Research
As a syntactician, I am mostly interested in various phenomena related to A-bar dependencies across Chinese languages, including classical examples like question-answer pairs and focus constructions, as well as configurations that are assumed to involve operator movement such as certain adverbial clauses.
My dissertation No Matter Whether You Ask: Yes-No Questions and Their Kin in Mandarin describes and analyzes the syntactic properties of three inter-related structures in both standard and non-standard varieties of Mandarin: yes-no question, unconditional adverbial clauses, and verb echo answers to yes-no questions. My dissertation committee members are: Harold Torrence (chair), Anoop Mahajan, Hilda Koopman, Ethan Poole, and Hongyin Tao.
In addition to theoretical work, I am also enthusiastic about documentation of understudied languages. I have reported properties of cognate objects in Dschang with Blake Lehman, and how definiteness and possession are expressed in Wuhu Mandarin .
Publications
2021. Mandarin conditionals: The external syntax, order preservation and cyclic linearization. NELS-51 Proceedings.
2021. Deconstructing Yes-no Questions: What Moves and What Doesn’t. WCCFL-38 Proceedings.
2021. Definiteness in Wuhu Mandarin [江淮官话芜湖方言的定指范畴]. In Studies on the definiteness in Chinese dialects [汉语方言定指范畴研究] (in Chinese)
2021. An argument analysis of cognate objects in Dschang (Yemba). LSA 2021 Proceedings. (With Blake Lehman)
2013. Attributive possession in Wuhu dialect, Anhui Province [安徽芜湖话的定语领属范畴]. In The Bulletin of Language Study [语言研究集刊] (in Chinese)
Peer-reviewed presentations
On verb-echo answers in Mandarin
"Mandarin verb echo answers: (remnant) phrasal movement and semantic effects", talk at LSA 2024, New York City, Jan 4-7, 2024 (withdrawn due to VISA complications)
"Deriving Mandarin verb echo answers: A (remnant) phrasal movement approach", poster at SICOGG 25, Seoul, Aug 14-16, 2023
On adverbial clauses cross-linguistically
"Rethinking the internal syntax of adverbial clauses and operator movement", talk at GLOW in Asia XIII (with Ka-Fai Yip), Hong Kong, Aug 4-7, 2022
"The syntax of two types of Mandarin unconditionals", talk at SICOGG 23, Seoul, Aug 11-13, 2021
"Differentiating two types of Mandarin unconditionals: Their internal and external syntax", talk at JLAO 34, Paris, Jul 7-9, 2021
"The external syntax of Mandarin conditionals and Cyclic Linearization", poster at LSA 2021, Jan 7-10, 2021
"Mandarin conditionals: The external syntax, order preservation and cyclic linearization", flash talk at NELS 51, Montréal, Nov 6-8, 2020 [handout]
On yes-no questions in Standard Mandarin, Wuhu/Nanjing Mandarin, and Cantonese
"Deconstructing yes-no questions: What moves and what doesn’t", talk at WCCFL 38, Vancouver, Mar 6-8, 2020 [hanout]
"Deriving sentence final negation questions in Mandarin and Cantonese", talk at LSA 2020, New Orleans, Jan 2-5, 2020 (with Jiahui Huang) [handout]
"Chinese yes-no questions in a cross-dialectal perspective", poster at LSA 2019, New York City, Jan 3-6, 2019
"Revisiting the surface position of Mandarin A-not-A constructions", talk at NACCL 32, Columbus, Mar 8-11, 2018
"Polar Questions with ha in Wuhu", talk at SCSS6, Hong Kong, Nov 25-27, 2017 (with Paul Law)
"The syntax of ha Polar Questions in Wuhu Chinese", talk at NACCL 28, Provo, May 5, 2016
On why questions in Wuhu Mandarin
"The syntax of single and doubled why questions in Wuhu Chinese", talk at LSA 2018, Salt Lake City, Jan 4-7, 2018 [handout]
On even-focus in Mandarin and Shanghainese
"An A-bar movement analysis of Mandarin ‘even’-focus constructions", talk at NACCL 32, Storrs, Sep 18-20, 2020 [handout]
On cognate objects in Dschang
"Cognate object constructions in Dschang (Yemba)", talk at WOCAL 10, Leiden, Jun 7-12, 2021 (With Blake Lehman)
"An argument analysis of cognate objects in Dschang (Yemba)", Talk at LSA 2021, Jan 7-10, 2021 (With Blake Lehman) [handout]