Dr. Hua Lin
Position
Contact
Area of expertise
Second language phonetics and phonology, Chinese linguistics
Dr. Hua Lin has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature, a Master's degree in English-as-a-second-language education and a Doctoral degree in linguistics. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, University of Victoria, Canada, and has been a full-time faculty member here since 1993.
As a professor, Dr. Lin is dedicated to her teaching. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in second language phonetics and phonology, second language acquisition, Chinese linguistics, phonology, contrastive linguistics, and the Chinese language. Dr. Lin is dedicated to the supervision of her honor’s, Master’s and doctoral students. She has collaborated with a number of these students on research projects.
Dr. Lin's major research interests focus on second language acquisition of the phonetic and phonological systems. In layman’s terms, this area explores how a person acquires the pronunciation of a second language. Her current research projects include (1) a book on the role the mother-tongue plays in learning the phonetics and phonology of Chinese and English as a second language by, respectively, English and Chinese speakers; (2) the rhythm of language and how it is acquired when the language is learned as a second language; (3) how tones are perceived/acquired by speakers of tone and non-tone languages; and (4) how Mandarin speakers acquire English consonants such as /l/ in post-vocalic positions.
Dr. Lin has also worked extensively on Chinese linguistics. She has explored the phonemic systems, tonal systems, syllables, stress patterns, words, word structure and syntactic structure of Chinese dialects, especially Mandarin, the official dialect/language of China, Taiwan and Singapore. She has conducted historical studies of the language, and has examined a popular type of Chinese versification called shunkouliur. She has done research on teaching and learning Chinese as a second language, the teaching and learning of English by native Chinese speakers, and bilingual education in China. In the area of Chinese linguistics, she has published three books, including A Grammar of Mandarin Chinese, which is a linguistic account of the sound, word and sentence structures of Mandarin Chinese. This book which has been used as a textbook in a number of Chinese Linguistics courses in universities such as University of Victoria (Linguistics, and Pacific and Asian Studies); University of North Carolina (Asian Studies), and University of Alberta (Asian Studies) also includes a chapter on the history and dialects of the Chinese language. Other contributions she has made to Chinese linguistics studies include the organization of the Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (1997), and services on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics. See below for a list of her publications, and click here for more information on her publications.
Dr. Lin has served on a number of departmental and university committees. In addition to formerly chairing the Graduate Studies Committee, she has chaired the Curriculum Committee and the Equity Committee, and served on the Applied Linguistics Committee and Salary Committee of the department. For the last three years, she has been a Senator in the University Senate and served on its Committee on Academic Standards and Committee on Credit and Transfer. For 10 years she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives and a member of the China Advisory Executive Committee.
Dr. Lin is devoted to the internationalization of the University of Victoria. Her courses and research take her and her students beyond our national boundaries to other parts of the world. She has traveled extensively in Asia for research and international liaison purposes. For six years she had an on-going research project at the New Century School, Guangdong, China. In 2001, she developed a bilingual education program for the NCS's Middle and High Schools, and monitored the program in the following years to determine, among other factors, if teaching English through content works better than teaching English in the traditional way.
Dr. Lin has been invited to give speeches at various universities in Asia, including National University of Singapore; Rangsit University, Bangkok, Thailand; National Union University, Taiwan; Shandong and Lanzhou Universities, China. In addition, Dr. Lin has traveled to Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Mexico and other parts of North America for conferences, research and international liaison. On a recent trip to Mexico, Dr. Lin visited the CUC campus of the University of Guadalajara on university liaison business. During the one-week Mexico visit, she fell in love with the Spanish language and came back having picked up 59 Spanish words. Her favorite expression is mi casa, su casa. She looks forward to using that phrase to her Mexican colleagues and friends when they come to visit Victoria. She has now started on a research to explore the rhythmic patterns of English spoken by Spanish speakers.
In her spare time to keep herself fit for hectic academic work, Dr. Lin dances. She has a passion for the art of dancing and has been a member of the Victoria Ballroom Dance Society since 1999. She has had her own Chinese folk dance group since the early 1990s, and volunteers her time teaching Chinese folk dance at local high schools.
