingual mind, advancing understanding of cross‑linguistic influence, heritage language speech and the dynamic nature of multilingual sound systems.
For biographies of the two laureates, please visit the website of the Yuen Ren Chao Prize in Language Science.
