I am a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Linguistics at University of Southern California. I work on syntax and issues at its interfaces with morphology and semantics. 

I am broadly interested in argument structure and information structure. For the former, I have worked on a variety of empirical topics, including passives, applicatives and locative constructions. My current theoretical interests include verbal semantics, different mechanisms of argument linking and how they contribute to grammatical variation. For the latter, I have worked on focus-sensitive expressions and I am particularly interested in the interaction between alternative semantics and modal reasoning. When pursuing my theoretical/empirical puzzles, I draw evidence from different languages. I primarily work on standard Mandarin and Wu, an understudied non-standard Chinese variety. I am currently exploring my field language, Pulaar (Niger-Congo).

I go by Zhixian (written as 之弦 in Chinese, Mandarin IPA pronunciation: [ʈ͡ʂʅ55 ɕiæn35]). 

Aug 2026: My joint paper "OV/VO alternations and the complexities of object-licensing in Wu Chinese" with Andrew Simpson is published in Natural Language & Linguistic Theory.

Sep 2026: I am giving a talk at Yale Syntax Reading Group (online).

Sep 2026: I am giving a talk entitled "Implicit arguments mediate argument linking: evidence from Mandarin" at ImpArg, Graz (online).