Selected Works
2007. Shangsheng biandiao shou duofang zhiyue. [The third tone sandhi is multiply constrained.] Paper presented at the Joint Conference of the 15th International Conference on Chinese Linguistics and the 18th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. May, 2007. Columbia University, New York.
2006. Mandarin Neutral Tone as a Phonologically Low Tone. Journal of Chinese Language and Computing, 16 (2): 121-134.
2006. Speaking of language. Speech delivered at the 2006 Second Meeting of the University of Victoria Chinese Academic Group. Victoria, BC, December, 2006.
2006. CSL textbooks should reflect results from linguistic research: the case of the mandarin tones. Paper presented at the third AGM of the Canadian teachers of Chinese as a second language association, Vancouver, April 2006
2006. Perception of Mandarin Tones: Categorical or not? University of Victoria Center for Asia Pacific Initiatives Annual Student Symposium. University of Victoria, March, 2006. (With Xianghua Wu).
2006. An Instrumental Study of Mandarin Rhythm: A Comparison between Mandarin, English and EFL English. University of Victoria Center for Asia Pacific Initiatives Annual Student Symposium. University of Victoria, March, 2006. (With Qian Wang).
2005. Understanding Problems in Learning Mandarin Consonants by Monolingual Speakers of English. Journal of Canadian Teachers of Chinese as a Second Language. Volume 1(1):15. 18pps.
2005. Team Teaching. Speech delivered at New Century School, Dongguan, China, April, 2005.
2005. An Instrumental Study of Mandarin Rhythm. Paper presented at the Thirteenth International Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Leiden, the Netherlands. June, 2005. (With Qian Wang)
2005. Syllable-Timedness in the ESL Production of Mandarin Chinese Speakers. Paper presented at the Conference Between Stress and Tone, Leiden, the Netherlands. June 2005. (With Qian Wang).
2005. Teaching Mandarin consonants to speakers of English. Paper presented at the Second AGM of the Canadian Teachers of Chinese as a Second Language Association, Vancouver, July 2005.
2005. Mandarin speakers' production of English /l/ in syllable-final position. Second Language Research Forum 2005, Teachers College, Columbia University, October 2005. (With Yunjuan He).
2004. Phonetic versus Phonological Influences on Mandarin Listeners Perception of English /l/. Paper presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching (Beijing-Shanghai). Beijing, China. August, 2004 (With Yunjuan He).
2004. (Invited speaker). Internationalization at the University of Victoria, Workshop on Internationalization of Universities. Natio nal Taiwan Union University, Miaoli, Taiwan, December, 2004.
2004. (Invited speaker). Current theories and practices in EFL learning and teaching. EFL Conference for High-School English Language Teachers. Zhanghua Jingying Middle School. Zhanghua, Taiwan, December, 2004.
2004. China's love affair with the english language. Second language workshop and seminar series. Department of linguistics, university of victoria, february 10, 2004.
2003. (Invited speaker). Issues in bilingual education: Toward a model of English-based bilingual education in Asia. Conference on Bilingual Education: Standards and Practices. Rangsit University, Bangkok, Thailand, August 28-29, 2003.
2003. (invited speaker). International standards and practice in bilingual education. Conference on bilingual education: standards and practices. Rangsit university, bangkok, thailand, august 28-29, 2003.
2003. Webquest: Intergration of the internet in the teaching of English as a second language and other subjects. New Century School, Dongguan, Guangdong, China. December, 2003.
2002. 汉语声调的主导地位 H3ny} sh4ngdi3o de zh}d2o d*w7i. [Tone dominance in Mandarin Chinese]. Conference in Celebration of the 50-Year Anniversary of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics (Zhongguo Yuwen). Nanchang, China, June 27-July 1, 2002.
2002. (Invited speaker). 华语的减音同音和双音 Hu1y} de ji2ny%n, t9ngy%n h5 shu`ngy%n. [Sound reduction, homophony and dissylabicity in Mandarin Chinese]. International Conference on Issues of Chinese Standardization in the Information Era. Chinese and Oriental Languages Information Processing Society (COLIPS), Singapore, November 28-29, 2002.
