Research Interests

Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, Comparative Linguistics

Education

• 2008-2011 PhD., Linguistics, University of Southern California   [Dissertation: The symmetry of Syntactic Relations]

• 2006-2008 MA., Linguistics, University of Southern California

• 2001-2004 MA., Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan 

• 1997-2001 BA/BEd., English, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan

Working Experience

• 2018--          Associate Research Fellow/Professor (tenured), Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

• 2021--     Associate Professor (Jointly Appointed), Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University 

• 2025 (Jan-July) Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute

• 2013-2018  Assistant Research Fellow/Professor, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

• 2012-2013  Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong PolyU

• 2004-2006  Lecturer (Part-time), Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Tsing Hua University

Publications

A. Journal Articles & Book Chapters

• 2025. A tale of two EVENs. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 43(3): 1949-1981. (Co-author: Wei-Cherng Sam Jheng) [Link to full text: OA] .

• 2024. Seeing is (not) believing: On perception verbs in Mandarin Chinese, in Diversity in Linguistics, but Unity in Research, eds. Elizabeth Zeitoun and Shu-chuan Tseng, 377-406. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. [Link to full text: OA]

• 2023. Symmetry in the Asymmetric Universe: Remarks on Kayne (2022). Studies in Chinese Linguistics 44(1): 33-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2023-0002 [OA]

• 2023. Extraction Asymmetries in Topic Structures: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 32(1): 63-90 (Co-author: Grant Hung-Ta Kao). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-023-09252-y [Link to full text: SharedIt]

• 2022. Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min, in New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax, ed. Andrew Simpson, 193-215. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (Co-author: Yuyun Iris Wang) [Link to full text]

• 2021. Against the low periphery as phrase markers: Two types of contrastive dislocations in Mandarin Chinese. Studia Linguistica 75(1): 97-127. (First author: Yuyun Iris Wang). [Link to full text]

• 2019. Syntactic structures of Mandarin purposives. Linguistics 57(1): 87-126. (Co-author: T.-H. Jonah Lin). [The final publication is available at De Gruyter via this link]

• 2018. Bare Numeral Phrases in Mandarin and the Minimalist Mapping Hypothesis. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 5(1): 32-57. [The final publication is available at John Benjamin via this link] 

• 2017. Remarks on the Final-over-Final Condition: A view from Chinese head-final structures. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 38(2): 93-118. [Link to full text: OA]  

• 2015. On modification of whole/zheng in English and Chinese and the uniformity of syntax. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 24(1): 53-74. [Link to full text: SharedIt]

• 2015. Once upon an invisible TIME. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 36(1): 21-33. [Squib]

• 2015. The syntax-semantics of durative phrases in Chinese: The Archimedes' principle in linguistics. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 8(2): 301-318. [The final publication is available at Brill via this link]

• 2015. The same difference: Comparative syntax-semantics of English same and Chinese tong/xiang-tong, in Chinese Syntax in a Cross-linguistic Perspective, eds. Audrey Li, Andrew Simpson, and Wei-tien Dylan Tsai, 128-146. Oxford University Press. (Co-author: Yuyun Iris Wang) [Link to publisher] [Pre-proof]

• 2014. Process-related Durative Phrases as Numeral-Classifier Phrases in Chinese. [Special Issue on the grammar of measurement in Chinese]. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics 12(2): 59-80. [Link to full text: OA]

• 2014. Morphology, in Handbook of Chinese Linguistics, eds. James Huang, Audrey Li, and Andrew Simpson, 3-25. Malden, MA: Blackwell. [DOI]

• 2014. On the Loss of Identity and Emergence of Order: Symmetry Breaking in Linguistic Theory, in Identity Relations in Grammar, eds. Henk van Riemsdijk and Kuniya Nasukawa, 289-322. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. [DOI]

• 2013. On Merge-Markers and Nominal Structures, in Primitive Elements of Grammatical Theory : Papers by Jean-Roger Vergnaud and his collaborators, eds. Katherine McKinney-Bock and Maria Luisa Zubizarreta, 237-273. New York: Routledge. (Co-author: Jean-Roger Vergnaud). [DOI]

• 2012. To Pronounce or Not to Pronounce: Locating Silent Heads in Chinese and English. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 34(1): 55-65. (Co-author: Dingxu Shi) [Link to full text: OA] [Squib] 

• 2011. Multiple-Classifier Constructions and Nominal Expressions in Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 20(2): 145-168. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang) [Link to full text: SharedIt]

B. Encyclopedic Entries

• 2024. Chinese generative linguistics, in Routledge Resource Online: Chinese Studies. eds. Chris Shei and Weixiao Wei. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367565152-RECHS41-1

• 2015. Grammatical relations, in The International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition, Vol 10, ed. James D. Wright, 324-329. Oxford: Elsevier. 

