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verb echo answers: (remnant) phrasal movement and semantic effects", talk at LSA 2024, New York City, Jan 4-7, 2024 (withdrawn due to VISA complications)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

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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]

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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]

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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]