HKU linguist Prof. Kofi Yakpo on YouTube vodcast discussing his research on African Caribbean English Creole—a 150-million-speaker transatlantic language cluster including Nigerian Pidgin and Jamaican Creole: Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9V6UArHH8 Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckMmUXP8nFs
“Machine-learning errors in Hong Kong Sign Language handshape recognition reflect markedness patterns attested in learning” published in Sign Language & Linguistics We report on a new publication by Frank, Aaron, Arthur, Jeff and Youngah, recently published in Sign Language & Linguistics. The paper, “Machine-learning errors in Hong Kong Sign Language handshape recognition reflect markedness patterns attested in learning”, is now available online. This study examines how errors made by a machine-learning model trained to recognise handshapes in Hong Kong Sign Language compare with the kinds of errors produced by human learners. Handshapes are a fundamental part of sign language structure [...]
“An Expanded Model for Perceptual Norming: Insights From Japanese Ideophones” published in Topics in Cognitive Science We report a new publication by Bonnie, Youngah, Arthur, and John in Topics in Cognitive Science. The paper titled “An expanded model for perceptual norming: Insights from Japanese ideophones.” It investigates how sensory experience is encoded in Japanese ideophones, a class of vivid words often described as sound‑symbolic. Using perceptual strength ratings across 13 sensory dimensions, the study moves beyond the traditional five‑ or six‑sense model. The results show that so‑called visual dominance is driven mainly by movement, while other visual properties such as [...]
The Linguistics Society recently had the wonderful opportunity to step out of the campus and connect with a younger audience. They were invited to host an English Assembly at Christian Alliance SC Chan Memorial College. In this event, they shared interesting linguistics concepts related to daily life with secondary school students through interactive games. The audience participated actively and brought incredible energy to the assembly! Well done the Linguistics Society. The Linguistics Society at HKU is run by students. If you are interested in organizing similar events by the Linguistics Society, please reach out to us. Linguistics Society Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hku_lingsoc/ [...]
Maksymilian Dąbkowski & Scott AnderBois. 2026. The apprehensional domain in A’ingae (Cofán). In Martina Faller, Marine Vuillermet & Eva Schultze-Berndt (eds.), Apprehensional constructions in a cross-linguistic perspective, 77–117. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19708126 This paper provides the first detailed description of the apprehensional domain in A’ingae (Cofán, iso 639-3: con), with the cross-linguistic category of apprehension defined as a mixed modality encoding both undesirability and epistemic possibility. We contribute to the study of apprehensional typology by reporting on a language of a so far unattested profile: one apprehensional morpheme =sa’ne ‘APPR’ spanning robust precautioning uses (both avertive and ‘in-case’), [...]
Convenor: Jesús Olguín-Martínez (University of Hong Kong) Location: University of Hong Kong Linguistics Department Date: 2-3-March-2027 Description. Different linguistic theories have established boundaries among grammatical domains (Diessel 2019, 2023). In contrast, Usage-Based Construction Grammar (Usage-Based CxG) advocates for an integrated perspective of human language (Golberg 1995). Although research within this linguistic framework has deepened our understanding of language as an emergent system, several areas warrant further investigation, such as: 1. The bidirectional nature of taxonomic links, e.g., the attraction that a verb lemma exerts on a construction and the attraction that a construction exerts on a verb lemma (Diessel 2019: [...]
“Modeling the impact of prenatal audio attenuation on speech sound learning” published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition We are pleased to share a new publication from Ivy, Frank and Youngah in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. The paper, titled “Modeling the impact of prenatal audio attenuation on speech sound learning,” examines how human infants appear to have substantial knowledge of the sound structure of their native language at birth, despite the fact that the uterine environment strongly limits auditory input to low-frequency sounds. The study explores whether this prenatal low-frequency exposure may [...]
Sande H, Clem E, Dąbkowski M. Discontinuous vowel harmony in Guébie: Cyclic interleaving of syntax and phonology. Language. Published online 2026:1-32. Doi:10.1017/S009785072600007X This article introduces the phenomenon of discontinuous harmony, where the target and trigger of harmony are separated by intervening nonharmonizing words. We present a case study from Guébie (Kru; Côte d’Ivoire) in which particle verbs are split via focus movement. Despite appearing at opposite edges of the clause, the verb controls harmony on the particle without affecting the vowels of intervening material. While discontinuous harmony would appear to violate locality, we offer an analysis that involves local harmony [...]
