SCHOOL OF ENGLISH



Researcher : Baxter KI
Project Title:Literature and infrastructure in the period of western Africa’s decolonization
Investigator(s):Baxter KI
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:01/2008
Completion Date:06/2010
Abstract:
The overall objective of this research is to explore the connection between literature, policy making, and the practical experience of infrastructure on the west coast of Africa during the mid-twentieth century. In other words, this is research in the discipline of literary study (literary history) that examines the continuities between the fictions of literature and the real-world conditions of people’s lives and livelihood, in the broad intellectual context of postcolonial studies. The west coast of Africa experienced major changes in the twentieth century and particularly during the period of decolonization. These changes impacted not only the political complexion of the region but also the practical provision of infrastructure, notably transport, healthcare, and education. The first aim of this research is to delineate how writers presented these three areas of infrastructure, in literature from and about mid-century Nigeria and Sierra Leone in particular. The second aim of the research is to trace to what extent and how literature influenced policy development for transport, healthcare, and education in the region during the period of decolonization. In order to trace this influence policy documents, such as speeches and reports of the period, will be examined for evidence of literary borrowing (at the level of linguistic tropes, images, metaphors, etc.). Nigeria and Sierra Leone provide complementary test cases. Their different geographies, histories and literary outputs are counterbalanced by their shared heritage of British colonialism. Both regions have inspired Anglophone fiction across a range of genres throughout and beyond the twentieth century. Key issues to be addressed include: ∙ How often does transport/healthcare/education appear in fiction of the period? ∙ Are they more or less prevalent in particular genres? ∙ How are these three presented when they do appear? ∙ What are the political/cultural/social implications of these representational choices? ∙ To what extent and how did literature about Africa influence policy of the late colonial and newly decolonized administrations? ∙ Where and how is this influence evidenced in policy texts?


Project Title:11th Annual Conference of the Modernist Studies Association “Hearing Voices: Aurality and Bilingualism in Conrad’s Fiction”
Investigator(s):Baxter KI
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:11/2009
Completion Date:11/2009
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Baxter K.I., Bilingualism in Conrad's Asian and European Fiction, Modernist Studies Association Conference. 2009.
Baxter K.I., Hearing Voices: The Sound of Speech in Conrad, Annual International Conference of the Joseph Conrad Society, UK. 2009.
Baxter K.I., Lord Jim: A Character in Search of a Plot, In: Julia Keuhn and Tamara Wagner, Critical Survey. 2009, 21.1: 105-119.


Researcher : Bolton KR
Project Title:The 7th International Association for World Englishes Conference (IAWE 2000) Chinese Englishes: From Canton Jargon to Global English
Investigator(s):Bolton KR
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:12/2000
Abstract:
N/A


Project Title:The study of English in Hong Kong: the international corpus of English project in Hong Kong (HK-ICE)
Investigator(s):Bolton KR, Nelson GA, Luke KK
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:07/2002
Abstract:
The project attempts to advance the Hong Kong component of the global International Corpus of English (ICE) Project which is a highly prestigious and productive international research project on the English language. The existence of this database will facilitate comparative studies of Hong Kong English, UK and US English, as well as studies of Asian Englishes.




Researcher : Chen KHY
Project Title:Overseas returnees’ linguistic strategies in multilingual Hong Kong: a corpus and sociolinguistic analysis
Investigator(s):Chen KHY
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:06/2009
Abstract:
Overseas returnees (those who have migrated overseas then returned) in Hong Kong have recently drawn more and more attention because of their increasing number and influences in the Hong Kong society. The most recent government census reported that 3.5% of the Hong Kong population are ethnic Chinese who hold a foreign passport in Hong Kong (i.e. over 240,000). Recently there have been studies done in population research and social geography of returnees in Hong Kong (Ley and Kobayashi 2005, Sussman 2005, Waters 2005, 2007), but none in linguistics/sociolinguistics except the PI’s previous research on returnees’ linguistic practices and ideologies (Chen 2008). Yet a sociolinguistic approach to translational studies has much to offer in providing us unique insights and perspectives into social relations of these people in transition that are different from, but complementary to, other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The PI currently has an extra data pool of 110 hours of natural conversation audio recording, and 20 hours of video recording of returnee and local bilinguals’ language use which were collected during the PI’s dissertation fieldwork between 2004-2005 but because of the scope and different focus of the dissertation research the bulk of these data were not processed and used. This research is a follow-up (from Chen 2008) data collection and processing aiming at (1) to build a corpus out of these “extra” recording as well as from collecting new data (targeted at 200 hours of natural conversation recording); (2) to analyze the corpus using Conversation Analysis approach (a different approach from the PI’s previous research) with an emphasis of “doing being bilinguals” (cf. recent linguistic anthropological and sociolinguistic discourse on using Conversation Analyais for the study of language as social action, e.g. Cashman 2001). The PI hopes this research will contribute to our knowledge of how multilinguals maneuver in their social world using different linguistic resources (code choices, word choices, phonological choices, and choices of structure and degree of language mixing). This research will add to current literature and further explore how the interplay of language, identity and ideology inform the linguistic practices, social networks, and self (re)positioning of these social participants. Specifically, this research has the following objectives: (1) To inform discussion of transnationality in a local, micro level in which individual practice and experience are examined. (2) To investigate the sociolinguistic contexts of returnees by o qualitatively tracking their linguistic and social networks via natural speech recording, interviews and other ethnographic means. o exploring their identity negotiation process when moving from one continent to another o examining their micro-level linguistic interactions and situating their practices in macro socio-political trajectories they undertook (3) To enhance our understanding of multilingualism by examining the following: o How transnational multilinguals use linguistic resources in different settings with different interlocutors? o Do these transnationals exhibit ability to switch between code-mixing styles? If so, how do they do it (in terms of conversational strategies) and how their patterns differ from Hong Kong local multilinguals?


Project Title:108th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association NATURALIZING LAZINESS: RENEGOTIATING CANTONESE IDENTITY AT THE EDGE OF POST-COLONIAL HONG KONG
Investigator(s):Chen KHY
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:12/2009
Completion Date:12/2009
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Chen K.H.Y., Naturalizing Laziness: Renegotiating Cantonese Identity at the Edge of Post-colonial Hong Kong , American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. 2009.


Researcher : Colleman T
List of Research Outputs

Colleman T. and Noel D., Gezegd worden + te-infinitief: een verouderde evidentiële constructie. [Dutch gezegd worden (‘be said to’) + te-infinitive: an archaic evidential construction.] , Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal en Letterkunde [Journal for Dutch Language and Literature]. Leiden, Maatschappij der Nederlandse letterkunde, 2009, 125: 385-403.
Noel D. and Colleman T., ACI and NCI FIND and the development of evidentiality in Modern English, with a note on Dutch (BE)VINDEN, In: Stef Slembrouck, Miriam Taverniers & Mieke Van Herreweghe, From WILL to WELL: Studies in linguistics offered to Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. Ghent, Academia Press, 2009, 337-346.
Noel D. and Colleman T., The Dutch evidential NCI: A construction that didn't quite make it, LAUD Series A: General & Theoretical Papers. Essen, LAUD Linguistic Agency, 2010, A756: i-ii + 1-27.
Noel D. and Colleman T., The Dutch evidential NCI: A construction that didn’t quite make it, 34th International LAUD Symposium, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau/Pfalz, Germany, 15-18 March. 2010.


Researcher : Ding Y
List of Research Outputs

Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Patterns in metaphor translation: Translating FEAR metaphors between English and Chinese, In: Richard Xiao, Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies. Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010, 40-61.
Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Poetic metaphor and everyday metaphor: A corpus-based contrastive study of metaphors of SADNESS in poetry and non-literary discourse, The 2009 Metaphor Festival, Stockholm University, Sweden, 10-11 September. 2009.


Researcher : Gan WCH
Project Title:The pursuit of privacy: modernity and femininity in early twentieth century British women's writing
Investigator(s):Gan WCH
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2007
Completion Date:11/2009
Abstract:
This project is concerned with women's desire for privacy and by extension the desire to be modern as negotiated through texts written by women in early twentieth century Britain. Examining a range of modernist and non-modernist texts, I intend to study the female pursuit and appropriation of privacy and the ways this was perceived to be modern. (1) To explore the emancipatory and progressive potential of spatial privacy for women. (2) To examine the discourses of British women writers on the subject of privacy: Are there female forms of privacy? What are the responses of women to a lack of privacy? (3) To study the implications of this desire for privacy on women's relations to modernity and femininity.


Project Title:Re-imagining China and the Chinese in British Middlebrow Writing and Culture, 1910-1939
Investigator(s):Gan WCH
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:03/2010
Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to show that middlebrow culture, principally in the 1920s and 30s, was keenly aware of geo-political changes that were re-shaping east-west encounters and was invested in imaginatively finding new ways to evaluate encounters between China and the West. Middlebrow fiction at times shares much with travel writing and often descriptive passages in novels or stage set-ups in plays echo the more picturesque elements of travel discourses. Yet the freedom to invent and imagine in middlebrow writing enabled writers to revive, and sometimes subvert, tropes to narrativize the changing British encounter with China and the Chinese and in doing so, re-think such engagements. Though for a number of writers the solutions reached remained conservative – along the lines of ‘East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet’ - there were also other middlebrow writers who were envisioning alternatives that would create new ways of meeting, respecting and experiencing the Other. Some of the key issues I hope to investigate are to do with the increasing connectivity of the early twentieth century modern world and the middlebrow writer’s awareness of these changes and exploration of the implications of such new developments. In a world where cultures were mixing, where the Eastern Other was in increasing contact with the Western self and even learning from the West, the problem of re-thinking cross-cultural relations becomes acute. Some of the key issues I hope to explore are: 1. The anxiety over racial purity and hybridity. This also raises questions of cultural purity and hybridity. 2. The spectre of the Eurasian and what this figure means and symbolizes. 3. The anxiety over the decline of the West and the rise of the East as figured by the Western-educated Chinese native. 4. The alternatives proposed by middlebrow writers for coping with these anxieties and re-imagining them.


List of Research Outputs

Gan W.C.H., 'The Feminine Middlebrow Novel Abroad: Ann Bridge's Peking Picnic', Middlebrow Cultures. Glasgow, 2009.


