About

Dr. Xiaoting Li is Associate Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Alberta. Her research interest is language in interaction and multimodal analysis. She uses the methodology of Conversation Analysis, Interactional Linguistics and multimodal analysis in the study of everyday Mandarin talk-in-interaction. Her research explores how multimodal resources such as lexico-syntax, prosody and embodied actions are used by interactants in organizing turns, sequences and courses of actions in Mandarin conversation. The topic of multimodal organization of turns in Mandarin conversation is examined in her book Multimodality, Interaction, and Turn-taking in Mandarin Conversation (John Benjamins, 2014). She teaches in the areas of Chinese linguistics, language in Chinese society and Chinese-English translation, and supervises graduate students in the field of Chinese language, discourse and interaction.

Research Interests

Interactional Linguistics

Multimodal Analysis

Conversation Analysis

Chinese Linguistics

Current Projects

Interpersonal touch in Mandarin interaction

Multimodal formation of actions in Mandarin interaction

Cross-linguistic study of requests for confirmation

Recent Publications

Books

In preparation

Li, Xiaoting. Multimodality in Chinese: Language, Body and Action in Mandarin Interaction. Cambridge University Press. (Book monograph, under contract, expected publication in December 2021)

Yao, Shuangyun & Li, Xiaoting. Hudong Shijiao Xia de Hanyu Kouyu Yanjiu “A Grammar of Spoken Chinese from an Interactional Perspective”. World Publishing Co. (Book monograph, under contract, I write 4 chapters of the 8-chapter book, expected publication in May 2022)

Pekarek Doehler, Simona, Leelo Keevallik & Xiaoting Li (eds.) Grammar-Body Interface in Social Interaction. Special Issue in Frontiers in Psychology. (expected publication in June 2021, 19 papers)

2019

Li, Xiaoting & Ono, Tsuyoshi (eds.). Multimodality in Chinese Interaction. De Gruyter Mouton: Berlin. 335 pages.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

2021

Li, Xiaoting. "Multimodal practices for negative assessments as delicate matters: Incomplete syntax, facial expressions, and head movements" Open Linguistics, vol. 7, no. 1, 2021, pp. 549-568. https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2020-0164.

Li, Xiaoting & Oralova, Gaisha. Recipients’ words, sounds, nods and gaze—The uses of the minimal response token mm in Mandarin conversation. In Kupetz, Maxi & Kern, Friederike (eds.), 67-90. Prosody and Multimodality. Mannheim: OraLingua.

Pekarek Doehler, Simona, Hilla Polak, Xiaoting Li (3rd author), Stoenica Ioana-Maria, Leelo Keevallik, & Martin Havlik. Multimodal assemblies for prefacing a dispreferred response: A cross-linguistic analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689275

2020

Li, Xiaoting. (2020). Interpersonal touch in conversational joking. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 53(3): 357-379.

Li, Xiaoting. (2020). Click-initiated self-repair in changing the sequential trajectory of Actions-in-progress. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 53(1): 90-117.

2019

Li, Xiaoting. (2019). Duomotai hudong yu hanyu duomotai yanjiu 多模态互动与汉语多模态互动研究[Multimodal interaction and multimodal analysis of Chinese interaction]. Yuyan jiaoxue yuyanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies]《语言教学与研究》. 2019 (4):45-59. (re-printed in Tian Ting (ed.) 2020. Interactional Linguistics and Chinese Language Studies vol. 4, first-proof expected. World Publishing Co.: Beijing.)

Li, Xiaoting & Luo, Jie. (2019). A discourse-interactional study of yinwei ‘because’ in Mandarin conversation. In Xiao, Yun, & Tsung, Linda (eds.), Current Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse, 81-103. John Benjamins: Amsterdam/Philadelphia.

Li, Xiaoting. (2019). Multimodal turn construction in Mandarin conversation. In Xiaoting Li & Tsuyoshi Ono (eds.) Multimodality in Chinese Interaction, 181-212. De Gruyter Mouton: Berlin.

Li, Xiaoting. (2019). Researching multimodal Chinese interaction: A methodological account. In Xiaoting Li & Tsuyoshi Ono (eds.) Multimodality in Chinese Interaction, 24-64. De Gruyter Mouton: Berlin.

Li, Xiaoting & Ono, Tsuyoshi. (2019). Introduction: A multimodal approach to Chinese Interaction. In Xiaoting Li & Tsuyoshi Ono (eds.) Multimodality in Chinese Interaction, 1-12. De Gruyter Mouton: Berlin.

Li, Xiaoting. (2019). Negotiating activity closings with head nods in Mandarin conversation. In Elisabeth Reber & Cornelia Gerhardt (eds.), Embodied Activities in Face-to-face and Mediated Settings, pp369-396. Palgrave Macmillan: London.

*For publications published before 2018, please see Research Output (~2017).