Automatic Classification of Verb-Direction Constructions In Mandarin Chinese

Processing Multi-Word Expressions (MWEs) presents a challenge for Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems (Sag et al. 2002). In Mandarin Chinese, there are different kinds of MWEs, such as compounding constructions and serial verb constructions containing multiple predicates (Chao 1968). In this project, I will focus on parsing the semantics of a family of constructions called Verb-Direction Constructions (VDCs) in Chinese. Similar to English Verb-Particle Constructions, VDCs include a verb of precondition followed by a directional verb (e.g., na chu (lit &lsquo;take exit&rsquo;) &lsquo;take out&rsquo;). VDC functions include Self-Motion, Caused-Motion, Aspect, Discourse-Connective, and Evidential, among others (Liu et al. 1998). Achieving native speakers&rsquo; interpretation of a language in machine learning systems can support different applications. Inspired by the framework of Sign-Based Construction Grammar (Sag 2012, Michaelis 2009, 2013) as well as Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff &amp; Johnson 1980, 1998), I conducted three classification tasks. In the first task, I designed a VDC taxonomy, which categorizes distinct functions of VDCs, such as event structures (both causative and non-causative) that involve the movement of an entity through space to a final location. Two versions of the taxonomy were developed and learned. The annotation guideline was mainly based on an analysis of Frame Semantics (Baker, Fillmore, &amp; Lowe 1998) for different VDC events. In the second task, VDCs were annotated as metaphoric and literal expressions, and metaphor detection was performed. The third task makes preliminary steps aimed at detecting the coerced use of VDCs, in which VDCs alter the canonical argument structures of verbs (Goldberg 1995, 1999). This research makes two primary contributions. First, it establishes linguistic analyses of the VDC properties in question, including taxonomies of event types, metaphorical mappings, and coercion, most of which directly support the VDC classification tasks. Second, based on the linguistically motivated categories, it develops an automated method for semantic classification of VDC constructions, surpassing the scope of classification resources previously devised within Chinese NLP (Xue et al. 2000; Xue &amp; Palmer 2009; Huang et al. 2010; Lu &amp; Wang 2017). The system developed potentially supports other NLP applications, such as machine translation, event detection, metaphor processing, and word sense disambiguation.</p

Syntactic change in Xining Mandarin

PhD ThesisThis dissertation discusses the Xining Mandarin dialect (spoken in Qinghai province, northwest China), a variety in which head-final syntax has emerged on the model of local Mongolic languages and Tibetan. The underlying socio-historical scenario is explored in detail and analysed as a case of ‘fort creolization’ (Bickerton 1988). An overview is then provided of how head-final categories emerged in the dialect, namely through reanalysing Chinese form-meaning units to fulfil functions found in the substrate languages, with comparatively little reordering of grammatical devices inherent to Chinese or outright borrowing of substrate forms. The relevant changes are discussed in relation to Heine and Kuteva’s (2005) model of contact-induced grammaticalization and findings from creole studies. Detailed discussion of the dialect’s clausal syntax focuses on aspect marking, tense/mood marking, non-lexical functions of SAY and object scrambling. With regard to the aspectual system, an account is proposed of ZHE, which is typologically unusual in showing imperfective/perfective polysemy. Tense and modality is then considered with regard to the sentential particle lia, and its future marking function is seen to be conditioned by the aspectual class of the sentence, providing evidence of aspectually sensitive tenses (de Swart 1998) in Chinese. In terms of non-lexical functions of SAY, a range of clause-final uses are discussed, including as a complementizer and volitional mood marker, whilst discourse marking uses of SAY are interpreted in light of Traugott’s (1995, 2010) notion of (inter)subjectification. Finally, object fronting in the dialect is shown to possess the properties of Japanese style scrambling, despite the absence of this type of movement across other Chinese dialects. Its existence in the Xining dialect, where phrase-structure change has occurred from head-initial to head-final, is argued to provide broad support for the correlation between head-final syntax and scrambling formalized by the Generalized Holmberg Constraint (Wallenberg 2009).The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC

Decolonizing Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in “World Literature”: Decolonial Translation and Magical-Traumatic Realism in Can Xue

This study takes a genealogical and historicized approach to Mandarin-to-English translations, including my own, of Can Xue through neoliberal discourses of “world literature.” I ground these Anglophone discourses in the legacies of Sinology, area studies and post-Cold War historiography. Arguing for the necessity of a decolonial translation practice in Mandarin-to-English translation, I propose magical-traumatic realism (an intersection of magical realism and traumatic realism) as an alternative lens with which to contextualize, decolonize and re-embody Can Xue’s works in both source and “world” contexts

The Processing of Emotional Sentences by Young and Older Adults: A Visual World Eye-movement Study

Carminati MN, Knoeferle P. The Processing of Emotional Sentences by Young and Older Adults: A Visual World Eye-movement Study. Presented at the Architectures and Mechanisms of Language and Processing (AMLaP), Riva del Garda, Italy

MODERN GIRLS and MUSCLEMEN: THE BODY BEAUTIFUL, AESTHETIC EDUCATION and the CONFUSIONS of PROGRESS in REPUBLICAN CHINESE PRINT, CIRCA 1917–1934