Researcher : Gisborne NS
Project Title:1st International Conference on Construction Grammar This Books as if might be a Construction: an Account of Quirky Complement Clauses
Investigator(s):Gisborne NS
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:04/2001
Abstract:
N/A




Researcher : Heim O
Project Title:American pragmatism and cross-cultural poetics
Investigator(s):Heim O
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:11/2007
Abstract:
The main objective of this project is to explore as yet little realized opportunities for dialogue and cross-fertilization between two distinct American intellectual and imaginative traditions, both of which emphasize the importance of responding to and engaging with cultural difference and conflict: the tradition of pragmatist thought, promoted by Dewey, James, Mead and Peirce in the context of the transformation of American society through rapid immigration, corporate organization and the emergence of the US as an imperial power; and the tradition of cross-cultural aesthetics, developed by African American writers and artists against the background of the creolization of cultures in plantation societies under slavery and recently most eloquently elaborated by Caribbean writers like Brathwaite, Glissant, Harris, and Walcott. The project is motivated by the recognition of rhetorical affinities between writers from both of these traditions, despite only occasional direct reference, which indicates their participation in a broader transnational critique of European modernity. Preliminary research has disclosed two sites from which to begin a more systematic investigation of the possibilities of articulating the two traditions in a historical account of an American imagination that recognizes cultural contact and conflict as opportunities for creation and self-invention based on the ability to respond to the presence of others: African American creative and critical writing as it emerged at the end of the 19th century alongside pragmatism, and a recent renewal of interest in pragmatism in the context of transnational American studies, especially Giles Gunn’s suggestion of a dialogue between pragmatism and postcolonial studies in _Beyond Solidarity: Pragmatism and Difference in a Globalized World_ (Chicago, 2001). The project aims to follow that lead by building on my recent research on African American literature of the turn of the twentieth century (Charles Chesnutt) as well as contemporary postcolonial literature, including Caribbean writing. The project has the following two specific objectives: (1) a comparative rhetorical analysis of (classic and more recent) pragmatist writings and articulations of cross-cultural poetics in African American and Caribbean writings. The analysis is expected to inform an argument about the potential of pragmatism to underpin "a hermeneutics of otherness" (Gunn 71) and its own status as an imaginative discourse subscribing to a cross-cultural aesthetics. (2) to test the historical validity of the comparative analysis and perspective that the project aims to elaborate by undertaking pragmatist readings of selected texts from various American contact zones. While such readings seem immediately productive for African American texts and postmodern ethnic minority writing, this project will specifically seek to identify and examine cross-cultural texts and literary sites from earlier periods of American history such as the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In terms of outputs, the objective of the project is to publish two journal articles, as well as to lay the conceptual foundation for a book-length project for which external funding can be sought at the end of the project's duration.


Project Title:Pacific indigeneities and globalization: commodification, self-determination, and literary creativity
Investigator(s):Heim O
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2010
Abstract:
To contribute to the theorization of indigeneity in relation to debates about cosmopolitanism, planetarity, and global modernity; to describe and analyze the discursive and symbolic strategies adopted by Pacific writers in response to histories of cross-cultural contact and transnational influence; to identify and assess the innovative capacities of Pacific writing for resituating indigenous agendas and shaping attitudes toward conflicts within indigeneity; to advance the critical study of Pacific writing and promote critical recognition of less explored texts; to make an innovative contribution to the analytical and interpretive methodologies of cross-cultural studies




Researcher : Ho EYL
Project Title:A critical study of anglophone Hong Kong literature
Investigator(s):Ho EYL
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2007
Completion Date:12/2009
Abstract:
(1) Develop a database on published anglophone Hong Kong Literature. (2) Update referencing of Key theoretical material. (3) Develop and refine conceptual questions. (4) Select and organize texts from the database for critical analyses. (5) Develop draft plan for critical book. (6) Write draft chapters of critical book. (7) Prepare book proposal and draft chapters for submission to publishers.


List of Research Outputs

Ho E.Y.L., Biliteracy and anglophone Hong Kong Writing, Politics of English in Asia: Language Politics and Cultural Expression, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. 2009.
Ho E.Y.L., Bilteracy and Anglophone Hong Kong Writing, The Politics of English in Asia: Language Policy and Cultural Expression organized by the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore. 2009.


Researcher : Hutton CM
Project Title:The languages of race 1789-1945: a historical-comparative analysis of racial classification
Investigator(s):Hutton CM
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:09/2008
Abstract:
1) To provide a single-volume account of the history of racial terminology in the modern era (1789-1945). 2) To track fluctuations and instabilities in the meanings of key terms, their translation and diffusion, in order to develop an "accumulation" model of human identity. 3) To demonstrate that an understanding of the history of racial theory as progressing from essentialism to social constructivism is over-simplified. 4) To increase understanding of the socio-political contexts in which the language of race arises. 5) To inform discussion about the relationship between racial theorizing and socio-political phenomena (slavery, colonialism, liberalism, nationalism, Nazism). 6) To provide a historically based understanding of the global impact and diffusion of racial classification in societies living under the impact of modernity. 7) To use intellectual history to promote a better understanding between the "two cultures" of humanities/social sciences and science.


Project Title:XX Internationales Kolloquium des "Studienkreis 'Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft'" (SGdS) The dead-end of an autonomous linguistics: rereading Simmel and Saussure on system, value and exchange
Investigator(s):Hutton CM
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:07/2009
Completion Date:07/2009
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Hutton C.M., Grammaticality And The English Teacher In Hong Kong: An Integrationist Analysis, In: Michael Toolan, Language Teaching and Integrational Linguistics. New York & London, Routledge, 2009, 88-103.
Hutton C.M., The dead-end of an autonomous linguistics: rereading Simmel and Saussure on system, value and exchange, Conference on ‘Ordnen’ und ‘Tradieren’, XX. Internationales Kolloquium des Studienkreis 'Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft', Laer, Münster, Germany. 2009.


Researcher : Kang MA
Project Title:Patient-centered genetic counseling: linguistic and interactional strategies for encouraging patient participation
Investigator(s):Kang MA, Zayts OA, Tang MHY
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:11/2007
Completion Date:11/2009
Abstract:
A patient-centered approach to medical encounters has been widely advocated in the literature (Bertakis 1991; Safran et al. 1998; Bartz 1999; Epstein 2000; Smith et al. 2000; Krupat et al. 2001; Little et al. 2001; Berry et al. 2003; Weston 2005; Andrewson et al. 2005; Duggan et al. 2006). The idea behind the approach is based on the ‘therapeutic alliance’ between the patient and the medical provider wherein both parties share the responsibilities and the power (Duggan et al. 2006), and the patient participates actively in the negotiation and making of decisions during the medical consultation. It is generally agreed that the collaboration between the patient and the medical provider leads to more enhanced outcomes such as increased patient satisfaction and appreciation, patient adherence to the prescribed therapy, decreased symptoms and less frequent use of health service resources (Stewart et al. 2000; Little et al 2001; Duggan et al. 2006). In certain medical contexts, when dealing with particularly vulnerable patients, such as, for example, pregnant women, patient-centeredness acquires even greater significance. In such circumstances, it also becomes an ethical and moral consideration for the medical provider, which is why the approach has been largely adopted as a model of medical practice in prenatal genetic counseling. Evidence for the importance of patient-centeredness in prenatal genetic counseling can be seen, for example, in the large number of publications on informed choice in this setting (Gekas et al. 1999; Emery 2001; Kaiser et al. 2002; Barratt et al. 2004; Bekker et al. 2004; Michie et al. 2002; Michie et al. 2003; Gates 2004; Weinstein 2005; Woolf et al. 2005). Informed choice in prenatal genetic counseling can be defined as providing the patient with sufficient and good quality information on the available prenatal screening and testing options allowing her to make an autonomous informed choice of one of the options (Marteau and Dormandy 2001; Browner et al. 2003; Bekker et al. 2004; Dormandy et al. 2006). Informed choice implies active engagement of the patient into the discussion of the testing and screening options and their potential benefits, drawbacks, and implications during the consultation. In prenatal genetic counseling the role of the medical provider is that of a facilitator. It is essentially the patient who decides what testing and screening option she would like to take, or if she would prefer not to opt for genetic testing and screening. In a pilot study of prenatal genetic counseling in Hong Kong conducted by the research team in 2005 - 2006 we observed the correlation between patient participation in the decision-making process and language proficiency of the patient. Lower language proficiency of the patient often resulted in less active participation. As a result it is unclear how the patient arrives at a decision of a testing and screening option, and to what extent the patient’s understands and bases the decision on the medical information provided during the consultations, or, in other words, to what extent the decision is an informed one. The purpose of this project is to study how patient participation can be encouraged in the process of achieving informed choice despite different language proficiency of the patients. It is planned that the data for the project will be collected in Tsan Yuk hospital in Hong Kong. The consultations in the hospital are conducted by Cantonese-speaking staff, and the patients include both native and non-native speakers of English. We will look at patient participation from two perspectives: 1) how patient participation is displayed in the consultations; and 2) linguistic and interactional strategies used by the medical provider that encourage patient participation. In particular, we are interested in different displays of patient participation. Preliminary data analysis has demonstrated that patient participation in the consultation is often limited to acknowledgement tokens and clarification questions. However, there is also evidence of patients asking content-based questions. We would like to investigate in what parts of the consultation the patients ask questions, the types of questions the patients ask and the patterns of the communicative behavior of the nurse that encourage the patients to ask questions. Linguistic strategies used by the medical providers include both verbal and non-verbal means of communication. We believe that in the circumstances of non-native language proficiency of the patient non-verbal means of communication acquire great significance. For example, the preliminary data analysis has demonstrated that the medical provider routinely employs laughter as a mitigating strategy when discussing face-threatening issues. Laughter is also employed to build rapport and to encourage patient participation in the discussion of the screening and testing options. It is hoped that the proposed research will lead to a clearer understanding of the linguistic and interactional means of how patient participation can be encouraged. Increased patient participation can ensure that the concerns of the patient are heard and addressed during the consultation and the choice of the screening or testing option is made based on the medical information provided in the consultation. It also means that active patient participation enables the medical personnel to tailor the provision of the medical services to each particular patient.


