Papers

Research interests

Theoretical Linguistics

Broad: minimalist syntax, formal semantics, distributed morphology
Narrow: argument structure, event structure, thematic relations, causatives, argument introduction and argument licensing, modality, implicit arguments, classifiers, vagueness, positive adjectives, sentence final particles, tone sandhi

Cognitive Science

Broad: language and brain/cognition, domain-general cognition
Narrow: causation, agency, causal models, probability theory, Bayesian modeling, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics

My research primarily examines Asian languages, including Teochew (an understudied variety of Southern Min often described as a “living fossil of ancient Chinese”), Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai. I also value insights gained through cross-linguistic comparisons with languages from other families.
After joining BFSU as a faculty member (ranked #18 in Linguistics in the 2025 QS rankings), I learned that the university offers instruction in 101 languages, which, to my knowledge, is the highest number worldwide. In response to this exceptional linguistic diversity, I have started developing an interest in typological linguistics to better engage with this resource and my formal linguistics background!

Grants

PI; 2025 BFSU Faculty Basic Research Grant: The Formal Semantic Analysis of Cross-Linguistic Causative Constructions [2025年度北京外国语大学基本科研业务费教师科研项目“汉外对比视角下致使结构的形式语义学研究”]
Member; 2024 Social Science Grant of the Ministry of Education, China: The Comparative Study between Human Brain and Large Language Model on Syntactic Processing [2024年度教育部哲学社会科学研究后期资助项目《人脑与大语言模型句法加工的比较研究》课题组主要成员]; PI: Fuzhen Si.
Member; 2023 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant: The grammar of standards in Southern Min: Implications for the role of syntax in contextual vagueness resolution. PI: Alison Biggs.
PI; 2023 GSAS-GradGov Research Project Grant, Georgetown University
PI; 2023 GradGov Professional Development Grant, Georgetown University

Publications [feel free to email me for a copy. Comments are very much welcome!]

Luo, Zhuosi & Biggs, Alison. (to appear). Classifiers and comparison class: Evidence for cross-linguistic variation in the calculation of standards. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 29 (SuB-29). [draft]
Luo, Zhuosi. (2025). Impersonal pronouns: Typological insights from Teochew implicit causees. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. Online early.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2025). Contextual causee interpretation: Lessons from Teochew kə-causative. Proceedings of the 41st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL-41), 419-426. [pdf]
Luo, Zhuosi. (2025). Acknowledging the gap while bridging it: The experimental vs. theoretical divide on the cognitive science study of language. Cognitive Science, 49: e70043.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2025). New directions in theoretical linguistics: A combination of the categorial approach and probability theory [written in Mandarin]. Linguistic Science [《语言科学》], 24(1): 40-53.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2024). Causality and modality: A case study on Teochew periphrastic causatives. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 2024 (LSA-98), 9(1): 5650. [download]
Luo, Zhuosi. (2024). Interpreting causee in a ‘permissive’ causative: A case study on Teochew. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 2024 (LSA-98), 9(1): 5654. [download]
Biggs, Alison & Luo, Zhuosi. (2022). Adjective classifiers in Shantou Teochew. Proceedings of the Fifty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS-56), 25-36. [pdf]
Luo, Zhuosi. (2021). Multiple Mandarin ‘go’ counterparts in Teochew and their cartographic distributions. In Fuzhen Si & Luigi Rizzi (eds.) Current Issues in Syntactic Cartography: A Cross-linguistic Perspective, 261–286. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2019). The synthetic performances of Teochew. Lingua Sinica 5, 58-88.

Ph.D. dissertation

Luo, Zhuosi. (2024). Causality, modality and contextual argument interpretation: Lessons from Teochew. [Lingbuzz] Committee: Paul Portner (co-chair), Ruth Kramer(co-chair), Alison Biggs, Bryce Huebner.

Other degree papers

Luo, Zhuosi. (2022). Optional causee in Teochew ‘give’-causative. The second Ph.D. Qualifying paper, Georgetown University. Supervisors: Paul Portner, Alison Biggs and Ruth Kramer.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2021). Tone sandhi patterns in Shantou Teochew. The first Ph.D. Qualifying Paper, Georgetown University. Supervisor: Elizabeth Zsiga.
Luo, Zhuosi. (2019). Derived heads of Cantonese left periphery and cartographic distributions of its sentence final particles. M.A. Thesis, China Foreign Affairs University. Supervisor: Fuzhen Si.

Computational linguistics output

Annotation contributor for The Georgetown University Multilayer Corpus (GUM), part of the Universal Dependencies project.

Report abuse