LT5401 Phonetics and Phonology
2016-2017
Comparison of the sound systems of British English and Mandarin
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
AN, Xiaohui, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. LEE, Wai Sum Vanti |
The essay is a comparison of the sound systems of British English and Mandarin Chinese. The sound inventories between the two systems differ extensively in size and the types of the sounds, including consonants, vowels and diphthongs. Descriptions and explanations of the similarities and differences are presented with language examples. The use of Pinyin in addition to the IPA symbols in the course of description is an innovation, which facilitates the understanding of the content for the Mandarin-speaking readers in particular.
LT5401 Phonetics and Phonology
2016-2017
Comparison of the sound systems of English and Spanish
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
CHAN, Ying Tung Alice, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. LEE, Wai Sum Vanti |
This essay makes a comparison in an innovative way of the sound systems of Spanish and English. It highlights the sharing of the Latin alphabet letters by the two systems, however, some of these alphabet letters represent the sounds which are pronounced differently in the two languages. The essay also points out the differences between the two languages in the assignment of stress to the syllables in different positions in words of various lengths. Examples from Spanish and English are given for illustrating the differences discovered.
LT5401 Phonetics and Phonology
2016-2017
Comparison of the sound systems of British English and French
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
YIP, Yi Yuk Vivian, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. LEE, Wai Sum Vanti |
The essay is a comparison of the sound systems of British English and French, using a creative way to systematically present the information and data. The two languages share the same letters of alphabet, but the sounds they represent differ considerably. Discoveries of the similarities and differences in the consonants, vowels and diphthongs between the two sound systems are substantiated by the presentation of language examples.
LT5406 Psycholinguistics
2016-2017
The Effects of Critical Period on English Learning: From the Aspect of Phonological Recognition
| Students | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LAM, Yuen Yu, Year 1, MALS RAO, Ye, Year 1, MALS WANG, Qiannan, Year 1, MALS YAN, Jiale, Year 1, MALS ZHANG, Ge, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. HUANG, Hsu-Wen |
In the past few decades, the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) has been connected closely with Linguistics in the aspects of Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantic etc. However, the discovery in Phonology is still inadequate. Therefore, this project proposed the research on whether the critical period will have a great impact on phonology in second language acquisition.
This proposal is divided into two parts: First, the hypothesis that the phonology recognition is better for those who acquire English as their second language during the critical period than those who acquire it after the critical period is stated based on the literature review on CPH. Second, the experimental design with the assist of ERPs are introduced to support our hypothesis.
By having this research proposal, it can act as a guidance to make good use of the critical period in teaching or learning English as a second language.
LT5408 Sociolinguistics
2018-2019
The media representation of language ideologies in Hong Kong and language attitude of the native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers towards the accented Cantonese spoken by the mainland immigrants
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
YIP, Yi Yuk Vivian, Year 3, MALS |
Dr. CATEDRAL, Lydia |
Hong Kong has been returned to China for more than 20 years. Due to the “one country, two system” policy, the current Hong Kong language policy remains the same, on the surface level, as it was in the colonial period. Cantonese is still the dominant vernacular. However, the new political environment has contributed to the emergences of different varieties of the vernacular at social level. This paper aims at proposing a research on how the media represents language ideologies in Hong Kong through an example of an advertisement. Then it attempts to extend the research to investigate language attitudes of the native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers towards the accented Cantonese spoken by the mainland immigrants through data collected on online forums related to the advertisement. The purpose of the research is to reveal the nuances in-between the existing and seemingly natural language hierarchies in Hong Kong.
LT5411 Computational Linguistics
2017-2018
A Brief Comparison between Two Medical Question-Answering Systems: “Fushman-Lin system” and MEANS
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
TANG, Wenbo, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. LEE, John Sie Yuen |
The development of automatic question-and-answer systems has received much attention in the computational linguistics community. This paper compares two such systems in the medical domain, as reported in “Answering Clinical Questions with Knowledge-Based and Statistical Techniques” by Demner-Fushman and Lin, and in “MEANS: A Medical Question-Answering System Combining NLP Techniques and Semantic Web technologies”, by Ben Abacha and Zweigenbaum. It gives a systematic comparison between them, pointing out similarities in terms of the service target and backbone framework, and differences in their algorithm, offering an insightful review of this area of research.
LT5431 Functional Approaches to Grammar
2017-2018
A study on the grammaticalization of Dou in Mandarin
| Students | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
KWAN, Yim Yee, Year 3, MALS NG, King Yin, Year 2, MALS |
Prof. LIU, Meichun |
This project examines the grammaticalization process of the functional morpheme dou in Mandarin from a diachronic perspective. Based on the texts examined, it is suggested that dou transforms gradually from a lexical item into a distributive marker that increases both in boundedness and abstractness. Such discovery allows teachers to guide Hong Kong students to differentiate between the distributive marker dou and the additive marker ye in Mandarin. As dou is used to express both meanings by Cantonese speakers, local students often misuse the two markers when communicating in Mandarin.
