I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics) as well as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (Linguistics and English Language Department).
My research investigates the structure of grammatical knowledge at the interface of syntax, semantics, and discourse, with particular attention to how reference, predication, and information-structural relations are encoded and interpreted. A defining feature of my work is its integration of theoretical, experimental, and computational approaches: I develop formally explicit grammatical analyses, test them using controlled experimental methods, and implement them in large-scale computational grammars to assess the formal robustness of linguistic constraints and create useful computational resources.
The theoretical backbone of my research is Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a constraint-based, non-derivational framework that supports fine-grained modelling across multiple grammatical representations. Within this framework, I study coreference, control, and related dependency phenomena, examining how they are constrained across syntactic, semantic, and discourse representations. I also engage in systematic comparison with other theoretical approaches, including Minimalism, with the aim of distinguishing framework-specific mechanisms from more general properties of grammatical explanation.
Empirically, my work brings in new data from Sinitic languages (especially Cantonese and Mandarin) as well as English, and is further informed by cross-linguistic comparison. Drawing on corpus evidence, native-speaker judgements, and experimental data, I investigate predication structures, argument realisation, and information-structural effects. This comparative perspective also extends to bilingual contexts, including work on Cantonese–English inter-sentential code-switching in child language.
Methodologically, I use acceptability and interpretative experiments analysed with statistical models, providing theory-informed empirical evidence in domains where negative data are crucial. In parallel, I am actively involved in computational grammar engineering as a member of the international Parallel Grammar (ParGram) Consortium, contributing to the development of large-scale, cross-linguistic grammars implemented in the Xerox Linguistic Environment. Since 2023, I have been co-organising monthly ParGram meetings with Prof. Mary Dalrymple (University of Oxford) and Dr Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha (Trinity College Dublin), which bring together researchers worldwide to compare and refine syntactic analyses across implemented grammars.
Overall, my research aims to demonstrate how formally explicit theory, grounded in empirical evidence and realised computationally, can offer deeper insights into the nature of human language.
Publications
Refereed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference proceedings papers
2025. Revisiting two finiteness phenomena for Mandarin Chinese complementation structures: An empirically oriented approach via systematic hypothesis testing. Transactions of the Philological Society, 123(2), 213-245. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-968X.12317
2024. Control, Inner Topicalisation, and Focus Fronting in Mandarin Chinese: Modelling in Parallel Constraint-based Grammatical Architecture. Journal of Language Modelling, 12(1), 69-153. Doi: https://doi.org/10.15398/jlm.v12i1.365
2023. Copy Control and Partial Raising at Syntax-Semantics-Discourse Interfaces. In The Proceedings of the LFG’23 Conference, edited by Miriam Butt, Jamie Findlay, and Ida Toivonen, 158-175. PubliKon, University of Konstanz.
2022. Rethinking Restructuring in Mandarin Chinese: Empirical Properties, Theoretical Insights, and LFG/XLE Computational Implementation. In The Proceedings of the LFG’22 Conference, edited by Miriam Butt, Jamie Findlay, and Ida Toivonen, 203-22. CSLI Publications, Stanford University.
2021. A Constraint-Based Approach to Anaphoric and Logophoric Binding in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. In The Proceedings of the LFG’21 Conference, edited by Miriam Butt, Jamie Findlay, and Ida Toivonen, 202–22. CSLI Publications, Stanford University.
2020. Inter-Sentential Code-Switching and Language Dominance in Cantonese–English Bilingual Children. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech, 2 (1): 73–105. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/jmbs.13308. (with Stephen Matthews)
New manuscripts/preprints (Comments are welcome!)
Lam, Chit-Fung & Mary Dalrymple. Submitted. Copy control and other control properties in Mandarin.