Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica

My research interests lie in formal semantics and its interfaces with pragmatics and (morpho-)syntax. I am particularly interested in cross-linguistic variation in the composition of meaning. My work integrates fieldwork and theoretical analysis, with the goal of developing multiple methodologies for accessing speakers’ intuitions. My primary fieldwork language is Atayal, a Formosan language spoken in northern Taiwan, and I have also worked on Bunun and Paiwan. My ongoing research examines a broad range of topics in semantics and its interfaces, including tense–aspect, tenselessness, modality, mood, counterfactuality, question bias, discourse particles, evidentiality, negation, wh-interrogatives and indeterminates, quantification, topicality, and nominal semantics.

2019-2~ Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica
2023-8~2027-7 Assistant Professor, Joint Appointment with the Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University
2024-2~2024-9 Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Continuing Education, National Taiwan Normal University
2022-1~2022-6 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of Taiwan Languages and Language Teaching, National Tsing Hua University Nanda Campus
2020-8~2021-1 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of Taiwan Languages and Language Teaching, National Tsing Hua University Nanta Campus
2019-4~2022-7 Lecturer, Indigenous Languages Hsinchu Learning Center, National Tsing Hua University Nanta Campus

Wh-interrogatives, rhetorical wh-questions and wh-indeterminates in Atayal (NSTC 114-2410-H-001-069-MY2); funded under the 2030 Cross-Generation Young Scholars Program, Aug. 1, 2025–Jul. 31, 2027
Semantic composition of counterfactual conditionals and mood in some Formosan languages (NSTC 113-2410-H-001-105), Sept. 1, 2024–May 31, 2026
The syntax and semantics of the Atayal negators iyat and ini’ and their implications (NSTC 112-2410-H-001-019), Aug. 1, 2023–Feb. 28, 2025
Biased questions in Atayal and a cross-linguistic comparison (NSTC 111-2410-H-001-113), Aug. 1, 2022–Dec. 31, 2023
Formal properties of final particles in Atayal and a comparative study of Formosan languages (MOST 109-2410-H-001-089-MY2), Aug. 1, 2020–Jun. 30, 2023
Topics in the tense and aspect systems of Atayal and Bunun (MOST 108-2410-H-001-005), July 1, 2019–Jun. 30, 2020

Invited & Refereed Talks

2026 X-marking in Atayal counterfactual conditionals: From past marking to an obligatory modal. Paper to be presented at the 33th Annual Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, June 23–25, 2026.
2025 A language with multiple tenses: Evidence from Vernacular Atayalic Japanese. Paper presented at the 12th edition of the TripleA Workshop for Semantic Fieldworkers, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 10–12. (joint work with Gan-ling Tan)
2025 Reanalyzing Mandarin ba (吧) as an inferential evidential. Research talk during an academic visit to the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan, Jun. 4.
2024 A new analysis of the sentence-final particle ba (吧) in Mandarin. Talk at the invitation-only 15th Workshop on Formal Syntax and Semantics, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 12–13.
2023 External and internal negation in Atayal and a cross-linguistic comparison. Talk at the invitation-only NTHU Linguistics Forum, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Nov. 11.
2023 Towards the semantics of Atayal polar question particles and a semantic typology. Keynote talk at the 10th edition of the TripleA Workshop for Semantic Fieldworkers. University of Potsdam, Germany, Jun. 7–9 (via Zoom).
2023 Modality in elicited data and spontaneous texts: A case study of Atayal (an update). Talk at the invitation-only Workshop on Modality in Underdescribed Languages. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Apr. 20–22 (via Zoom).
2022 Bias in Mandarin polar questions: An acceptability judgment study. Talk at the invitation-only 14th Workshop on Formal Syntax and Semantics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 21–22.
2022 The landscape of Atayal final particles: A focus on question particles. Talk at the invitation-only Yunshan Linguistic Salon, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 15. (via Google Meet)
2021 Variable force modals in Amis. Paper presented by co-author Tingchun Chen (keynote speaker) at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association & The 9th edition of the TripleA Workshop for Semantic Fieldworkers, University of Manchester, UK, Jun. 28–Jul. 1. (joint work with Tingchun Chen).
2020 Counterfactuality and temporal marking in Atayal. Talk at the invitation-only 13th Workshop on Formal Syntax and Semantics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 16–17.
2020 “Iamitives” are discourse markers: Evidence from Bunun. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Austronesian and Papuan Languages and Linguistics conference, University of Oslo, Jun. 18–20. (via Zoom; joint work with Haowen Jiang)
2019 Atayal C- reduplication as a domain widener. Invited talk at National University of Singapore, Jul. 13.
2019 Widening the future: Ca-reduplication in Atayal. Paper presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of Canadian Linguistic Association, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, Jun. 1–3
2018 Ways of talking about the past: The semantics of -in- and =in in Bunun. Paper presented by co-author Haowen Jiang at the 25th Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association, Taipei, Taiwan, May 10–12. (joint work with Haowen Jiang)

Research Fellows

Sihwei CHEN