I am a linguist working at the intersection of formal syntax and semantics, experimental linguistics, computational grammar engineering, and linguistically informed LLM approaches.
I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics at the University of Oxford and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Manchester.
My research investigates how grammatical knowledge is represented and interpreted across syntax, semantics, and discourse. I am particularly interested in reference, predication, control, coreference, and information-structural phenomena, as well as the ways in which these interact across different levels of grammatical representation. Much of my work focuses on understanding how linguistic constraints can be formulated precisely, tested empirically, and implemented computationally.
A defining feature of my research is the integration of theoretical, experimental, and computational approaches. I develop formally explicit grammatical analyses, evaluate them using corpus data and controlled experiments, and implement them in large-scale computational grammars. This combination allows me to investigate both the empirical adequacy and computational robustness of grammatical theories while contributing reusable linguistic resources for the wider research community.
The theoretical foundation of my work is Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a constraint-based and non-derivational framework that supports explicit modelling across multiple grammatical representations. Within this framework, I study dependency relations such as control, coreference, and anaphora, while also engaging in systematic comparison with alternative approaches, including Minimalism, to better understand the explanatory foundations of grammatical theory.
Empirically, my research draws on data from Sinitic languages—especially Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese—as well as English and other languages, including, most recently, Irish (collaborator: Prof. Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha), through cross-linguistic comparison. My earlier work also examined Cantonese–English code-switching and bilingual language acquisition.
In recent years, I have become increasingly involved in computational grammar engineering and multilingual resource development. As a member of the international Parallel Grammar (ParGram) Consortium, I contribute to the development of broad-coverage computational grammars and treebanks implemented in the Xerox Linguistic Environment (XLE). My recent research explores the interface between symbolic grammatical representations and large language models (LLMs), with particular attention to grammar engineering, multilingual resource creation, and the evaluation of computational models using linguistically informed criteria. Since 2023, I have co-organised monthly international ParGram research meetings with Prof. Mary Dalrymple (University of Oxford) and Prof. Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha (Trinity College Dublin), bringing together researchers from around the world to compare and refine computational grammatical analyses.
More broadly, my research aims to show how formally explicit linguistic theory, empirical evidence, and computational methods can be combined to advance our understanding of human language while producing practical resources for future linguistic and computational research.
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.
Lam, Chit-Fung & Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha. Accepted. Grammar Engineering Meets LLMs: Development of Cantonese and Irish ParGram Treebanks. The Third Workshop on Bridges and Gaps between Formal and Computational Linguistics. Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL Anthology, archival long paper).
Lam, Chit-Fung & Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha. Accepted. Extending the ParGram Treebank: Progress and Issues in Cantonese and Irish. LFG'26 Conference paper.