C. Conference Proceedings

• 2005. The Comparative Construction and Wh-movement. UST Working Paper in Linguistics 1: 187-204. 

• 2009a. Generalized Boundary and Chinese Unaccusative Construction. The Proceedings of Asian GLOW 5: 166-193. 

• 2009b. Multiple Wh construction and its Interpretations in Chinese. The Proceedings of NELS 38: 63-74. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang) 

• 2011. Multiple-Classifier Constructions and Nominal Expressions in Chinese. The Proceedings of NELS 39:545-558. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang)

• 2013. Indefinites in Chinese and the Theory of D-V Merge. The Proceedings of NELS 40(2): 55-66.  

• 2018. The asymmetry of topicalization: A view from Mandarin Chinese. 2018 5th NAFOSTED Conference on Information and Computer Science (NICS): 132-137. [Full text is available via this link]

Research Grants & External Funding

2024.08.01 - 2026.07.31. Adjunct control in Chinese purpose clauses. NSTC Research Project 113-2410-H-001-036-MY2 (Total direct cost: NTD $1,868,000)

2023.08.01 - 2024.07.31. On the syntax-semantics of perception verbs in Mandarin Chinese. NSTC Research Project 112-2410-H-001-015- (Total direct cost: NTD $758,000) 

2022.08.01 - 2023.07.31. On the modalities of weak imperatives. NSTC Research Project 111-2410-H-001-020- (Total direct cost: NTD $645,000)

2021. 08.01 - 2022. 07.31. On the syntax-semantics of infinitive clauses in Mandarin. MoST Research Project 110-2410-H-001-030- (Total direct cost: NTD $502,500)

2020. 08.01 - 2021. 07.31. On Finiteness and Speaker Anchoring in Mandarin Chinese. [Co-PI: Yuyun Iris Wang] MoST Research Project 109-2410-H-001 -084 (Total direct cost: NTD $780,000)

2018.08.01 - 2020.07.31. Two types of contrastive dislocations in Chinese. [Co-PI: Yuyun Iris Wang] MoST Research Project 107-2410-H-001 -063 -MY2 (Total direct cost: NTD $1,536,000)

2016.08.01 - 2018.07.31.  The Cartography of EVEN and its kin in Chinese. MoST Research Project 105-2410-H-001 -090 -MY2 (Total direct cost: NTD $1,174,000)

2015.08.01 - 2016.07.31. On the Representation and Derivation of Topicalization. Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) Research Project 104-2628-H-001-003 [Excellent Junior Research Investigators] (Total direct cost: NTD $457,000)

2013.11.01 - 2015.4.30. The Syntax of Degree Quantifier Phrases in Chinese: Comparative Syntax of Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Cantonese [Co-PI: Tommi Leung] National Science Council (NSC) Research Project 102-2410-H-001 -101 (Total direct cost: NTD $403,000)

Conference Presentations/ Invited Talks

2025

a) On the scales of EVENs: A view from Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. Paper presented at TEAL-14, University of Southern California, March 18th. (with Tran Phan)

b) On the universal contrual of Mandarin any. Paper presented at SALT-35, Havard University, May 20th. (with I-ta Chris Hsieh)

2024

a) Two Types of Scalar Even: Evidence from Vietnamese. Paper presented at GLOW in Asia XIV, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), March 8th.  (with Tran Phan)

b) Disentangling scalarity from additivity: The many EVENs of Vietnamese. Paper to be presented at 33rd Meeting of Southeast Asian Linguistics Society  (SEALS-33), GIS NTU Convention Center & National Tsing Hua University, June 16th. (with Tran Phan)

c) Introduction to clause structures. LST Summer Institute of Linguistics. National Taiwan Normal University, July 25th. [Download Handout] 