This study examines a structure of legitimization that framed what it terms “anatomical beauty” as a multifaceted signifier of progress (jinbu 進步) in the urban media culture of Republican China (1911–1949). Premised on the notion of measurable ideal proportions and gendered bodily contours, anatomical beauty emerged at the intersection of aesthetic education (meiyu 美育) and physical culture (tiyu 體育) as symbolic of personal, social, and national advancement. Central to this study are key motifs that marked the transfer of this concept from a range of Euro-American sources: the Body Beautiful (rentimei 人体美), the Modern Girl (modeng nüzi 摩登女子), and the Muscleman (dalishi 大力士). The discursive structure in which these figures gained visibility as models of reform developed from roughly 1917 to 1934, a period that encompassed both the New Culture (Xin wenhua 新文化) and New Life (Xin shenghuo 新生活) movements. In exploring the proliferation of anatomical beauty and its associated motifs, this study considers these movements as distinct but interconnected, both fraught with internal tensions and contending to define perceptions of a wholly “new era” (xinshidai 新時代).The legitimization of anatomical beauty was facilitated by the collaborative efforts of prominent literati, such as Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培 (1868–1940) and Chu Minyi 褚民誼 (1884–1946), and their alliances with cultural entrepreneurs, who helped bring the concept into a public sphere significantly shaped by mass print media in Republican China’s urban centers, especially Shanghai. Cai, a leading advocate for aesthetic education, and Chu, a proponent of physical culture, worked together closely on cultural and educational reforms. Engaging with urban media culture was central to their shared visions of utopian cosmopolitanism, pragmatic idealism, and democracy. By endorsing cultural entrepreneurs, Cai and Chu strove to disseminate their reformist ideals beyond intellectual circles. Tensions and ambiguities arose as contending reformist visions encountered varying interpretations of anatomical beauty alongside competing definitions of “New Culture” and "New Life," all as mediated through the print industry of Republican China.  Ph.D

Chinese Circulations

Chinese merchants have traded with Southeast Asia for centuries, sojourning and sometimes settling, during their voyages. These ventures have taken place by land and by sea, over mountains and across deserts, linking China with vast stretches of Southeast Asia in a broad, mercantile embrace. Chinese Circulations provides an unprecedented overview of this trade, its scope, diversity, and complexity. This collection of twenty groundbreaking essays foregrounds the commodities that have linked China and Southeast Asia over the centuries, including fish, jade, metal, textiles, cotton, rice, opium, timber, books, and edible birds’ nests. Human labor, the Bible, and the coins used in regional trade are among the more unexpected commodities considered. In addition to focusing on a certain time period or geographic area, each of the essays explores a particular commodity or class of commodities, following its trajectory from production, through exchange and distribution, to consumption

燒炭自殺在東亞國家的流行散佈: 趨勢分析

The Abstract Book can be viewed at: http://www.sop.org.tw/book/download/Summary2013.pdfConference Theme: Focusing on Mental Health, Life Care and Social Network in the ElderlyObjective: Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from burning barbecue charcoal reached epidemic levels in Hong Kong and Taiwan within 5 years in the early 2000s. Methods: We used data for suicides by gases other than domestic gas in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea (1995-2010), Taiwan (1995-2011), and Singapore (1996-2011) to systematically investigate the spread of this method in East Asia. Graphical and joinpoint regression analyses were used to examine suicide trends and Poisson regression analysis to study sex- and age-specific patterns. Results: In 1995/1996, charcoal-burning suicides accounted for < 1% of all suicides in all study countries, except around 5% in Japan, but they increased to account for 14%, 28%, 13%, 4.3%, and 3.4% of all suicides in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore respectively in 2010. Rises were first seen in Hong Kong in 1999, followed by Singapore in 2000, Taiwan in 2001, Japan in 2003, and South Korea in 2008. There was some evidence for an impact on overall suicide trends in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan (females), but not in Japan (males), South Korea, and Singapore. Rates of change did not differ by sex/age group in Taiwan and Hong Kong but were greatest in young people in Japan and middleaged men and young women in South Korea. Conclusion: Variations in the timing, scale and sex/age pattern of the epidemic appear to be influenced by the media reporting of charcoal-burning suicide, whilst other factors such as the characteristics of the first or first few cases, language and ulture, familiarity and accessibility with the method, and socio-economic conditions may also play a role. Strategies to limit the epidemic spread of new suicide methods include surveillance to enable the early identification of the emergence of such methods, responsible media reporting and restrictions on Internet sites giving technical information about the method

Chinese Circulations

Chinese merchants have traded with Southeast Asia for centuries, sojourning and sometimes settling, during their voyages. These ventures have taken place by land and by sea, over mountains and across deserts, linking China with vast stretches of Southeast Asia in a broad, mercantile embrace. Chinese Circulations provides an unprecedented overview of this trade, its scope, diversity, and complexity. This collection of twenty groundbreaking essays foregrounds the commodities that have linked China and Southeast Asia over the centuries, including fish, jade, metal, textiles, cotton, rice, opium, timber, books, and edible birds’ nests. Human labor, the Bible, and the coins used in regional trade are among the more unexpected commodities considered. In addition to focusing on a certain time period or geographic area, each of the essays explores a particular commodity or class of commodities, following its trajectory from production, through exchange and distribution, to consumption

Independent Filmmaking across Borders in Contemporary Asia

Independent Filmmaking across Borders in Contemporary Asia examines an array of auteur-driven fiction and documentary independent film projects that have emerged since the turn of the millennium from East and Southeast Asia, a strand of transnational filmmaking that converges with Asia’s vibrant yet unevenly developed independent film movements amidst global neoliberalism. These projects bear witness to and are shaped by the ongoing historical processes of inter-Asia interaction characterized by geopolitical realignment, migration, and population displacement. This study threads together case studies of internationally acclaimed filmmakers, artists, and collectives such as Zhang Lu, Kuzoku, Li Ying, Takamine Go, Yamashiro Chikako, and Midi Z, all of whose transborder journeys and cinematic imaginations disrupt static identity affiliations built upon national, ethnic, or cultural differences. This border-crossing filmmaking can be viewed as both an aesthetic practice and a political act, reframing how people, places, and their interconnections can be perceived — thereby opening up possibilities to reimagine Asia and its connections to globalization