LT5431 Functional Approaches to Grammar
2017-2018
Metaphor of Linear Classifier: A Case Study of 丝 si
| Students | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LIN, Qiduo, Year 1, MALS LYU, Hong, Year 1, MALS PENG Liao, Year 1, MALS |
Prof. LIU, Meichun |
This research explains the mapping of the original concept of si with various collocations in different domains based on the metaphor theory. It can be concluded that si is initially regarded as a string referring to the shape; its usage is then broadened to modify a small amount, and it is finally used as a slight change to show the degree. In addition, a brief comparison on the usage of 丝 si, 线 xian, and 缕 lv is made. From the diachronic aspect, it can be found that the various applications of linear classifiers to a large extent rely on their semantic features. In the end, according to the analysis, suggestions are put forward in linear classifier teaching.
LT5456 Text Linguistics
2017-2018
Individual Commentary on how our understanding as viewers of the film The Sunset Limited is shaped through choices in how the film is shot and what is said by whom.
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
ZHANG, Tongtong, Year 1, MALS |
Prof. WEBSTER, Jonathan |
Students in LT5456 Text Linguistics analyzed several segments from the film The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy. In addition to group work in which they analyzed the exchange between the two characters in the film in terms of the linguistic choices, students were asked to enlarge their focus to include multimodal aspects such as how the film was shot and what was said by whom, which are discussed in this assignment.
LT5459 Terminology
2016-2017
Metaphors Seen in Chinese Cuisine Names
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
HUANG, Dandan, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. KIT, Chunyu |
This article focuses on the role of metaphorical expressions in Chinese cuisine denomination and emphatically analyzes particular characteristics concealed in metaphors in Chinese cuisine names. By categorizing different intentions of metaphorical dish names in accordance with samples in hand, this short report aims to bring cuisine nomenclature to people’s attention as a unique example of language for special purposes popularly used in our daily life.
LT5459 Terminology
2016-2017
Study in Definition of “Translation”
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
ZHAO, Chengcheng, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. KIT, Chunyu |
Main focus was placed on the genus and distinctive characteristics of the well-known definitions of translation made by Eugene Nida, Peter Newmark, and on some dictionaries. The knowledge of terminology and linguistics has been presented resourcefully. Then the new definition was given under comparison.
LT5510 Contrastive Studies of Chinese and English Grammar
2016-2017
English Puzzle
| Students | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
AN, Xiaohui, Year 1, MALS ZHANG, Huiting, Year 1, MALS DONG, Zhiling, Year 1, MALS LYU, Yue, Year 1, MALS ZONG, Peng, Year 1, MALS |
Prof. LIU, Meichun |
This project work proposed four main puzzling questions for learning English and provided potential solutions to them, as well as concluded with a few discoveries. The main discoveries relate to the principle of proximity, the present progressive tense, and double negation. For example: 1. The principle of proximity in language presents some other important aspects, including spacial proximity and mental proximity. 2. Native speakers do not strictly follow the principle of proximity. People tend to apply the principle to some sentence using ‘either…or…’, while in ‘neither...nor…’ there is hardly any inclination, instead, they just follow the principle of notional concord or grammatical concord as most sentences do. 3. Double negation may imply uncertainty of the speaker and it tends to be a colloquial form which is more informal language and should be avoided in formal settings.
LT5510 Contrastive Studies of Chinese and English Grammar
2016-2017
Chinese Tough Time
| Students | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
WONG, Wing Yi, Year 1, MALS LIU, Qiaoqiao, Year 1, MALS SHENG, Boda, Year 1, MALS SUN, Lu, Year 1, MALS WANG, Xiaoyang, Year 1, MALS |
Prof. LIU, Meichun |
This project work proposed three main tough questions for foreign learners of Chinese and provided potential solutions to them, as well as concluded with a few discoveries. Here are the main discoveries: 1. 回 as a 動量詞 can be replaced by adverbs or adverbial phrases and it is more like a co-verb, for it has already weakened and is incapable of acting as main verbs sometimes. 2. The meaning of 「跟」is extended from the nominal meaning of “the back part of a foot” to the verbal meaning of “to follow”. Later on, 「跟」 carries a grammatical meaning of “with”. Although the transformed meaning adds some new elements, it still related to the original nominal meaning to some extent. 3. The semantic meaning and polarity of the phrase 差點沒 largely depends on the expectation of the speaker. It might have two opposite meanings as for the same utterance under different expectations or conventions.