List of Research Outputs

Kang M.A. and Zayts O.A., Guest editor of special issue: "Medical Communication in the Asia Context", In: M. Agnes Kang and Olga Zayts, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. John Benjamins, 2010, 20 (2).
Kang M.A., Influence Of Sociocultural Categories On Bilingual Interaction, In: P. Li (General Editor); C. Lee, Y. Kim, & G. Simpson, Eds., Handbook Of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Part III: Korean Psycholinguistics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, 3: 344-350.
Kang M.A. and Zayts O.A., Interactional difficulties as a resource for patient participation in a prenatal counseling setting in Hong Kong, 8th Interdisciplinary Conference: Communication, Medicine & Ethics; Boston University School of Public Health & College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. 2010.
Kang M.A. and Zayts O.A., Patient participation within a globalised patient population: Interactional difficulties in a prenatal counseling context in Hong Kong, In: M. Agnes Kang and Olga Zayts, guest editors, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. John Benjamins, 2010, 20 (2): 169-184.
Zayts O.A. and Kang M.A., Communication in healthcare settings: Interactional perspectives from Asia, In: M. Agnes Kang and Olga Zayts, guest editors, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. John Benjamins, 2010, 20 (2): 165-168.
Zayts O.A. and Kang M.A., Information delivery in prenatal genetic counseling: On the role of initial inquiries, In: M. Agnes Kang and Olga Zayts, guest editors, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. John Benjamins, 2010, 20 (2): 243-259.


Researcher : Kerr DWF
Project Title:Conan Doyle and modernity
Investigator(s):Kerr DWF
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2007
Completion Date:12/2009
Abstract:
To reseach and write a monograph on the topic of Conan Doyle and Modernity


Project Title:Conrad and Creativity
Investigator(s):Kerr DWF
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:04/2008
Abstract:
Joseph Conrad is one of the most important of modern novelists in English, but he is also unique in several ways which make a study of his creativity potentially valuable and complex. Although a great English writer, he was not English, but was born in Russian-dominated Poland and learned English as his third or fourth language. More than most writers, he lived an active and adventurous life, as a sailor and ship’s officer in French and later English merchant vessels, which directly provided much material for his fiction. This project is an investigation of “invention” in Conrad, both in the Aristotelian sense of the tactics of composition, and in the more general sense of the making-up of stories. It foregrounds his first novel, Almayer's Folly. Conrad always maintained that he was not gifted at invention, and that most of his work was drawn from memory. On the other hand, literary composition was extremely difficult and painful for him as his letters attest. This project seeks to investigate the sources of Conrad’s creativity as a writer. It begins with the hypothesis that the nature of Conrad’s art is fundamentally shaped by the cultural and linguistic circumstances that determined his capacity for invention. The key issues can be framed as follows: • How did Conrad become a writer? • What is the relation between memory and invention in his fiction? • How much can his autobiographical writing and knowledge of his life illuminate his creativity? • What were the psychological roots of his literary invention? • What were the linguistic roots of his literary invention? • What were the rhetorical roots of his literary invention? • What can a study of the case of Conrad tell us about the surge of original cultural production in the era of modernism? • How can theories of creativity – Romantic, modernist, and contemporary – help us understand the unique case of Conrad? • What can a study of the case of Conrad tell us about creativity in general?


Project Title:Research Output Prize
Investigator(s):Kerr DWF
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Research Output Prize (in Faculty)
Start Date:12/2009
Abstract:
To identify and recognize the best research outputs in different faculties.


Project Title:CONRAD AND INVENTION
Investigator(s):Kerr DWF
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2010
Abstract:
The project objective is to prepare a scholarly monograph that will make an important contribution to literary studies, and the understanding of the work of Joseph Conrad, by addressing the following key questions: 1) How can theories of creativity – Romantic, modernist, and contemporary – help us understand the unique case of Conrad? 2) How did Conrad become a writer, and how did he write? 3) What is the relation between memory and invention in his fiction? 4) What were the psychological, linguistic, and rhetorical conditions of his literary invention? 5) What can a study of the case of Conrad tell us about the surge of original cultural production in the era of European modernism and empire? 6) What can a study of the case of Conrad tell us about the relation between creativity and invention, and about creativity in general?


List of Research Outputs

Kerr D.W.F., "'A Fraud Called John Buchan': Buchan, Joseph Conrad and Literary Theft", In: Kate Macdonald, Reassessing John Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-nine Steps. London, Pickering and Chatto, 2009, 141-152.
Kerr D.W.F., Arthur Conan Doyle and the Consumption Cure, Centre for the Humanities and Medicine, University of Hong Kong. 2010.
Kerr D.W.F., Chinese Boxes: 'Typhoon' and Conrad's History of the Chinese, Clio, A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History. Indiana University Purdue, 2009, 39:1: 29-52.
Kerr D.W.F., Research Output Prize 2008-2009, University of Hong Kong. 2010.
Kerr D.W.F., The Straight Left: Sport and the Nation in Arthur Conan Doyle, Victorian Literature and Culture. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010, 38:1: 187-206.


Researcher : Kuehn JC
Project Title:Virginia Woolf and Exoticism
Investigator(s):Kuehn JC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:11/2007
Completion Date:11/2009
Abstract:
This project in literary scholarship is an important attempt to reconsider the relationship between 'the West' and 'the East' in the works of one of the central female modernist authors, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). The texts examined are primarily 'The Voyage Out' (1915), 'Orlando' (1928), and 'The Waves' (1931), but reference to her other novels, her short stories and particularly her critical essays will also be drawn. Constituting central works in the canon of modernist literature, Woolf's novels have been discussed by a large number of critics, but so far no critic has looked at these novels through the framework of the exotic. Woolf's novels abound in references to men and women working in the colonial service, to contact with foreign cultures, and the feeling of bewilderment in face of this 'strangeness'. I have in a previous project established the exotic as a central theoretical framework for the late-Victorian/ early modernist cross-cultural encounter; a theoretical framework derived from anthropological, literary and critical, colonial and postcolonial sources (see my Small Project 'Exoticism in the Popular Anglo-Indian Women's Novel, 1880-1920, funding awarded 19/10/2006). Virginia Woolf's works establish a unique and hitherto undocumented source in this context as exoticism is here no longer seen as an external point of reference - as in exotic landscapes, exotic food, exotic characters, exotic customs - but it is internalised, and, in line with the experience and documentation of modernist alienation, now understood as primarily being about facing 'the other within'.


Project Title:The Female Exotic: Sensationalism, Empire and Gender in Womens Writing 1880-1920'
Investigator(s):Kuehn JC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:01/2009
Abstract:
1) examine how exoticism has been theorized from the earliest ancient texts (Homer) via colonial texts (e.g. Victor Segalen) to recent postcolonial re-assessments (e.g., Francis Affergan, Chris Bongie, Roger Célestin, Dorothy Figueira, Graham Huggan, Peter Mason, Jean-Marc Moura, Tzvetan Todorov). 2) explore the differences in the representation of exotic otherness in canonical and popular texts of the period 1880-1920, which is, arguably, the period which simultaneously brought forth the dialectic between elite and popular writing. 3) compare and contrast exoticism in the literary texts of male authors with exoticism in the literary texts of female authors to provide a gendered reading of exoticism. 4) provide close, original, theory-informed readings of a number of better-known texts (notably Eliot and Woolf) and open up discussion in the area of forgotten and marginalized popular authors, thus creating a new field. 5) publish one critical monograph with an international academic press, like Routledge, Macmillan or Ashgate. I am expecting readers' reports in the spring of 2008, and also a commitment to publishing the monograph from at least one of the presses. 6) publish several refereed articles in international peer-reviewed journals, e.g. 'Victorian Literature and Culture', 'Nineteenth Century Literature', 'The Journal of Popular Culture', 'Women's Writing', 'English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920', 'Modern Fiction Studies'. 7) present a number of conference papers at international conferences, e.g. the British Association for Victorian Studies Annual Conference, the Australasian Victorian Studies Association Annual Conference or the (American) Annual Conference of the Nineteenth Century Studies Association.


Project Title:Trash or Triumph: Pearl S. Buck's Chinese Novels
Investigator(s):Kuehn JC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:01/2010
Abstract:
Pearl S. Buck's fifty-odd novels, autobiographies and short story collections were almost without exception bestsellers. Despite such popularism and frequent attacks of her works for their lack of literary distinction and merit, she received the Pulitzer Prize for her Chinese novel 'The Good Earth' (1932) and, to her opponents’ even greater surprise and dismay, the Nobel Prize for Literature a few years later (1938). Not only a novelist of many Chinese topic novels, Buck was also actively involved in early twentieth-century attempts to forge better political, economic and cultural relations between the USA and China: the expertise expressed in her numerous critical articles and pamphlets on China’s productivity, nationalism, warlords, students, women, peasants, famines, novels, friends and enemies, future, and the overseas Chinese in specifically America found the ears of Hoover’s, Roosevelt’s, Truman’s and Eisenhower’s Foreign Secretaries. And yet, despite such a biography and oeuvre, Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973) remains to this date both a mocked and under-researched figure in literary and cultural history, and specifically China-West relations. Born to American missionaries in China, raised in the years of the Revolution and its aftermath, a teacher of English literature at the University of Nanjing from the 1920s and an eye-witness to the ‘Nanking Incident’ in 1927, her Chinese novels, stories and essays, which this project focuses on, represent Chinese protagonists, landscapes, politics, plights and the occasional multi-ethnic marriage and ‘half-caste’ children with an insider’s and resident’s, and yet a distinctly western, perspective. Biographers like Peter Conn and Liao Kang portray Buck as friendly towards and fascinated by the Chinese and yet trapped within her ideological role as missionary and teacher of English language, literature and culture. The few critics to date, including Nicholas Clifford, Susan Thurin and Colin Mackerras, applaud Buck for her ‘good cultural intentions’, but criticize her for what they consider her stereotypical and ideology-informed portrayals of especially China’s cultural backwardness in the eyes of a modern America. China, argue these critics, remains in Buck's work a feminised other, unable to ‘masculinize’ and ‘occidentalize' herself enough to carve out a political and cultural influence in, and connection with, the west. However, reading Buck’s twenty-odd Chinese texts without discrimination through the lens of Orientalism is both simple and simplistic, as only one other critic, Karen Leong, has argued before me. Her complex and complicated oeuvre requires different parameters, as I will suggest in this project, and these are parameters that also distinguish my study from Leong’s: I will combine a discussion of Buck’s early-twentieth century representation of Chinese women with her representation of China as a foreign body, suggesting that in the same way that Buck portrays and advocates a gradually emancipating Chinese womanhood she suggests the possibility of China’s potential international political and economic rise. In fact, like Madame Sun Yat-sen, who was an acquaintance, Buck suggests that China’s international influence is intimately linked to her bettering the cultural and economic conditions of women. And such argument gains particular momentum when put into comparison with western women’s emancipation and America’s aggressive foreign policy in the early to mid-twentieth century – both of which have been labelled decidedly ‘masculine’ and both of which Buck had a lot to say about in her essays as well. There may be, in the end, no more than a spark of progressive thinking in Buck’s representations of Chinese women’s growing national and China’s growing international power, but even a trace must complicate and revise the previous readings of her work and warrant a new interpretation. The objectives of this project are thus to not only bring a neglected and maligned author back into the limelight of academic research but to also to revise the few previous readings of her oeuvre. Key issues and problems that will be investigated are the early and mid-twentieth century representations of Chinese women and China’s politics and economics, nationally and internationally, in Pearl Buck’s Chinese works.