2023

a) You see what you believe: On perception verbs in Chinese. Invited talk at the Linguistics Seminar, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Feb 7.  (Online)

b) Belief, perception, and complementation. Invited talk at Yushan Forum, Apr 15. (Online) 

c) On the syntax-semantics of perception verbs in Chinese. Paper presented at TEAL-13, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), May 12. [Download PPT]

d) Additivity and scalarity at the syntax-semantics interface. Lecture at Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, May 22.  [Download Handout]

e) Modals in Imperatives: A view from Chinese. The 16th Brussels Conference on Generative Linguistics (BCGL-16), KU Leuven, Brussels, Oct 6. [Download Handout]

2022

a) Imperatives as modalized sentences: evidence from Chinese. Paper presented at FOSS-14, National Taiwan University, Oct 22. 

b) Comparative Syntax-Semantics: On perception predicates in English and Chinese. Invited/keynote talk at Tsing Hua Linguistics Student Workshop, NTHU, Dec 9.

2021

a) Exerting control through attitude: nonfinite complementation in Chinese. Invited talk at Nanjing University [High-End Lectures in Humanities]. May 27.  (Online)

2020

a) Controlled by attitude. FOSS-13, Academia Sinica, Taipei. Oct 16. (With Yuyun Wang)

b) On Prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min. 2020 NCL-LST Joint Conference. National Sun Yat-Sen University. Nov. 14. 

2019

a) Embedded Imperatives and Finiteness in Mandarin Chinese. Person and Perspective: A workshop honoring the work of María Luisa Zubizarreta, University of Southern California. May 4. (with Iris Wang). 

b) Speaker-anchoring, Attitudes, and Finiteness in Mandarin. 12th Workshop of Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-12), University of Macau. July 9. (with Iris Wang). 

c) 論漢語的(非)限定結構與類祈使成分的關係. 第七屆現代漢語句法語義前沿研討會. 中國廣東外語外貿大學. 11月10日.

d) Finiteness and Speech Events. Exploring Interface #3: Events and Experimental Linguistics. National Tsing Hua University. Nov 29th. (with Iris Wang). 

2018

a) Adjunct topicalization and movement-merger asymmetry: A view from MCP. 53rd Linguistics Colloquium at Nanzan. Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan. March 4.

b) Beyond the temporal scale of the sentence-final le in Mandarin Chinese. FOSS-12, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. April 28. (with Chih-hsiang Shu).  

c) The analyticity of EVEN in Mandarin Chinese. Workshop on Analyticity in Syntax. National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. May 20. 

d) The Asymmetry of Topicalization: a View from Mandarin Chinese. In Proceeding of NICS 2018 (5th NAFOSTED Conference on Information and Computer Science), 133-138. Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam. Nov 23-24. 

e) When even meets only: A dissection of EVEN in Mandarin Chinese. The 5th Workshop of the NINJAL Collaborative research project: Generative Perspectives on the Syntax and Acquisition of Japanese. Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. Dec 1-2. 

2017

a) A unified treatment of A'-dependencies in Chinese. Invited talk at National Tsing Hua University. March 29. (with Grant Kao)

b) Beyond the temporal scale of the sentence‐final le in Mandarin Chinese. TEAL-11. Academia Sinica. June 3. (with Chih-hsiang Shu). 

c) Argumenthood, MCP, and Chinese topicalization. IACL-25. Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loránd University. Budapest, Hungary. June 25. (with Grant Kao)

d) Adjunct fronting in Chinese and the movement-merger asymmetry. 19th Seoul International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG). Seoul National University, South Korea. August 10.  

e) The asymmetry of adjunct fronting and the movement-merger distinction. Tsing Hua Workshop on Formal Syntax and Semantics. National Tsing Hua University. October 27. 

f) The conundrum of topicalization revisited. Invited talk at the annual meeting of the Linguistics Society of Taiwan. November 25.  

2016

a) The up and down of EVEN. Theoretical Linguistics at Keio (TaLK-2016). Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. August 7. 

b) The top-down and bottom-up ways of getting EVEN in Chinese. FOSS-11. Academia Sinica. September 2.

c) Remark on the word order constraint: A view from Chinese head-final structures. Workshop on Word Order of Heads. Chinese University of Hong Kong. October 14.

2015

a) The symmetry of degree expressions. TEAL-10. Tokyo University of Foreign Languages, Jun 13 (with Tommi Leung).

b) How do we get EVEN? On Chinese shenzhi and lian...dou. TEAL-10. Tokyo University of Foreign Languages, Jun 13 (with Sam Jheng).

c) On the syntax of degree quantifiers in Chinese. IACL-23. Hanyang University, Seoul, S. Korea. Aug 26 (with Tommi Leung). 

d) A tale of two EVEN's. International Workshop on Cartographic Syntax. Beijing Language and Culture University. Dec 7 (with Sam Jheng).