2002. (Invited speaker). 句法和上声变调 J]f2 h5 sh2ngsh4ng bi3ndi3o. [Syntax and the Third Tone Sandhi in Mandarin]. The Second Kent Ridge International Roundtable Conference on Chinese Linguistics (KRIRCCL-2), Theme: Phonology and Syntax Interface. Chinese and Oriental Languages Information Professing Society, National University of Singapore, November 26-27, 2002.
2002. EFL Teaching Theories and Methodologies. New Century School Curriculum Training Sessions for Teachers in Grades K-3. New Century School, Dongguan, Guangdong, China. August, 2002.
2001. A Grammar of Mandarin Chinese. Munich, Germary: Lincom Europa. ISBN: 3895866423.
1998. Editor, The Proceedings of the Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Volume I: Syntax, & Volume II: Phonology and Other Papers. Los Angeles, California: GSIL Publications.
1996. Mandarin Technology. Taipei, Taiwan: Pyramid Press. ISBN: 9579268894.
Other Publications and Presentations
2002. Hanyu shengdiao de zhudao diwei [Tone dominance in Chinese]. Conference in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Journal of Zhongguo Yuwen. Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, June 27-July 1, 2002.
2001. Stress and the distribution of the neutral tone in Mandarin. In De Bao Xu (ed.), Chinese Phonology in Generative Grammar, San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 139-161.
2001. Contemporary China through Shunkouliur. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association, 36(1): 31-61.
2001. Jiunian yiguanzhi xuexiao xueke jiaoxue yingzao yingyu 'jinshen' fenwei de yanjiu [A research on creating the English immersion effect in the teaching of school subjects in nine-year compulsory schools]. Shanghai Education Research, 2001(10): 26-31. (With Zhu, Zhengping).
2001. Shuangyu jiaoxue: yige ri qu zhongyao de jiaoxue wenti [Bilingual education: A problem of increasing importance]. Putuo Jiaoyu [Putuo Education], 2001(3): 11-12. (With Zhu, Zhengping).
2001. Shuangyu jiaoxue yanjiu de hongguan sikao [Thoughts on Bilingual Education Research]. Papers on Bilingual Education Research. Shanghai, China: New Huangpu Experimental School. pp. 8-9.
2001. Integrated Science: A Curriculum for Grades 7, 8, 10 and 11 China-Canada Bilingual Program. New Century School, Guangdong China.
2001. World Cultures: A Curriculum for Grades 7, 8, 10 and 11 China-Canada Bilingual Program. New Century School, Guangdong China.
2001. Evaluation of the China-Canada Bilingual Program (CCBP) New Century School, Dongguan, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
2000. Toward a model of international collaboration in education. Center for Asia-Pacific Initiatives Newsletter, University of Victoria, November Issue.
2000. An HPSG analysis of Mandarin de sentences. Proceedings of the Eleventh North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics, GSIL Publications, University of Southern California. (With Lili Ma).
1999. Putonghua qingsheng diaozhi de zonghe fenxi (A unified analysis of the neutral tone values in Mandarin). In Lu, Shinan, Xiandai Yuyinxue Lunwenji, [Papers on Modern Phonetics and Phonology]. Beijing, China: Golden City Press. pp. 175-183.
1998. Diaosu lun ji Putonghua liandu biandiao [The theory of tone and Mandarin tone sandhi]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Chinese Language],1998(1):31-39.
1998. Jinan:An endangered dialect. Yuen Ren Society Conference on Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, University of Washington, USA, February, 1998. (With Zhiyun Cao).
1998. Shunkouliu: the voice medium of the Chinese masses. Annual CAPI Campus Forum. University of Victoria, Canada, February, 1998.
Contemporary China through Shunkouliu. Asian Pop Conference. University of Victoria, Canada, April, 1998.
1997. (editor). NACCL-9 Manual of abstracts. The Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics, University of Victoria, May 1997.
1997. The impact of syllable simplification among Chinese dialects. The Thirtieth International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Beijing, China, August, 1997.
1997. Putonghua liandu biandiao xintan [A new approach to Mandarin tone sandhi]. The First Conference on Mandarin Dialects, Qingdao, China, July, 1997.
1996. Phonetics or phonolgy: Mandarin neutral tone revisited. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Volume 2, Pp. 219-233. University of Wisconsin.