Project Title:Australasian Victorian Studies Annual Conference 2010 (AVSA 2010) Orientalist Art Twice Re-Oriented: Margaret Murray Cookesley's Byzantine Harem Paintings
Investigator(s):Kuehn JC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:06/2010
Completion Date:06/2010
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Kuehn J.C., 'Amelia Edwards’s Picturesque Views of Cairo: Touring the Land, Framing the Foreign' , In: Stacey Floyd, Melissa Purdue, Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies. 2009, 5.3: n/a.
Kuehn J.C., 'Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann: Egypt 1870', Victorian Literature and Culture. 2010, 31:8: 255-64.
Kuehn J.C., 'Exotic Eroticism in the Anglo-Indian Women's Romance, 1880-1920: Moral and Narrative Responsibility', In: Daniel Jernigan, Neil Murphy, Brendan Quigley, Tamara Wagner, Literature and Ethics: Questions of Responsibility in Literary Studies. Amherst, NY, Cambria, 2009, 125-48.
Kuehn J.C., Orientalist Art Twice Re-Oriented: Margaret Murray Cookesley's Byzantine Harem Paintings, Re-Orienting Victorian Studies: Australasian Victorian Studies Association Annual Conference. 2010.
Kuehn J.C., Review: 'Realism, Photography, and Nineteenth-Century Fiction'. By Daniel A. Novak, Archiv fuer das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen. 2010, 247: 198-200.


Researcher : Leung JHC
Project Title:Individual Differences in the Implicit Learning of Form-Meaning Connections
Investigator(s):Leung JHC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:08/2008
Completion Date:07/2010
Abstract:
The goals of the project are to: examine individual differences in the implicit learning of form-meaning connections under controlled laboratory conditions; investigate an empirical gap in the literature of implicit learning, which is largely biased towards the study of form-form connections; and address the fundamental debate about the very nature of implicit learning – whether it is invariant and immune to individual differences. Key Issues and Problems Being Addressed -Why Implicit Learning? Implicit learning generally refers to the learning of a regularity in the environment without intending to learn it and without being aware of what it is. Conscious analysis plays little role in such a learning process, though conscious information may be required. It contrasts with explicit learning, where a learner performs conscious operations such as hypothesis testing, or analysis of recalled events in search for a pattern, rule or structure. The existence of implicit learning is itself a matter of debate. Implicit learning is considered a fundamental human ability to abstract knowledge from experience. However, it is a relatively new topic of study and its precise nature, mechanism and interaction with other modes of learning are not well understood. - Why Form-Meaning Connections? Implicit learning is critical to our understanding of the processes of language acquisition. Early first language acquisition is essentially implicit. Children acquire complex knowledge of the syntactic and morphological structure of their mother tongue effortlessly, without awareness that they have been learning or an ability to describe what has been learned. They do not need to know what a noun or a verb is, in order to put words in the right form and place in an utterance. Even adults – so long as they have not been trained in linguistics – have difficulty formulating their first language in terms of explicit rules. Researchers like Krashen (1994) and R Ellis (1994) hold that the majority of second language acquisition is also a result of implicit learning. Unfortunately, most researchers in implicit learning have chosen to focus on form-form connections that are completely deprived of meaning (such as regularity of letter strings in Artificial Grammar Learning, AGL, or sequence learning of visual stimuli in Serial Reaction Time experiments, SRT) and ignored form-meaning connections, which are arguably base units in language learning. As a result, it is very difficult to generalise data obtained in implicit learning experiments to language acquisition research or educational settings, despite the fact that language acquisition is an obvious application of implicit learning. If we were to find empirical support for the implicit learning of language, describe the conditions under which such learning may occur and bridge the knowledge gap between the study of implicit learning and that of language acquisition, we have to look beyond form-form connections and to examine form-meaning connections. - Why Individual Differences? The prevailing belief is that in contrast to explicit learning, implicit learning – being a fundamental and primitive form of learning – is highly specific, relatively long lasting, and insensitive to individual differences. For instance, Reber (1989, 1991) holds that performance on explicit learning correlates strongly with IQ, but implicit learning does not. More recently, Gebauer (2007) found that IQ did not correlate with AGL, process control and SRT learning when implicit instructions were used, but significant correlation was found under an explicit rule discovery instruction. Further support to this position has been provided by studies which revealed an intact implicit memory ability in amnesic patients who had impaired explicit memory. On the other hand, Woltz and Shute (1993) found reliable individual differences in repetition-priming effects, and such differences correlated with learning differences relative to the other cognitive measures (working memory, semantic knowledge, and semantic processing speed). They emphasised that individual differences in implicit memory processes may be consequential in the acquisition of semantic knowledge. Using fMRI, age-related differences have been identified in brain activity associated with a standard serial reaction time task in which adults outperformed children (Thomas et al., 2004). This challenges the assumption of developmental invariance in implicit learning. Norman et al. (2006) have found that a personality measure influences both awareness and learning in SRT experiments, and Vicari et al. (2008) have also observed implicit learning deficits in children with developmental dyslexia. The debate becomes more complicated when placed in the context of language acquisition. Assuming that first language is acquired implicitly, Reber’s position is consistent with the fact that all first language learners almost invariably achieve native fluency of their mother tongue, regardless of their intelligence. Krashen (1994) has argued that L2 development is also largely implicit. According to him, conscious efforts would only lead to learning but to acquire a language is to develop it unconsciously. The consensus in the study of second language acquisition that individual learner differences (such as beliefs about language learning, affective states, general factors including age, aptitude, learning style, motivation and personality; for details see R Ellis 1994) are abundant in 2LA, as exemplified by the variable success of adult second language learning, would be difficult to reconcile with the idea that 2LA is based on implicit learning, and that implicit learning is immune to individual differences. In addition to filling an empirical gap in this theoretical debate, an understanding of individual differences may also address validity concerns in implicit learning experiments, because if individual difference variables are neglected in experimental designs, their effects become hidden in the error variance.


Project Title:‘Obscenity’ Revisited – Some Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Investigator(s):Leung JHC, Wan MMH
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:01/2009
Abstract:
The primary purpose of this project is to re-consider the concept of ‘obscenity’ (and related terms such as ‘indecency’) in the specific context of the controversy surrounding the leakage on the internet of sexually explicit photographs depicting the Hong Kong celebrity Edison Chen. It aims to complement the existing legal framework of the law of obscenity by considering the controversy from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The existing law on obscenity in Hong Kong is based on English law, whereby an obscene publication is defined as one which, taken as a whole, has the tendency to deprave and corrupt its likely readers. There is a ‘public good’ defence, whereby an obscene publication will be allowed to circulate if it enhances public goods such as science, literature, art, or general learning. As legal academics have long noted, the existing statutory definition of obscenity is problematic as it fails to provide adequate guidelines. To paraphrase the lawyer and commentator Geoffrey Robertson, one man’s obscene publication is another man’s bedtime reading; considerations of obscenity necessarily involve subjective elements. Moreover, the balance between obscenity and the ‘public good’ defence is difficult to maintain, and works of great literary or artistic merit have led to legal censure in the history of obscenity in England and in more recent times in Hong Kong. Such difficulties related to the exact definition of obscenity have led the Hong Kong government to consider legal reform; proposals include re-organising the existing classification system and expanding the panel of adjudicators at the Obscene Articles Tribunal. Yet such changes seem to the authors of this proposed study to be cosmetic in nature, and we believe that they fail to tackle more fundamental, definitional problems of obscenity. This project aims to intervene in the debate about obscenity in Hong Kong by expanding the scope of enquiry beyond strict legal categories. Specifically, it proposes two further approaches to the question in the context of the Edison Chen case: (1) Theoretical approach The first approach adopts the Foucaultian notion of ‘discourse’ to consider the ways in which the press in Hong Kong has represented the controversy. Foucault examines seemingly ideologically neutral disciplines such as medicine and literature and exposes the circulation of power within and between them; this study extends Foucault’s argument and demonstrates that the journalistic discourse of Hong Kong constitutes a further site of power. Even though most reportage on the Edison Chen case purports to be neutral and objective, our suspicion is that its purportedly transparent language masks a subtle conditioning of its readers and moulds their definition of obscenity. The role of Edison Chen as a ‘role model’ of young people is a case in point. While the newspapers often quote various personages in support of this idea, it is possible to argue that the idea of Chen as role model, and hence his failure to live up to this ideal, is a product of the reportage. In other words, the discourse produces certain notions of morality and normality, and hides this production by depicting itself as a mere reportage of what other people have said. The journalistic discourse therefore generates its own standards of behaviour and its own codes of morality, while positing itself as an unbiased mouthpiece for other figures. The double movement of production and concealment will form one line of our enquiry. (2) Empirical approach The second aspect of our study has an experimental focus. One of the principle problems in the study of obscenity is the vagueness of the term; the tendency to deprave and corrupt which constitutes the core of the legal definition of obscenity has not been subject to rigorous scientific or linguistic scrutiny and often lapses into a mere matter of opinion. We aim to fill this lacuna by conducting a study of obscenity in an experimental setting. We will offer a number of students a selection of photographic, linguistic, and literary works and to gauge their reaction to their supposedly ‘obscene’ content. In a controlled laboratory setting, we will examine the problem of subjectivity: how varied are opinions across different individuals and are individuals consistent in their own judgment? What individual variables (such as gender and social class) may influence judgment? Supplementing our theoretical approach to the problem, our experiments will also look at how journalistic diction and the identity of the subject (e.g. whether the subject of the ‘obscene’ article was Edison Chen or a John Doe) may impact on judgment. We aim to produce two journal articles from our investigation. The theoretical analysis of the journalistic discourse will form the basis of the first article, and the experiment data which we hope to collect will form the foundation for the second article. To summarise, the key questions of this project include the following: -what are the current problems associated with the law of obscenity in Hong Kong? -how does the journalistic representation of the Edison Chen case influence social perceptions of obscenity? How does the purportedly neutral reportage of the newspapers in Hong Kong mould our conceptions of the acceptable and the transgressive? -what are the factors that affect judgment on obscenity? Can the law take into account all such factors? -how can the study of obscenity in a legal context be enhanced through our interdisciplinary approaches? This project will build on the expertise of its two investigators. Janny Leung, Assistant Professor in the School of English, works on psycholinguistics and will be well-positioned to devise and conduct the experiments. Marco Wan, Assistant Professor of the Department of law and Honorary Assistant Professor of English, works on Post-structuralism and will be able to analyse the journalistic material from a theoretical angle. Marco has also previously worked on journalistic material and so this project builds on his existing research. We would like to emphasise that this study is a joint-faculty endeavour which aims to bring an interdisciplinary dimension to a topical and important area of law.