LT5904 Language and Culture in Society
2017-2018
An analysis of the linguistic and cultural legacies of Hong Kong and the issue of language as a tool of empowerment or control
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LUO, Yi, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. SHEUNG, Shing Yue Richard |
Hong Kong has long been recognized as an international city for its bilingualism by employing English as one of the official languages. This paper aims to explore the linguistic and cultural legacies that Hong Kong people have inherited from the colonial times. It covers various aspects including bilingualism of legal system, religion and customs, the teaching of Chinese culture and language policy. Through the discussion on linguistic and cultural legacies, the influence of British colonization on post-colonial Hong Kong has been discussed. In addition, the question of language as a tool of empowerment or control has been analyzed with the colonial experience in Hong Kong.
LT5904 Language and Culture in Society
2017-2018
An alternative view on the linguistic and cultural legacy of colonial Hong Kong
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
YIP, Yi Yuk Vivian, Year 2, MALS |
Dr. SHEUNG, Shing Yue Richard |
Although it has been more than 20 years since the British withdrawal from Hong Kong, the colonial memory shared by some of the common Hong Kong people is still vivid, quite positive even. The nostalgia for colonial Hong Kong that these people express from time to time actually has several assumptions. They take great pride in the colonial legacy, which they believe is an integral part of the local identity. Yet, is their belief actually a myth or reality? This paper is a critical study of this self-perceived local identity and its underlying assumptions by delving into colonial history, which ironically was not taught in the local schools in the colonial era. It argues through the ways in which the English language was used both as tool of empowerment and control that the colonial legacy was the product of its historical circumstances and fraught with political agenda.
LT5904 Language and Culture in Society
2016-2017
Discourse of Marketization of Higher Education in Britain: Advertisements of MA Translation Programmes
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
GUAN, Xian, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. SHEUNG, Shing Yue Richard |
The essay compares two advertisements of MA translation programmes in Britain so as to discuss the discourse of marketization in higher education. The essay is an analysis of how they attract students through the discourse of marketization. The comparison is conducted from textual practice and discourse practice. Through comparison between two universities, different strategies concerning marketization are examined, contributing to achieve the general trend in higher education in Britain.
LT5904 Language and Culture in Society
2016-2017
Marketization of PhD in Linguistics of Cambridge and MIT via Prospectuses: A Critical Discourse Analysis
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LAU, Chan Wing, Year 2, MALS |
Dr. SHEUNG, Shing Yue Richard |
Fairclough’s concept marketization even applies to prestigious ‘hegemonies’ University of Cambridge (Cambridge) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which also marketize their PhDs in linguistics using somewhat ‘grounded’ (i.e. well-balanced and sensible) and non-irritating self-flattery, assume that optimistic employment prospect, academic rigor and energetic research atmosphere conveyed by the wordings of the discourses in their e-prospectuses means excellence and big appeal to such potential PhD candidates. We know that flattery appeals to our vanity. But, nowadays, an ‘appropriate’ degree of self-flattery can be very persuasive to prospective PhD students who have high opinions of themselves to apply for their PhD programs in linguistics offered by universities.
LT6580 Master's Project
2016-2017
An Eye Tracking Study of Line Spacing Effects on Reading Simplified Chinese
Also winner of Excellent Master's Project Award 2016/17
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
HUANG, Dandan, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. KIT, Chunyu |
This paper presents an eye tracking study of how interlinear line spacing affects simplified Chinese reading. In a within-subjects design, we collected data from 35 subjects reading articles formatted in a variety of seven conditions of line spacing. Total reading time, number of fixations, average fixation duration, average saccade length and regression rate were computed. For the smallest line spacing, average saccade length and regression rate were significantly shorter compared to other conditions. However, there were no significant differences across seven conditions in terms of total reading time, number of fixations as well as average fixation duration.
LT6580 Master's Project
2016-2017
Empirical Regression of Entropy & Multivariate Mutual Information of Concgram-based Multi-Word Expressions on Learner Corpus
Also winner of Excellent Master's Project Award 2016/17
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LAU, Chan Wing, Year 2, MALS |
Dr. FANG, Chengyu Alex |
Quantitative linguistics on learner corpus research is the realm of the present research. Our novelty is to design a corpus-driven empirical multiple linear regression model that measures how dependent variable Shannon Entropy, which quantifies uncertainty, is explained by independent variables concgram-based Multi-Word Expression (MWE) Length and Markov Multivariate Mutual Information (MMMI), which is devised by eminent linguists to quantify the information of association. Concgrams represent two aspects: phraseological constituency (e.g. “AB, A*B, A**B, etc.”) and phraseological positional variation (e.g. “AB, BA, B*A, etc.”). Our study concerns only the former aspect. A concgram can be contiguous (i.e. n-gram), non-contiguous (i.e. skipgram), and hybrid, e.g., “after all”, “both…and…”, and “as much…as” respectively. Such MWEs are extracted from the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) by phraseological search engine ConcGram©. Only then can research questions and testable hypotheses be empirically laid down in a bottom-up fashion. Finally, the regression model is built and tested using statistical computing language R.