Linguistic experience and processing speed differentially affect lexical retrieval and structural assembly during language production - Professor Mohammad Momenian Published: 02 March 2026 https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-026-01861-x Abstract Our ability to produce words and sentences relies on lexical retrieval and structural assembly processes, which are supported by domain-general skills. In the present study, we adopted an individual-differences approach to examine how linguistic experience and domain-general skills jointly contribute to language production at different levels of complexity. Our participants (n = 169) completed three production tasks that capitalized on lexical retrieval (picture naming) and structural assembly (phrase generation and sentence generation) processes, respectively. In [...]
Gašper Beguš, Maksymilian Dąbkowski, Ronald L. Sprouse, David F. Gruber, Shane Gero; The phonology of sperm whale coda vowels. Proc Biol Sci 1 April 2026; 293 (2069): 20252994. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.2994 Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) communicate using series of clicks known as codas. In previous research, sperm whale codas have been shown to resemble human vowels acoustically. Based on the number of formants, two different coda quality categories have been described: a-codas and i-codas. In the present paper, we demonstrate that sperm whale codas not only resemble human vowels acoustically but also pattern like them along several linguistic dimensions. First, traditional count- [...]
Linguistics Seminar – Language comprehension involves multiple levels of structure processing Date: 23 Apr 2026 (Thursday) Start Time: 4:00 pm Speaker: Prof. Suhail Matar (Assistant Professor of Neurolinguistics in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge) Venue: CPD LG.08, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Linguistics seminar – From Linguistic Input to Neural Representation: How the Brain Learns Language Date: 16 Apr 2026 (Thursday) Start Time: 4:00 pm Speaker: Prof. Feng Gangyi (Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages at The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Venue: CPD LG.08, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
“Iconicity and semantic transparency in Hong Kong Sign Language: Evidence from ratings and three guessing paradigms” published in Language and Cognition By HKU Linguistics Post date 2026-04-02 We are pleased to announce the publication of a new article in Language and Cognition by Arthur, Aaron, Mavies, Rachel, Judy and Youngah, titled Iconicity and semantic transparency in Hong Kong Sign Language: Evidence from ratings and three guessing paradigms. This study investigates how strongly signs in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) are perceived to resemble their meanings, a property known as iconicity, and how this relates to how easily meanings can be [...]
Thoughts on morphological spread Date: 9 Apr 2026 (Thu) Time: 4:00 pm Venue: CPD LG.08 Centennial Campus
Big questions, little data: exploiting NLP methods for language variation and change Date: 26 Mar 2026 (Thu) Time: 4:00 pm Venue: CPD LG.08 Centennial Campus
Outermost wins in Dinka and the theory of nonconcatenative morphology Date: 12 Mar 2026 (Thu) Time: 4:00 pm Zoom: https://hku.zoom.us/j/97684494584?pwd=beh8mFIFjrVVB2DMaSTj57UlveXCub.1 Meeting ID: 976 8449 4584 Password: 899952
Leveraging large language models to understand real-world language use Date: 5 Mar 2026 (Thu) Time: 4:00 pm Venue: CPD LG.08 Centennial Campus
A new method for the analysis of language contact situations Date: 26 Feb 2026 (Thu) Time: 4:00 pm Venue: CPD LG.08 Centennial Campus
Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. The link between syntax, semantics, discourse, and lexicon in counteridenticals: A multivariate extension of co-varying collexeme analysis. Functions of Language (published online). https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.24101.olg The present study goes beyond traditional Usage-Based Construction Grammar research in that it pays close attention not only to the interaction of lexicon and syntax in language use, but also to how other analytic layers of analysis (e.g., discourse) can influence the compatibility of lexemes in particular slots of constructional schemas. The paper provides a novel way to explore the following question: how do syntax, semantics, discourse, and lexicon [...]
Filler-slot relations in language contact: Lexico-syntactic transference from a usage-based perspective – Jesús Olguín-Martinez Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Filler-slot relations in language contact: Lexico-syntactic transference from a usage-based perspective. Review of Cognitive Linguistics (published online). https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00250.olg The study investigates the influence of Mexican Spanish similative (e.g., he swims like a fish) and pretence constructions (e.g., he swims as if he were a fish) on those found in four Mesoamerican languages: Huasteca Nahuatl, Papantla Totonac, San Gabriel Huastec, and Uxpanapa Chinantec. Using predictive modeling, we demonstrate that these indigenous languages have not only borrowed the markers komo [...]