Project Title:Implicit Language Learning: A Cross-linguistic Investigation
Investigator(s):Leung JHC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:ESRC/RGC JRS
Start Date:04/2009
Abstract:
1) To address an empirical gap in the study of implicit learning by obtaining evidence of implicit learning of grammatical form-meaning connections under controlled laboratory conditions. 2) To explore whether implicit learning of form-meaning connections is constrained by prior linguistic knowledge, thereby addressing the fundamental debate between empiricist/emergentist and nativist approaches to language acquisition. This will be achieved by comparing the performance of native English speakers (tested in Cambridge) and native Cantonese speakers (tested in Hong Kong). 3) To investigate another empirical gap in the literature: how and why some learners gain ‘insight’ into linguistic regularities; that is, why some learners become aware of regularities in linguistic input whilst others do not (whilst the latter still show evidence of implicit learning). 4) To explore the use of eye movement tracking as a method for studying implicit language learning and the transition to insight.


Project Title:Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference 2010 A Bottom-Up Approach to Understanding Obscenity
Investigator(s):Leung JHC
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:03/2010
Completion Date:04/2010
Abstract:
N/A


Project Title:Individual Variables in the Development of Insight
Investigator(s):Leung JHC, Ho CW
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:04/2010
Abstract:
Insight The OED defines insight as ‘the sudden perception of the solution to a problem or difficulty’. It has also been described by terms such as ‘the moment of illumination’, the ‘eureka’ or the ‘Aha!’ experience. In layman’s terms, the phenomenon of insight suggests that our brain sometimes works on solutions to problems without telling us that it is doing so. Insight is a subjectively different experience from trial-and-error or deductive problem solving. Insight happens when the focus of processing is abruptly switched from the dominant, misdirected interpretation to the unconscious activation of solution-relevant information, which therefore suddenly emerges into consciousness. Implicit Learning Seemingly distant from the above research interest, the phenomenon of implicit learning has been a topic of intensive debate in the field of cognitive science. Implicit learning refers to the extraction of a regularity in the environment, without intending to learn it and without being aware of what it is. Typically a distinction is made between implicit and explicit learning, with the underlying assumption that these involve distinct learning mechanisms. The fact that amnesics tend to be impaired in explicit learning but show a normal ability in implicit learning is evidence for this view. However, there are skeptics, such as Lovibond and Shanks (2002), who argue that implicit and explicit learning are but one single process, with the former involving just weaker (and therefore harder to detect) neural activations in the same brain region than the latter (see the single-system model in Berry, Shanks & Henson, 2008). Bridging the Gap Most implicit learning experiments have used hidden regularities that are too complex to be verbalized (e.g., spatial positions of stimuli that follow a repeating or probabilistic sequence in Serial Reaction Time Task, SRTT, and sequences of letters generated by finite state grammars in Artificial Grammar Learning, AGL, experiments), and therefore the gaining of insight is prevented. In implicit learning experiments in which there were participants who became aware of the hidden regularity, and some who did not become aware, the aware data were usually discarded. Meanwhile, most insight experiments have ignored the distinction between implicit and explicit learning tasks, and treated insight as one phenomenon arising from any of these tasks. This treatment might seem curious to an implicit learning researcher because if the learning processes that lead up to the gaining of insight are different, there would be doubts as to whether the insights gained in these tasks are comparable phenomena. In fact, Ohlsson (1992) and Schooler, Ohlsson, and Brooks (1993) have argued that insight results from automatic, implicit, non-executive processes. Explicit learning tasks may not create appropriate task conditions for studying insight. In our view the two research fields could benefit from knowledge sharing. It is not difficult to see some interesting parallels between the fields: - The weak activation of solution-relevant information in the study of insight is not unlike the activation of implicit knowledge. Once the focus of processing switches to such unconsciously activated knowledge, the knowledge would become consciously available (i.e., a transition to explicit knowledge via the gaining of insight). - In implicit learning experiments that used a simple hidden regularity embedded in the stimuli, some participants would have become aware of it (e.g., Leung & Williams, 2006). Those participants essentially gained insights to the underlying pattern, without even being aware that there existed a problem to be solved. An ideal task for studying the occurrence of insight should allow for an internal trigger, and behavioral observations before and after the insight moment. We therefore propose that implicit learning paradigms are better suited than explicit learning tasks in studying insights. Individual Differences Theoretical framework of insight such as that proposed by Greeno (1978) postulates that the production of insight necessitates the ability to apprehend relations and the ability to generate an integrated representation of a problem. Those who are able to understand relations among elements of the problem are more likely to discover new meaningful connections between elements and thus experience insight. Here we hypothesize that insight involves an information restructuring process that represents a unique type of problem solving ability. The first objective of the proposed research is to identify the particular set of skills that underlie people’s ability to gain insight using the individual differences approach. Specifically, we intend to assess how different types of between-participant variables, including age, visual-spatial ability, digit span and attention shifting, correlate with one’s insight problem solving ability. What is more, implicit learning researchers have typically assumed that between-participant variables correlate differently with implicit and explicit learning tasks. The second objective of this research project is to verify whether and how individual differences interact differently with one’s ability to gain insight under the two task conditions. This will allow us to determine the factors that differentiate implicit learning processes from explicit learning processes. (a) Age. Implicit learning seems to be relatively age-independent, except when the learning task allows for the intervention of explicit strategies, or causes situational difficulty to young children (e.g., in understanding task instructions; Vinter & Perruchet, 2000). On the other hand, age-related differences (children vs. adults, younger adults vs. older adults) have been found in explicit learning tasks (Howard & Howard, 1989, 1992; Knopman & Nissen, 1987), presumably because they load heavily on information processing resources. We will examine the interaction between information processing resources requirement in the learning task and the ability to gain insight, and determine whether insight gaining is an age-sensitive ability. (b) Visual-Spatial Ability. Given that knowledge restructuring is argued to be a spatial task, we will examine whether visual-spatial ability underlies the ability to produce an insight solution. (c) Digit Span. Since explicit and implicit learning tasks are related to the conscious and unconscious maintenance and integration of information, we will determine the influence of memory capacity on the gaining of insight under these task conditions. (d) Attention Shifting. Given our hypothesis that insight represents an information restructuring process, we will determine whether speed of attention shifting correlates with insight gaining ability.


List of Research Outputs

Leung J.H.C. and Wan M.M.H., A bottom-up approach to understanding obscenity, Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference. 2010.
Leung J.H.C., Revisiting ‘Obscenity’: Insights from the Sorites Paradox, Law and Literary Studies Colloquium. The University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Wan M.M.H. and Leung J.H.C., Law v. Journalism, Or Sex and Power in the case of Edison Chen, International Roundtable for the Semiotics of Law. 2009.


Researcher : Lim LLS
Project Title:The 15th Conference for the International Association for World Englishes (15th IAWE) The diversity less considered: On the role of minority groups on Asian Englishes Beyond fear and loathing in SG: Towards a(n official) view of Singlish as complementary and not competing
Investigator(s):Lim LLS
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:10/2009
Completion Date:10/2009
Abstract:
N/A


Project Title:Exploring the Peranakans as a China-West Locus in Southeast Asia: The Continuing Evolution of Their Linguistic Repertoire
Investigator(s):Lim LLS
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:04/2010
Abstract:
This project has two main aims: (i) to examine the cultural positioning of the Peranakan community in Singapore through their languages; and (ii) to explore the authenticity and commodification of the Peranakan language and culture. Descendants of 18th/19th-century southern Chinese seafaring traders in Southeast Asia and local women, the Peranakans can be viewed as a China-West locus for language and culture, with their geographical movement from mainland China westwards to Southeast Asia already being an indication of this. The evolution of their linguistic repertoire is another demonstration of these dynamics, and can be viewed in two phases. The Peranakans first developed Baba Malay as their vernacular, a restructured variety of Malay with Hokkien substrate influence. By the early/mid-20th century, as a consequence of the community’s social, economic and political status, their being a prestigious and privileged group with pro-British alignments and access to English education, the Peranakans shifted to English as their dominant language. Their original vernacular, Baba Malay, thus is considered an endangered language. This presents us with the first two research thrusts: (1) While there has been some scholarly work on the Baba Malay (BM) language (e.g. Tan 1980; Pakir 1986; Lim 1988; Ansaldo and Matthews 1999), an extensive corpus of the language does not currently exist, with scholars’ data largely being their own collections, in general not publicly available. In October 2009, a collection of Baba Malay recordings from 1991/92, of individuals of 70 to 90 years’ old, came to light. This comprises a valuable corpus, but is at present simply on cassette tapes, which will show physical and sound quality deterioration in not many years, and thus need to be digitised. The aim is to look into and establish the scope and quality of these recordings, with initial creation of metadata and transcriptions, leading to preparations for large-scale digital documentation of the corpus. (2) There has in fact been next to no attention given to the English used by the Peranakan community, except for a recent article, whose description of spoken Peranakan English (PE) is based on a small corpus of recordings (Lim 2010a). PE is not only interesting for being a lesser known variety of English; it is also crucial in the consideration of New Englishes such as the well known and widely described Singapore English (SgE) since the Peranakans were one of the early adopters of English in the region. As a founder population in an ecology (Mufwene 2001), their linguistic features are viewed as being persistent and influential in the evolution of the New English, as in certain intonation patterns found in SgE that are traced to PE as their source (Lim 2010a, b). A more extensive spoken corpus of PE is planned to be recorded and analysed, to further the initial observations established so far. The Peranakans were a prominent group in the previous centuries in particular in British colonial times, a community which saw its formation and evolution in a particular sociohistorical context. The ecology in which they were formed has however changed; as a consequence, some have predicted “the dying out of the Peranakans” (Kwan-Terry 2000: 96). Their ethnolinguistic vitality is however evaluated to be strong in the present day, perhaps even seeing a boost in the past decade (Lim 2010a). This is not only because of its very active and dedicated association, whose membership grows annually, and who organises well-attended activities throughout the year, as well as individual members who have published on various cultural aspects. The community has also very recently received increased recognition and support from the state, for example in the form of a restored traditional Baba House and the dedicated boutique Peranakan museum, both having opened in 2008, and above all being recognised as an important cultural group in the country. This next broad aim of this project is thus to examine the positioning of the Peranakan community in 21st-century Singapore. The revival and maintenance of Peranakan culture is not only significant for the community itself; it has also led to the appreciation of the culture outside the community. Non-Peranakan communities in Singapore have, for instance, embraced its cuisine and material culture, and the community has also become the focus of a number of locally produced television series. The interesting research thrust that arises here is thus this: (3) What linguistic aspects of Peranakan English are identified as representing a (typical) Peranakan speaker (speaking English) in the portrayal of the community in the media? In other words, which linguistic features are selected to be used in the actors’ Peranakan English accent? And are these features represented with authenticity (see e.g. Coupland 2003) or are they stereotyped? How does this relate to the commodification of the language and identity (see e.g. King and Wicks 2009)?


