Research output per year
Research output per year
Research Interests
- Syntax, Syntactic Theory, Grammatical Architecture (Syntax-Semantics-Discourse Interface)
- Grammar Engineering (via Xerox Linguistic Environment)
- Acceptability Judgement Experiments
- Corpus Linguistics (and Bilingualism)
- Linguistics of Sinitic Languages
- Linguistic Typology
I am working on a PhD project on theoretical linguistics (control and complementation), which is fully funded by SALC. The project is jointly supervised by Prof Kersti Börjars and Prof Eva Schultze-Berndt. The current stage of my research focuses on Chinese data. My research approach is empirically-driven, involving meticulous analysis of data drawn from large-scale language corpora as well as acceptability judgement experiments (followed by statistical analyses using mixed-effects models in R). I analyse the empirical data in the theoretical framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG), which adopts a constraint-based parallel-correspondence architecture with mathematically well-grounded characterisation of various types of linguistic information (e.g., syntax, semantics, information structure). LFG-based grammars are computationally implementable via the Xerox Linguistic Environment. My LFG analysis often involves comparison with existing proposals formulated in other grammatical frameworks, in particular, Minimalist approaches, in an effort to facilitate cross-theoretical understanding.
Since I started my PhD studies in Sept 2019, I have been disseminating my research findings at various conferences with associated published work:
As complementary expertise, I have also conducted research on bilingualism and corpus linguistics. In 2020, I published the article “Inter-sentential Code-switching and Language Dominance in Cantonese–English Bilingual Children” (co-authored with Prof Stephen Matthews) in the Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech. We applied corpus methods to examine relationships between language dominance and the under-investigated topic of inter-sentential code-switching in Hong Kong Cantonese–English bilingual children. Our findings suggested that intra-sentential and inter-sentential code-switching each have a different status in bilingual children’s developing grammar. We also suggested that, in societies where intra-sentential code-switching is a social norm, inter-sentential code-switching could serve as signs of early bilinguals’ dominance status. (For the published version, see https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMBS/article/view/13308; for the submitted version, see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346042820_Inter-sentential_Code-switching_and_Language_Dominance_in_Cantonese-English_Bilingual_Children)
Teaching Qualifications and Experience
I am a Fellow of Advance HE (Higher Education Academy, UK) (awarded in March 2022).
With four years of teacher training at The University of Hong Kong, I am a qualified teacher formally registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau. During the four years of teacher training, I taught the English language to local students in Hong Kong (TESOL) at different secondary schools. After obtaining my first degree, I continued my teaching profession at a local school in Hong Kong for several years before embarking on PhD studies. The major classes I taught were at the pre-university level, preparing students for English language proficiency tests as part of the university entrance exam in Hong Kong.
In 2021, I taught the weekly seminars of the Typology course for the 2nd and 3rd years of undergraduate students at The University of Manchester.
Fellow of Advance HE, Advance HE
Award Date: 14 Mar 2022
Master of Arts, Linguistics (Distinction), University of Hong Kong
1 Sep 2016 → 31 Aug 2017
Award Date: 2 Dec 2017
Bachelor of Education, Language Education (First Class Honours), University of Hong Kong
1 Sep 2011 → 31 Aug 2015
Award Date: 4 Dec 2015
Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Linguistics (First Class Honours), University of Hong Kong
1 Sep 2011 → 31 Aug 2015
Award Date: 4 Sep 2015
Certificate of Teacher Registration, Hong Kong Education Bureau
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Chit Fung (Lawrence) Lam (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
Chit Fung (Lawrence) Lam (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
Chit Fung (Lawrence) Lam (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
Chit Fung (Lawrence) Lam (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
Chit Fung (Lawrence) Lam (Invited speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Lam, C. F. (Creator), University of Manchester, Apr 2022
https://github.com/lawrencela/LFG-XLE-Grammars-for-Chinese
Dataset