Research Interests

I am currently serving as a Lecturer (Non-Clinical) in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), where I teach undergraduate courses including 1) Linguistics Field Trip (Capstone), 2) Phonology: An Introduction to the Study of Sound Systems, and 3) Languages in Contact, as well as postgraduate courses including 4) Multilingualism and 5) The History and Structure of Cantonese. I also supervise capstone projects (including Dissertations and Research Posters) for master’s students in HKU's Department of Linguistics.

My research interest lies in Historical and Comparative Linguistics, Phonology, Tonology, Grammar, Areal linguistics and Language Contact, Bilingualism/Multilingualism, and Sociolinguistics, focusing on the Sinitic, Kra-Dai, and Austronesian languages. I have published several research papers in international academic journals, including Diachronica,  Folia Linguistica, and Language and Linguistics. My Ph.D. study was to explore the formation of the linguistic areal features in the Lingnan region of China in diachronic and typological perspectives at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), supervised by Prof. Stephen Matthews.  My MA thesis was to conduct a study on the tonal development of Tai languages, based on tone data from 42 Tai language varieties most of which I have personally investigated. I also focus on the bilingual development of Zhuang children, and from 2019, I have started to compile a Yang Zhuang-Chinese-English-Thai online dictionary and an introductory textbook of the Yang Zhuang language, hoping to provide resources for children’s bilingual teaching of Zhuang-Chinese in the future.

I was professionally trained in IPA (international phonetic alphabet) and linguistic field methods. I am a polyglot and many of the languages I speak are the subject of or relevant to my research, and they are listed below in order of proficiency.

Native: Debao Yang Zhuang (the Urban and Ma'ai varieties) and Putonghua (Standard Chinese).

Near Native: Thai, Cantonese, Guiliu (of Southwestern Mandarin), and Jingxi Yang Zhuang.

Advanced: English, and Japanese (Certificate of Level 1).

Intermediate: Standard Zhuang, Northern Thai, Tai Lue, Lao, Shan, Bouyei, Cantonese dialects of Nanning, Baise and Zhongshan, and Xi’an Mandarin.

In addition to my linguistic studies, I am also a philologist in Kra-Dai languages’ oral literature. Since 2008, I have been participating in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage in the Zhuang areas of China, and helped Jingxi City of Guangxi to successfully apply for the registration of Mot Lan (末倫), a Southern Zhuang melodious art, onto the list of the national intangible cultural heritage units in 2021. 

As a Yang Zhuang native speaker, I am passionate about the preservation and transmission of the Zhuang language and culture. In December 2001, I launched the Zhuang Online （壯族在線）website, which has since become the largest online platform for Zhuang people to discuss the preservation and transmission of their language and culture.  With this platform, we have started a Zhuang pop music project since 2004, which involves singing pop songs in Zhuang to motivate young Zhuang people to change their passive attitude to their native language. Since then, we have organised six Zhuang pop concerts and published two CDs of Zhuang pop music - Beih Nongx (literally "siblings") from Southern Zhuang in 2008 and Beixnuengx Raeuz (literally our "siblings") from Northern Zhuang in 2014.