List of Research Outputs

Lim L.L.S., Baba Malay recordings and the documentation of endangered languages, The Quiet Collector -- A Forum, An event of Baba-licious: The Peranakan Festival 2009, in collaboration with The National Library's SG101 public talks. Singapore, 2009.
Lim L.L.S., Beyond fear and loathing in SG: The real mother tongues and language policies in multilingual Singapore, In: Lim, Lisa and Ee-Ling Low, Multilingual, Globalizing Asia: Implications for Policy and Education, AILA Review. 2009, 22: 52-71.
Lim L.L.S., Beyond fear and loathing in SG: Towards a(n official) view of Singlish as complementary and not competing, The 15th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), Connecting Cultures Through World Englishes: Convergence and Diversity in Language, Literature, and Pedagogy. Cebu City, The Philippines, 2009.
Lim L.L.S. and Gisborne N., Co-editor of special issue of journal, In: Lim, Lisa and Gisborne, Nikolas, English World-Wide, Special issue on The Typology of Asian Englishes. 2009, 30(2).
Lim L.L.S. and Low E.L., Co-editor of thematic issue of journal (commissioned), In: Lim, Lisa and Low, Ee-Ling, Multilingual, Globalizing Asia: Implications for Policy and Education, AILA Review. 2009, 22.
Lim L.L.S., Early English adopters in British Malaya: The significance of the Peranakans, School of English Seminar Series, University of Hong Kong. 2010.
Lim L.L.S. and Low E.L., Introduction, In: Lim, Lisa and Ee-Ling Low, Multilingual, Globalizing Asia: Implications for Policy and Education, AILA Review. 2009, 22: 1-4.
Lim L.L.S., New directions in English prosody: Tone in (some) New Englishes, Language Centre Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University. 2010.
Lim L.L.S., Not just an 'Outer Circle', 'Asian' English: Singapore English and the significance of ecology, In: Hoffman, Thomas and Siebers, Lucia, World Englishes: Problems, Properties, Prospects. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia, John Benjamins, 2009, 179-206.
Lim L.L.S., Peranakan English in Singapore, In: Schreier, Daniel, Trudgill, Peter, Schneider, Edgar W. and Williams, Jeff P., The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010, 327-347.
Lim L.L.S., Revisiting English prosody: (Some) New Englishes as tone languages?, English World-Wide, Special issue on The Typology of Asian Englishes. 2009, 30(2): 218-239.
Lim L.L.S., The diversity less considered: On the role of minority groups on Asian Englishes, The 15th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), Connecting Cultures Through World Englishes: Convergence and Diversity in Language, Literature, and Pedagogy. Cebu City, The Philippines, 2009.
Lim L.L.S., The politics of English (and Sinhala and Tamil) in Sri Lanka: Kaduva of privileged power, tool of rural empowerment?, An Asia Research Institute (ARI) and Department of English Language and Literature (DELL) Workshop on The Politics of English in Asia: Language Policy and Cultural Expression. Singapore, 2009.
Lim L.L.S. and Gisborne N., The typology of Asian Englishes: Setting the agenda, English World-Wide, Special issue on The Typology of Asian Englishes. 2009, 30(2): 123-132.


Researcher : Lim SGL
Project Title:Modern Language Association Convention Teaching Chicano/a and Chinese American Ethnopoetics: Comparative Traditions
Investigator(s):Lim SGL
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:12/2000
Abstract:
N/A




Researcher : Noel D
Project Title:The semantics of syntax: corpus investigations of clausal complement constructions
Investigator(s):Noel D
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:01/2007
Completion Date:08/2009
Abstract:
1. Aim 1.1. The problem After a few decades of syntax with as little meaning as possible in the third quarter of the 20th century, the view is gaining ground that literally everything in syntax is meaningful and that the linguist’s task is to elucidate the meaning of form within a — so-called “functional”, as opposed to “formal” — theoretical model that coherently links up syntax and semantics. Models like Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar have acquired a fair amount of respectability and both models are amassing a growing flock of followers. Another very popular paradigm in which the relation between syntax and semantics is of central importance is grammaticalisation theory. This drastic change of perspective — from syntax without semantics to no syntax without semantics — did not entail an equally drastic change in the way linguists argue their cases and did not therefore make linguistics much more of an empirical science than it used to be. Meanings are posited, and supported with argumentative evidence, but rarely proven empirically. The literature on the dative alternation is a case in point. There it is often claimed that nominal complements present their referents as somehow more “central”, or more “prominent”, than prepositional complements (Langacker 1986, Goldberg 1995, Pinker 1989, Dik 1997, Van Valin & LaPolla 1997, etc.). What exactly is meant by “prominence” usually remains unclear. The literature on the topic is usually also characterised by a type of argumentation one could qualify as unempirical: typically, only invented examples are used, together with untested grammaticality judgements. In the area of grammaticalisation theory, as well, the semantic changes that go together with morphosyntactic changes are not always proven in a meticulous fashion. Though cognitive linguistics has recently seen a sharp increase in the use of experiments, sadly most linguists possess neither the training nor the infrastructure to set up and carry out experiments that would pass muster in experimental psychology departments. Other sources will therefore have to be tapped to provide claims about the semantic import of syntactic forms with a sound empirical basis. 1.2. Two ways out Though large computerized monolingual corpora of texts are currently widely available, their huge potential for semantic research remains underexploited. True, corpora first and foremost lend themselves to observing (and counting) forms (they do not automatically reveal the meanings of these forms), but they can nevertheless increase the empiricalness of semantic research in at least two ways. First, they can ensure that claims about meanings are based on data that are more real, less selective, and less open to suggestion than are decontextualized intuition-based data. A sufficiently large corpus of English texts, for instance, makes it possible to refute the claim, persistent in English linguistics, that perception verbs turn into cognition verbs when combined with an accusative and infinitive or a finite complement (see Noël 2003a and 2004). Second, corpora can serve as a source of inspiration for the translation of semantic claims into observational terms, i.e. in terms of possible and impossible form combinations. Painstakingly counted and statistically processed form combinations can subsequently help to support or refute semantic claims. Noël (2001), for instance, has argued that the fact that passive cognition and utterance verbs are less restricted in the kinds of infinitive they combine with than the corresponding active forms can be construed as evidence that the most frequently used of these matrix verbs (e.g. be said to, be, be thought to, be found to, be believed to) are turning into (i.e. are grammaticalising into) some sort of epistemic auxiliaries. A second type of corpus, the translation corpus, i.e. a bi- or multilingual collection of source texts and their translations, can actually make meanings visible, since translators, through the linguistic choices they make, inadvertently supply evidence of the meanings of the forms they are receiving and producing. Noël (2003b), for instance, provides further evidence for the auxiliariness of forms like be said to, be thought to, be considered to, be found to, be believed to and be reported to using an English-French translation corpus, in which these (erstwhile) passive matrices often remain untranslated and regularly correspond with a “conditionnel” or with epistemic adverbs like apparemment, prétendument en supposément. 2. Objectives The overall aim of the project is to arrive at empirically justified statements about the meaning of English constructions. To narrow down the scope of the investigation, the area of grammar focused upon will be that of sentential complementation, an area about which one leading advocate of the meaning in grammar doctrine has said that it “constitutes one of the greatest challenges to a theory of syntax based on semantic foundations” (Wierzbicka 1988: 23). The semantics of English sentential complementation is a well-covered area, but not one that has been adequately dealt with from an empirical point of view. The project will start off from earlier research of the PI on the finite complement and ACI/NCI patterns entered into by utterance, cognition and perception verbs, or so-called PCU verbs (e.g. Noël 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003a). A few very specific questions this past research has raised are the following: 1. How does the construction, which has so far been left out of the picture in the PI’s previous research, relate to those that were considered? 2. Do to-infinitives really turn perception verbs into cognition verbs, as is often claimed, or is there another explanation for the choice between a bare and a to-infinitive after perception verbs? 3. Can a large(r) historical corpus corroborate and expand on the hypotheses formed on the basis of a much smaller corpus with relation to the grammaticalization of the construction (reported on in Noël 2003c)? 4. Deontic modal meanings normally give rise to epistemic meanings, not the reverse, but in the case of and the latter did take place. How did this happen? 5. What can the grammaticalization of “passive” patterns like and teach us about the role of analogy in linguistic change?