2014

a) Language and mind in a nutshell. Talk given at National Changhua University of Education, Mar 20. 

b) On certain syntax-LF mismatches and the scope parallelism principle. Paper presented in IsCLL-14 (Panel Discussion), Academia Sinica, Jun 5.

c) On the grammatical levels of focus dislocations. Talk given at Academia Sinica, Nov 17. 

d) Where is the Focus? Paper presented in FOSS-10. National Kinmen University, Nov 23 (with Iris Wang).  

2013

a) On differences of the same the same reference to D. Paper presented in WCCFL-31 at Arizona State University, Feb 9 (with Iris Wang).

b) Searching for the silent heads: Ghosts in the structure. Paper presented in FOSS-9 at Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan. Apr 27. 

c) It's all about the same. Paper presented in TEAL-8 at National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Jun 5 [also as Invited talk at NTHU. Mar 28] (with Iris Wang).

d) The syntax-semantics of durative phrases in Chinese: The Archimedes' Principle in linguistics. Paper to be presented in the Li Fang-Kui Society Young Scholars Symposium at University of Washington, Seattle. Aug 12. 

2012

a) On Modification of Whole and Its Theoretical Consequences. Paper presented in the International Conference on Bilingualism and Comparative Syntax. The Chinese University of Hong Kong. May 15.

b) The Hole of Whole and the Silent AMOUNT. Paper presented in IsCLL-13. National Taiwan Normal University. June 1.

c) On Modification of Whole and the Uniformity of Syntax. Paper presented in IACL-20, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. August 29. 

d) Moving to the Left Periphery: Syntax or PF? Paper presented in the GLOW in Asia IX. Mie University, Japan. September 3. 

2011

a) Classifier Constructions in Chinese. Guest lecture in EALC 560: Comparative Syntax of East Asian Languages, USC. February. (Course instructor: Audrey Li).

b) Where do Parallelisms Come from? Paper to be presented in Parallel Domain: Conference in honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud. MOCA/USC, Los Angeles. May 7.

2010 

a) Syntax of Existential and Quantity Indefinites in Chinese. Paper presented in IACL-18 & NACCL-22. Harvard University. May.

b) Bare Numeral Indefinites in Chinese: From a minimalist perspective. Paper presented in the 12th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-12). Academia Sinica, Taiwan. June.

c) Phases and DPs. Paper presented in the GLOW in Asia 8. Beijing Language and Culture University. August, 2010. (Co-author: Jean-Roger Vergnaud) (Talk also given in Syntax Plus, USC)

2009 

Indefinites in Chinese and the Theory of D-V Merge. Paper presented in NELS-40. MIT. November, 2009. (Talk also given in Syntax Plus, USC)

2008

a) Multiple-Classifier Constructions and Nominal Expressions in Chinese. Paper presented in NELS-39. Cornell University. November, 2008. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang) 

b) Multiple-Classifier Constructions as Partitive. Paper presented in the 2nd Student Workshop of East Asian Linguistics SWEAL-2. National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. July 2. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang)

2007

Multiple Wh construction and its Interpretation in Chinese. Paper presented in the 38th Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS-38). Ottawa University, Canada. October 26. (Co-author: Yu-yun Iris Wang)

Before 2006

Building Chinese Event Structure from Durative Phrases. Paper presented in the IACL-14 and IsCLL-10 Joint Conference. Academia Sinica, Taiwan. May 28, 2006.

Argument Projection and Chinese Unaccusative. Paper presented in the 5th Generative Linguistics in the Old Worlds in Asia (GLOW in Asia 5). Jawanarlal Nerhu University, India. October 6, 2005.

Event Boundary and the Syntax-Semantics of BA in Chinese. Paper presented in TEAL-3. Harvard University. July 22, 2005.

Telicity, Resultativity, and Durativity. Paper presented in the 2nd International Theoretical East Asian Linguistics Workshop (TEAL-2). National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. June 12, 20042003

Eliminating the Right Adjunction in Chinese: Evidence from Clauses of Result in Chinese. Paper presented in the 2nd Conference on Formal Semantics and Syntax (FOSS-2). Academia Sinica, Taiwan. September. (Co-author: Tzong-hong Lin)