Research Interests

• Chinese linguistics
• Historical linguistics
• Language change
• Language contact
• Linguistic typology

 

Biography

Yuen Choo received the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Humanities with concentration in Linguistics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong in 2011 and the Bachelor of Arts in Chinese (1st Class Honors) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2009. Her MPhil thesis is a study on the ditransitive verbs in archaic Chinese, examining the controversial topic of the use and the disuse of yu於after the same GIVE verb or SAY verb, from the perspective of alignment typology, an approach that had not been adopted by scholars in previous studies. She is currently working on her dissertation and the focus is on Singapore Mandarin. She attempt to re-examine the grammar of Singapore Mandarin, i.e. Singapore colloquial Mandarin, which is being used in the community of Singaporean Chinese, from the perspective of dialectal typology and linguistic universals. The aim of the dissertation is to approach both variants and invariants in Singapore Mandarin.

Representative Publications

Journal Papers

• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2014. The interplay of universals and contact-induced change in Singapore Mandarin触因变异与语言共性——以新加坡华语为个案. NTU Working Papers in Chinese Language Teaching Number 2《台大华语文教学研究》研究生论文集年刊第二期. Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C台湾·台北: Graduate Program of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, National Taiwan University国立台湾大学华语教学硕士学位学程印行. pp. 1-42. (In Chinese)

Conference Papers Published in Proceedings

• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2013. Constraints of dialect interference in language contact—A case study of the fifth tone in Singapore Mandarin方言干扰与语言接触的局限——以新加坡华语第五声为个案. Proceedings of the 25th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-25). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. (In Chinese)
• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2010. The relation of the forms and functions of ‘V下’, ‘VV下’ and ‘V下V下’ in Cantonese粤语（广州话）“V下”、“VV下”与“V下V下”形式关系探讨. Proceedings of the 22nd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-22) & the 18th International Conference on Chinese Linguistics (IACL-18). Vol. 2. Clemens, L.E. & C-M.L. Liu, eds. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. pp. 145-162.

Conference Papers

• Choo, Yuen. Phonetic alternations in Singapore Mandarin. 3rd Biennial Workshop on Sound Change: Sound Change in Interacting Human Systems. University of California, Berkeley. May 28-31, 2014.
• Choo, Yuen朱元. A study of the adverbs ‘才[ts’ai35]’ and ‘再[tsai51]’ in Singapore Mandarin in the approach of semantic map从语义地图看语言接触的层次——以新加坡华语“才”、“再”为个案. The 26th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-26) & the 22nd International Conference on Chinese Linguistics (IACL-22). University of Maryland, Maryland. May 2-4, 2014. (In Chinese)
• Choo, Yuen朱元. A study of the fricatives and affricates in Singapore Mandarin from a historical perspective从中古音来源看新加坡华语的擦音和塞擦音声母. The 6th Graduate Students Conference in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language第六届世界华语文教学研究生论坛. National Taichung University of Education台中教育大学, Taichung, Taiwan R.O.C. January 18-19, 2014. (In Chinese)
• Choo, Yuen朱元. Constraint of dialect interference—Case studies of the [verb-complement] constructions in Singapore and Malaysia Mandarin从新加坡华语和马来西亚华语的谓补结构谈方言干扰的限度. The 7th International Conference on Contemporary Chinese Grammar (ICCCG 7)第七届现代汉语语法国际研讨会. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. December 21-24, 2013. (In Chinese)
• Choo, Yuen. Variation between the two nasal codas [-n] and [-ŋ]: The interplay of universals and contact-induced change in Singapore Mandarin. The 5th International Conference in Evolutionary Linguistics (CIEL-5). The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. August 17-19, 2013.
• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2010. The relation of the forms and functions of ‘V下’, ‘VV下’ and ‘V下V下’ in Cantonese粤语（广州话）“V下”、“VV下”与“V下V下”形式关系探讨. Shortlisted for the LSHK Award for Outstanding Student Paper on Cantonese Linguistics at the 15th International Conference on Yue Dialects第十五届国际粤方言研讨会. Macao Polytechnic Institute澳门理工学院, Macau. December 13-15, 2010. (In Chinese)
• Choo, Yuen朱元. ‘V于NP’ construction in Zuozhuan《左传》中的“V于NP”结构. The 17th International Conference on Chinese Linguistics (IACL-17). Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l’Asie Orientale (CRLAO), Paris. July 2-4, 2009. (In Chinese)

URECA (Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus) Project conducted in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2007. Reflections on the connotations of ‘lady’ and its word form in Chinese [t’ai t’ai51] using the Semantic Differential Test“‘Lady’ 较‘太太’高尚？由英汉女性称谓的联想词语调查所引发的思考”. Supervised by Asst. Prof. Tham, Wai Mun.
• Choo, Yuen朱元. 2008. Dating the extant version of Kongzi Jiayu今本《孔子家语》撰成年代探究. Supervised by Assoc. Prof. Phua, Chiew Pheng.