Project Title:3rd Late Modern English Conference The entrenchment of the nominative and infinitive construction in Late Modern English
Investigator(s):Noel D
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:08/2007
Abstract:
N/A


Project Title:34th International LAUD Symposium The Dutch evidential NCI: A construction that didn’t quite make it
Investigator(s):Noel D
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:03/2010
Completion Date:03/2010
Abstract:
N/A


Project Title:The evolution of the modals and quasi-modals in Asian Englishes
Investigator(s):Noel D
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:06/2010
Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to explore to what extent the significant decline in the frequency of use of modal auxiliaries and the concomitant rise in the frequency of so-called “quasi-modals” that has been observed to be taking place in British and American English (Leech 2003) is also occurring in Asian Englishes, specifically Hong Kong English, Indian English, Philippine English and Singapore English. The project is a fact-finding one that will prepare the ground for the formulation of a proposal for an externally funded (GRF) project that will seek to account for differences in this respect between the listed Asian Englishes, and between these Englishes and British and American English. The English modals and quasi-modals comprise a set of auxiliary verbs and auxiliary-like constructions which basically cover the same (deontic and epistemic) semantic space, but the two categories differ in their morphosyntax and the quasi-modals also differ from semantically cognate modals in the details of their semantics. Morphosyntactically, the modals (will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must, need, ought) are “defective” verbs: they cannot occur in syntactic environments where a non-tensed form is required (*I’d love to CAN sing like Pavarotti) and they have a single present tense form (*He CANS sing like Pavarotti). Some of them do not have a past tense form (must, need, ought). With the exception of ought, they also differ syntactically from (most of) the quasi-modals (be able to, be about to, be bound to, be expected to, be going to, be guaranteed to, be meant to, be supposed to, be to, have to, have got to, need to, want to) in that they are followed by bare infinitives rather than to-infinitives (quasi-modals followed by bare instead of to-infinitives are (had) better and would rather). Semantically, the quasi-modals tend to express “weaker” modal meanings than the modals; the necessity/obligation expressed by have to can be said to be less compelling than that expressed by must, for instance, and need to is less strong than need. Both morphosyntactic factors and semantic/pragmatic factors linked up with societal changes have been adduced as explanations for the dwindling frequency of the modals and the emergence of the quasi-modals in “inner circle” Englishes, specifically British and American English (Myhill 1995, Leech 2003, Smith 2003, Nokkonen 2006). If modals and quasi-modals turn out to be evolving differently in the “outer circle” Englishes that will constitute the focus of this project, this could either be due to differences in the societal context in which these Englishes function, including their modes of transmission, or to substrate languages exerting an influence on these largely non-native varieties (cf. Lim & Gisborne 2009). The results of an initial study by Collins (2009) of only a partial set of modals and quasi-modals (five of each) are indeed suggestive of differential rates of change across inner and outer circle varieties of English. To be able to interpret differences in the evolution of individual modals and quasi-modals between varieties, it is necessary, however, to get a full picture of changes in the entire modal and quasi-modal landscapes of these Englishes, since the members of these categories often occupy overlapping areas on “modality’s semantic map” (cf. van der Auwera & Plungian 1998). Moreover, as a pilot study by van der Auwera et al. (2009) has revealed, negation (or, more generally, the distinction between assertive and non-assertive contexts of use) constitutes and important parameter to take into account in the description of the evolution of frequency changes in the modal domain. A much more exhaustive and much more detailed description than the one offered in Collins (2009) is therefore required. It is the objective of this project to identify frequency changes in the use of all the modals and semi-modals in both assertive and non-assertive contexts in the four Asian outer circle Englishes referred to and, for reasons of comparison, in the British and American inner circle varieties. References Collins, Peter. 2009. Modals and quasi-modals in world Englishes. World Englishes 28: 281-292. Facchinetti, Roberta, Manfred Krug & Frank Palmer, eds., Modality in Contemporary English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Leech, Geoffrey. 2003. Modality on the move: The English modal auxiliaries 1961-1992. In Facchinetti et al., eds., 223-240. Lim, Lisa & Nikolas Gisborne. 2009. The typology of Asian Englishes. English World-Wide 30: 123-132. Myhill, John. 1995. Change and continuity in the functions of the American English modals. Linguistics 33: 157-211. Nokkonen, Soili. 2006. The semantic variation of NEED TO in four recent British English corpora. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 11: 29-71. Smith, Nicholas. 2003. Changes in the modals and semi-modals of strong obligation and epistemic necessity in recent British English. In Facchinetti et al., eds., 241-266. van der Auwera, Johan, Dirk Noël & Astrid De Wit. 2009. Need and need to in Asian Englishes. Paper presented at 15th IAWE World Englishes Conference, Cebu City, Philippines, 22-24 October 2009. van der Auwera, Johan & Vladimir Plungian. 1998. Modality’s semantic map. Linguistic Typology 2: 79-124.


List of Research Outputs

Colleman T. and Noel D., Gezegd worden + te-infinitief: een verouderde evidentiële constructie. [Dutch gezegd worden (‘be said to’) + te-infinitive: an archaic evidential construction.] , Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal en Letterkunde [Journal for Dutch Language and Literature]. Leiden, Maatschappij der Nederlandse letterkunde, 2009, 125: 385-403.
Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Patterns in metaphor translation: Translating FEAR metaphors between English and Chinese, In: Richard Xiao, Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies. Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010, 40-61.
Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Poetic metaphor and everyday metaphor: A corpus-based contrastive study of metaphors of SADNESS in poetry and non-literary discourse, The 2009 Metaphor Festival, Stockholm University, Sweden, 10-11 September. 2009.
Noel D. and Colleman T., ACI and NCI FIND and the development of evidentiality in Modern English, with a note on Dutch (BE)VINDEN, In: Stef Slembrouck, Miriam Taverniers & Mieke Van Herreweghe, From WILL to WELL: Studies in linguistics offered to Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. Ghent, Academia Press, 2009, 337-346.
Noel D., ACI and NCI FIND and the evolution of evidentiality in Modern English expository texts: A case study in corpus-based diachronic construction grammar, CLAVIER 09 – Corpus Linguistics and Language Variation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, 5-7 November. 2009.
Noel D. and Colleman T., The Dutch evidential NCI: A construction that didn't quite make it, LAUD Series A: General & Theoretical Papers. Essen, LAUD Linguistic Agency, 2010, A756: i-ii + 1-27.
Noel D. and Colleman T., The Dutch evidential NCI: A construction that didn’t quite make it, 34th International LAUD Symposium, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau/Pfalz, Germany, 15-18 March. 2010.
van der Auwera J., Noel D. and De Wit A., NEED and NEED TO in Asian Englishes, HKU School of English Research Seminar, 20 October. 2009.
van der Auwera J., Noel D. and De Wit A., NEED and NEED TO in Asian Englishes, The 15th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, Cebu City, Philippines, 22-24 October. 2009.


Researcher : Ooi VCH
Project Title:4th 'English in Southeast Asia' Conference - Developing Multiliteracies in Southeast Asia How to Have your Disney and Eat it Too
Investigator(s):Ooi VCH
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:11/1999
Abstract:
N/A




Researcher : Pable AM
Project Title:Experiencing the sign in a bilingual world: the linguistic landscapes of Hong Kong and Chinatown/San Francisco
Investigator(s):Pable AM, Hutton CM
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:12/2009
Abstract:
This project aims at strengthening the notion that ‘text’ is a phenomenon of the material world, and that the meaning of written signs depends on their ‘materiality’: this is true for both the ‘stop’ sign in a particular road and the text printed in a book. The material dimension of written language is particularly striking in the so-called ‘linguistic landscapes’ of modern urban centres (e.g. Gorter 2006; Shohami & Gorter 2009), where words and images interact in the public spaces. The discourses that these ‘textscapes’ form are of an ideological nature in the sense that language in public space is controlled by the official authorities, but at the same time is exploited as a resource of (political, cultural, social) contestation. The literature on ‘linguistic landscapes’ has already identified what seem to be the key issues for a unified theory of ‘geosemiotics’ (Scollon & Scollon 2003), but has failed to address the question of the nature of the (linguistic) sign: in fact, these theories assume that signs are coded and intersubjectively shared, and thus that signs are interpreted in the same way (i) by speakers (of socially/culturally comparable backgrounds) irrespective of the situation, and respectively (ii) by the same speaker in different situations. Moreover, a code-based theory of signs in public space, albeit grounded in reality, still presupposes that the texts, which ‘happen’ to find themselves on objects, have abstract (i.e. time- and spaceless) meaning which is independent of the purpose for which they were designed. The problem involved in this structuralist approach to ‘geosemiotics’ lies in the fact that it privileges socially shared knowledge above individual knowledge, and therefore fails to address the question of how a sign affects individuals in different ways, namely on the basis of biographical factors, spatio-temporal factors, and the socio-cultural factors shaping the individual’s biography. What is more, the structuralist model denies the idea that language is by definition ‘indexical’, i.e. naturally and inevitably linked to reality (Praetorius 2000), and clings to the assumption that an antecedently given, context-free system underlies any communicational episode: with respect to linguistic landscapes, this means that the McDonald’s logo is the same sign irrespective of where (what country, what street) it has been placed, i.e. what the people perceive and interpret is just different tokens of the same type. This research project purports to apply a different theoretical model to ‘signs in the material world’ which is drawn from an integrational semiological theory (e.g. Harris 1996). This, in turn, will affect how linguistic landscapes can be investigated in the field. Along with a thorough investigation of epistemological and semiotic questions, this project will consider the linguistic landscapes of two urban centres whose textscapes are influenced by the interaction of English and Chinese, i.e. Hong Kong and the Chinatown of San Francisco. The focus of the fieldwork will be on how the individual (in this case, the researcher) experiences and familiarizes with the textscapes of the ‘bilingual’ cities in light of his own situatedness and background. Furthermore, it will be shown that the individual (i.e. the researcher) integrates his knowledge of the textscapes in the identification and interpretation process along the three parameters established in the integrational semiological framework of analysis, namely the ‘biomechanical’, the ‘macrosocial’, and the ‘circumstantial’ factors (Harris 1984).