LT6581 Project
2016-2017
Analysis of Chinglish Words in Internet Language in Mainland China: An Application of the Memetics Theory
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
WANG, Qiannan, Year 1, MALS |
Dr. CHAN, Yuet Hung Cecilia |
The present study discovered the formation processes and social functions of Chinglish words appeared in Sina Microblog. A survey concerning the conditions of using Chinglish words in mainland China and Chinese people’s attitudes towards the use of Chinglish words was conducted. The data collected from Sina Microblog indicate that among different formation processes, the process of affixation which expressed various social functions was most frequently used. The results of the survey also show that participants from mainland China were most familiar with the Chinglish words formed by affixation process and they used them very often for daily communication. The Memetics Theory was innovatively applied to account for the findings of the study.
LT5904 Language and Culture in Society
2015-2016
A study of the linguistic and cultural legacy of Hong Kong and the issue of language as a tool of empowerment or control
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LEUNG, Ka Wai, Year 2, MALS |
Dr. SHEUNG, Shing Yue Richard |
Hong Kong is described as a cosmopolitan city and known for its function as an international trade and financial centre, and for its bilingualism. This bilingualism is undoubtedly a legacy from British colonialism. This paper studies the linguistic and cultural legacy that Hong Kong people have inherited from colonial times by looking into the development of four aspects, namely, legal language, language of civil service, medium of instruction, and Chinese culture and civic education. The language policy of Hong Kong is studied in its historical perspective with the revelation that language is not only a tool of individual empowerment, but also social control.
LT6580 Master's Project
2015-2016
"Chinese is a Sexist Language": A Re-examination
Also winner of Excellent Master's Project Award 2015-16
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
LI, Tsz Kwan, Year 3, MALS |
Dr. CHAN, Yuet Hung, Cecilia |
This research critically re-examines the claim “Chinese is a sexist language” by presenting objectively the linguistic images of Chinese men and women through a re-analysis of four Chinese language features, including characters, words, idioms and proverbs. It also tries to provide a more convincing validation of the claim through using two definitional approaches, which are the consequentialist approach and the propositional approach.
Categorization and Percentages of Characters Formed of the Radicals ‘女’ (woman/daughter) and ‘母’ (mother) Having Positive or Negative Connotations
| Connotation | Characters | Total Number | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | 姿 娿 婀 娥 姬 娟 娉 嬋 嫿 嫵 媛 嬅 嫣 姣 娜 姽 姝 姹 奵 妍 妋 妔 妚 妜 妦 妧 妭 嬈 妼 姂 姃 姇 姕 姁 妸 姌 嬌 娓 好 妙 妴 嬿 媚 嫕 如妌 妰 姈 婧 妵 婉 婷 嫻 娛 妉 孌 | 56 | 28.72 |
| Negative | 媸 奸 妄 妒 妨 妎 妬 姘 姦 孬 婪 婞 媟 媮 媠嫌 嫉 嫚 嫖 奻 妓 娼 婊 婢 奴 毒 | 26 | 13.33 |
LT6581 Project
2015-2016
Production and Perception of Mandarin Sibilants by Cantonese Speakers
| Student | Teacher |
|---|---|
|
WONG, Cheuk Kin
|
Dr. LEE, Wai Sum Vanti |
The present study investigates the production and perception of the three series of Mandarin sibilants, namely the denti-alveolar [ʦ, ʦʰ, s], retroflex [tʂ, tʂʰ, ʂ] and alveolo-palatal [ʨ, ʨʰ, ɕ], by eight Cantonese-speaking university students. Acoustic analysis and perceptual assessment of the production data were conducted to determine the accuracy and errors in the pronunciation of the L2 Mandarin sibilants uttered by Cantonese speakers. The perceptual data from a listening test were also obtained for determining Cantonese speakers’ ability in distinguishing the different types of Mandarin sibilants. The results show that Cantonese speakers are able to distinguish the three series of Mandarin coronal sibilants in production and perception, and they perform better in perception of the Mandarin sounds than in production. The frication noise patterns of Cantonese speakers’ Mandarin sibilants differ from those of the Cantonese sibilants, suggesting the influence of L1 is not significant. The findings of the present study serve as the foundation for further investigation into the acquisition of Mandarin sounds.
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