Project Title:Integrational reflections on a 'science' of consciousness: How relevant to Psychology of Language? Integrational reflections on a 'science' of consciousness: How relevant to Psychology of Language?
Investigator(s):Pable AM
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:05/2010
Completion Date:05/2010
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Pable A.M., Integrating the ‘real’ , Linguistic Theory in the 21st Century: Integrational Perspectives. 2010.
Pable A.M., Integrational reflections on a ‘science’ of consciousness. How relevant to Psychology of Language?, Institute of Scandinavian Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 2010.
Pable A.M., Integrationism and why there is no ‘scientific’ study of language and consciousness, Inner Mongolia State University, Institute of Foreign Languages. 2010.
Pable A.M., Language, knowledge and reality: The integrationist on name variation., In: Harris, Roy and Talbot Taylor, Language & Communication. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2010, 30(2): 109-122.
Pable A.M., Language, knowledge, action: Towards an integrational epistemology, Shanghai East China Normal University. 2009.
Pable A.M., Dylewski R. and Urbanska A., Nonstandard Were and the Nonstandard forms of the Preterite Negative of to be in Nineteenth Century New England Civil War Letters and Literary Dialect Portrayals., In: Arleta Adamska-Sałaciak, Studia Anglica Posnaniensia . Poznan, the University of Adam Mickiewicz, 2009, 45(2): 59-80.
Pable A.M., Popular versus scientific linguistics: integrational reflections, Southwestern and Texas 31st Annual Meeting of the Popular and American Culture Association. 2010.
Pable A.M., Scientific ‘facts’ and ‘reality’ in linguistics and beyond, PEAKS Interdisciplinary Conference: Expanding Parameters: Exploring Paradigms, Paradoxes, and Parallels. 2010.


Researcher : Richards PK
Project Title:New Formalism, Genre Studies, and Practices of Anticipation: How Listeners Listen
Investigator(s):Richards PK
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:11/2008
Abstract:
Theoretical Objectives: For my research and book on the chorus and cross-cultural studies I have come across a relevant band of research that requires further study, namely the theoretical considerations of new formalism, genre studies, and the rhetorical imagination of “deliberate error.” Practical Objectives: The practical importance of this theoretical band of research lands on a need to understand in global ways the fine tuning of how representative listeners listen, in addition to studying the strategies of how a speaker speaks. Ties with My Working Project on the Chorus: The chorus is classically considered a node of re-action, rather than one of action. Thus, a focus on what is considered more commonly reaction, that is, a choral rather than a heroic position, traditionally claims the more passive perspective, one premised in anonymity and aversion to risk. There is a call, however, through this current theoretical band of studies that I have identified, to reinvigorate a “’productive rather than merely reflective’” or “dynamic notion” (Levinson 563) of acts of reaction, and specifically to “stop defining form as inherently totalizing” (Levinson 563). Further, each of these approaches, that is, new formalism, genre studies, and the rhetoric of “deliberate error,” lies on a spectrum with special historical ties, generally, to the chorus and the lyric and, in particular, to practices as I argue of self-critique and “anticipation.” Key Problems: How Listeners Listen in Terms of Anticipation and Anteoccupatio; Reevaluating Formalism and Genre in Relation to Historical Roots As Marjorie Levinson explains, new formalism makes a claim for “what hooks us on” (Levinson 562), while Nancy Miller links the question of form to genre: “The distinction between forms matters to readers” (Miller 54`), creating the desire for what Miller calls “genre satisfaction.” Both form and genre, thus once more resurrected under “new” studies, lean into what G.R. Boys-Stones’s names a desire for “a more positive dialogue between modern theory and its historical roots” (Boys-Stones 5). Objectives and Perspective: Nietzsche of course was one of the main sources for renewed modern interest in the chorus: as David Lenson says, Nietzsche “put forth the notion not only of the integrity of the chorus’s role within the structure of the play, but even of its primacy” (118). Lenson is also one of the few scholars recently to pick up and investigate the history the choric role. Lenson argues that the choral impulse amassed its Dionysian power, changing over from a source of revolutionary power into a mode of normative reaction. This mode carries on most strongly, as Lenson, Barbara Johnson and Helen Vendler among others argue, in acts of universalization: the voice made “abstract” as Vendler says, in which the physical gap between the actor and audience is crossed as if both are uttering as one. This choral gap can be identified with ante occupatio (or anteoccupatio—all one word), glossed as “a rhetorical figure by which a listener’s objections are anticipated and answered” (H. A. Kelly); or, more simply, in English, “preoccupation.” This gap, again, defines speech by anticipated listening. Anteoccupatio acts on formal assumptions of others’ participation. It also revisits the more traditional conceit of conservative self-preservation most commonly associated with the chorus by pushing understandings of potential choral risk back one step: that is, toward a measure of action, constituted by preoccupation, and conditioned by dangers of occupation: occupying and being occupied, at once: as in the choral dedication to Dove’s book Museum: “for nobody who made us possible.” In this model, choral preoccupation already constitutes an action of risk, for preoccupation presumes being in two places at once---first in one’s own skin and therefore already in another’s, as in formative ideas of conception. Combined Objectives: A bridge, therefore, between a heroic figure of occupatio and the choral prefiguing of anteoccupatio focuses not on speaking but initially on a rhetoric of listening. Or, going back to the idea of “universalization”---it focuses on a representation not defined by heroic uniqueness but one abstracted into what is well known as the lyric and apostrophic “O.” Lyric utterance in particular theoretically can be said to reside along the very bridge between the equivalent in lyric of the dramatic actor and the viewer, that is, between the speaker and the listener. The lyric speaker and listener, as choral counterparts, are complicated equivalents of the dramatic actor and the viewer, however. For one thing, a potential interchangeability lends itself to the relationship between a speaker and listener, more readily than to the visually bound actor and viewer. In the lyric, therefore, the choral bridge between the speaker and listener at once already identifies longstanding problems of the genre: who in the lyric is speaking, and who is listening? As Jane Hedley writes recently, “ . . . ways of conceiving of lyric utterance, and of what Northrop Frye terms its ‘radical of presentation,’ are concurrent among us" and the question of lyric address is one that is undergoing reconsideration in a number of critical and scholarly venues at the present time. William Waters chaired Special Sessions on poetry's "you" for three years running at the MLA convention, beginning in 1999. Recently published books and articles from Charles Altieri, Sarah Zimmerman, and Virginia Jackson have revisited” the question. Sir Hughes Lloyd-Jones draws on the historic links between the epic and the first written lyric poems, noting not only “the non-dactylic composition” that reveals “the transition from oral to written verse” (34) but the iambics were slippery: both more colloquial and usually still considered to be those of imaginary characters in imaginary situations, rather than the poet’s “own” sentiments. Thus, if the lyric, like the dramatic chorus, is for a moment considered a bridge first between an actor and an “I,” then figuring out to whom it stretches is already one of its longstanding generic concerns: to an “I” viewing, and “I” listening, an “I” who is already a “you.” We find here the cross currents of new formalism, genre studies, and the rhetoric of "deliberate error" as we investigate the effects of anticipation and self-critique in form, genre, and our global situation in cross cultural studies.


Project Title:An International Poetry Conference 2010 The Sacred and the Panegyric Roots of American Poetry
Investigator(s):Richards PK
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:05/2010
Abstract:
N/A


List of Research Outputs

Richards P.K., Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, HKU. 2009.
Richards P.K., Poetry and Translation, Vermont Studio Center. 2009.


Researcher : Slethaug GE
Project Title:International Congress for American Studies 2001 Red, White, (Black) and Blue The Blues and Acculturation in Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues
Investigator(s):Slethaug GE
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:01/2001
Abstract:
N/A




Researcher : Smethurst P
Project Title:Excursions: critical approaches to travel writing
Investigator(s):Smethurst P
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Low Budget High Impact Programme
Start Date:11/2001
Abstract:
To promote the study of European travel writing by applying to it a range of contemporary theories of literature and culture.


Project Title:The Bicycle in Asia
Investigator(s):Smethurst P
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:09/2009
Abstract:
This is a sub-project of a larger project to produce a contracted book for Reaktion Press in their 'Objekt' series. The book is titled 'Bicycle' and is a cultural history of the bicycle with particular reference to its global significance. Funding is being sought here to retrieve information about the history of the bicycle in Asia (especially China). This will include searching newspapers, magazines and other publications for reports of the ascendency and decline of the bicycle in Asia. The nature of the project also calls for a history of the representation of the bicycle in the arts, literature, film etc., and this aspect of the history of the bicycle will take precedence over the material history. In other words, this project is not a material history of the production and use of the bicycle as a means of transport so much as a cultural history of the bicycle as an object onto which certain cultural values have been projected.




Researcher : Tong QS
Project Title:China in the British mass media in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
Investigator(s):Tong QS
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:11/2004
Abstract:
To investigate the English idea of China formulated and articulated in popular British newspapers and magazines in the 18th and 19th centuries; to examine British popular representations of China and the social conditions that have informed such representations; to bring out at least one substantial and lengthy piece of scholarly and critical writing on the topic.


Project Title:John Bowring and the limits of Victorian liberalism
Investigator(s):Tong QS
Department:School of English
Source(s) of Funding:Small Project Funding
Start Date:01/2008
Abstract:
This project continues and expands my research interests in the relationship between liberalism and imperialism in Victorian England, by focusing on John Bowring, the Governor of Hong Kong (1854-1859) who played a major role in the Arrow War (the Second Opium War, 1857-1860). The project is conceived with the knowledge that there are a substantial amount of Bowring's unpublished papers in overseas libraries, in particular The John Rylands University Library at the University of Manchester. The objectives of this project are to study Bowring's papers in these repositories and determine their historical value, to produce a lengthy essay on the basis of these materials, and to consider the possibility of a larger and fuller study of John Bowring's involvement in the movement of British philosophical radicalism and British imperialist operations in this part of the world.


List of Research Outputs

Tong Q.S., “Global Modernity and Linguistic Universality: The Invention of Modern Chinese Language”, Eighteenth Century Studies. Baltimor, Johns Hopkins UP, 2010, vol. 43, no. 3: 325 – 39.


Researcher : Wolf HH
List of Research Outputs

Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Patterns in metaphor translation: Translating FEAR metaphors between English and Chinese, In: Richard Xiao, Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies. Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010, 40-61.
Ding Y., Noel D. and Wolf H.H., Poetic metaphor and everyday metaphor: A corpus-based contrastive study of metaphors of SADNESS in poetry and non-literary discourse, The 2009 Metaphor Festival, Stockholm University, Sweden, 10-11 September. 2009.


Researcher : Zhang C
List of Research Outputs

Zhang C., Moral Luck in Thomas Hardy's Fiction, Philosophy and Literature. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, 34: 82-94.


Researcher : van der Auwera J
List of Research Outputs

van der Auwera J., Noel D. and De Wit A., NEED and NEED TO in Asian Englishes, HKU School of English Research Seminar, 20 October. 2009.
van der Auwera J., Noel D. and De Wit A., NEED and NEED TO in Asian Englishes, The 15th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, Cebu City, Philippines, 22-24 October. 2009.


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