Boping Yuan became a worker in a carpentry workshop in China after his secondary school, and was among those first groups of people who entered universities when universities re-opened in China after the ten-year Cultural Revolution. He read English language and literature as an undergraduate at Yantai Teacher's College (now Ludong University), China, from 1978 to 1982. Then he taught English as a foreign language at universities in China and on the China Central Television. In 1986, he entered Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, and did postgraduate studies in Applied Linguistics. In 1988, he got a scholarship from the British Council to study at Edinburgh University, where he first studied for an M.Sc. in Applied Linguistics and then for a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. In 1992, he came to Cambridge, where he has been teaching Chinese language and linguistics and directing the modern Chinese language programme.
He has supervised undergraduate and graduate dissertations on Chinese linguistics and second language acquisition. He has designed modern Chinese syllabi for both the undergraduate program and the two-year M.Phil in Chinese Studies. He welcomes enquiries from graduate students interested in Chinese syntax and second language acquisition within the framework of formal linguistics.
Empirical studies of developmental and synchronic aspects of second language acquisition; linguistic approach to non-native Chinese grammars; second language acquisition theory; syntax and semantics.
Dr Yuan's current project is on mental representations of Chinese wh-words as universal quantifiers in English and Japanese speakers’ non-native grammars of Chinese, which is supported by a grant from the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
Articles in Journals and Books
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| (forthcoming) |
(Dugarova, E.) "Wh-topicalization at the syntax-discourse interface in English speakers' L2 Chinese grammars". Studies in Second Language Acquisition. |
| 2011 |
(with Zhao, Y) "Asymmetrical syntactic and thematic reconfigurations in English speakers' L2 Chinese resultative compound constructions", International Journal of Bilingualism, 15: 38-55 |
| 2010 |
(with Laws, J. as the 1st author) "Is the core-peripheral distinction for unaccusative verbs cross-linguistically consistent?" Chinese Language and Discourse, 1: 220-263 |
| 2010 |
“Domain-wide or variable-dependent vulnerability of the semantics-syntax interface in L2 acquisition? Evidence from wh-words used as existential polarity words in L2 Chinese grammars”. Second Language Research, 26, 219-260. |
| 2009 |
“On conditions of first language transfer”. [in Chinese] Journal of Chinese Language Studies, Peking University Press. |
| 2009 |
“Non-permanent representational deficit and apparent target-likeness in second language: Evidence from wh-words used as universal quantifiers in English and Japanese speakers' L2 Chinese: In honour of Roger Hawkins”. In Snape, N., Leung, Y.-K. L. and Sharwood-Smith, M. (eds.). Representational Deficits in SLA, 69-103, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. |
| 2008 |
[Shan, C.-K. as the first author] “‘What is happened’ in L2 English does
not happen in L2 Chinese”. In Roberts, L., Florence, M. and David, A. (eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 2008, 164-190, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. |
| 2008 |
“Discrepancy in English Speakers' L2 Acquisition of Chinese Wh-Words as Existential Polarity Words: The L1-Dependent Interface Hypothesis”. In Slabakova, R., Rothman, J., Kempchinsky, P. and Gavruseva, E (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2007), 272-284, Somerville, MA.: Cascadilla Press. |
| 2007 |
‘Behaviours of wh-words in English speakers’ L2 Chinese wh-questions: Evidence of no variability, temporary variability and persistent variability in L2 grammars’. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10(3): 277-298 |
| 2007 |
‘On basic research in applied Chinese language studies” [in Chinese], Teaching Chinese in the World, 48:16-22. |
| 2007 |
‘Superficial native-likeness and fossilization in Japanese speakers’ L2 Chinese wh-questions: a lexical morphological feature defect account.’ Second Language Research, 23: 329-357. |
| 2007 |
[with Shan, C.-S as the first author] ‘Is gradience of mapping between semantics and syntax possible in L2 acquisitioin?” In H. Caunt-Nulton, S. Kulatilake, and I.-H. Woo (eds.). Boston University Conference on Language Development 31: 567-575, Cascadilla Press, Somervill, Mass. |
| 2006 |
‘Non-uniform Development of Wh-words in English Speakers’ L2 Acquisition of Chinese Wh-questions’. In Adriana Belletti, Elisa Bennati, Cristiano Chesi, Elisa Di Domenico, and Ida Ferrari (eds.) Language Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of GALA 2005. Cambridge Scholars Press. |
| 2006 |
‘Variability at Different Interfaces in the Development of English Speakers’ L2 Chinese Wh-questions’. In Mary Grantham O’Brien, Christine Shea, and John Archibald (eds.). Proceedings of the 8th Generative Approach to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 6), 153-161, Somerville, MA:Cascadilla. |
| 2005 |
[with Zhao, Y.] ‘Resumptive pronouns in English-Chinese and Arabic-Chinese interlanguages.” International Review of Applied Linguistics, 43:219-237. |
| 2004 |
‘Negation in French-Chinese, German-Chinese and English-Chinese Interlanguages.” In Roger Hawkins and Richard Towell (ed.). A Special Issue of Transactions of the Philological Society, 102:2, 169-197. |
| 2003 |
‘Are functional categories to blame for the general failure in second language acquisition?’ [in Chinese], Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 35:259-267. |
| 2003 |
‘The Syntax of Clausal Negation in French and English Speakers' L2 Chinese” In Juana M. Liceras, Helmut Zobl, and Helen Goodluck (eds.). L2 Links: Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2002), 352-360, Somerville, MA.: Cascadilla Press. |
| 2002 |
‘Two types of intransitive verbs in Chinese and second language acquisition of Chinese’ [in Chinese], Chinese Teaching in the World, 61:91-100. |
| 2001 |
‘The status of thematic verbs in second language acquisition of Chinese: against the inevitablility of thematic verb-raising in L2 acquisition’. Second Language Research, 17: 248-272. |
| 2000 |
‘Is thematic-verb raising inevitable in the acquisition of a non-native language?”. In S. Catherine Howell, Sarah A. Fish, and Thea Keith-Lucas (eds.). Boston University Conference on Language Development, 24: 797-807, Cascadilla Press, Somervill, Mass. |
| 1999 |
‘Acquiring the unaccusative/unergative distinction in a second language: Evidence from English-speaking learners of L2 Chinese’, Linguistics, 37:275-296 |
| 1998 |
‘The Interpretation of Binding and Orientation of the Chinese Reflexive Ziji by English and Japanese Speakers”. Second Language Research, 14: 325-340. |
| 1998 |
‘Interpretations of the Reflexive Binding in SLA’. Proceedings of GASLA ‘97, Special Issue of the McGill Working Papers in Linguistics, 13:209-220, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. |
| 1997 |
‘L2 Acquisition of the Chinese X0 Reflexive and the Relativized SUBJECT Account.’ In L. Diaz-C. Perez (ed.). Proceedings of EUROSLA 7, 141-153, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. |
| 1997 |
‘Review of INTERLANGUAGE AND LEARNABILITY: FROM CHINESE TO ENGLISH by Virginia Yip’. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,19:528-530. |
| 1997 |
‘Asymmetry of Null Subject and Null Object in Chinese Learners’ Interlanguage of English.’ Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19:467-497. |
| 1996 |
‘How Are Lexical-semantic Differences Represented in L2 Syntax? --A Study of the Unaccusative/Unergative Distinction in L2 Chinese.’ In E. Kellerman, B. Weltens and T. Bongaerts (eds.). EUROSLA 6: A Selection of Papers, 201-215. Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij. |
| 1995 |
‘A Review and Perspectives of Second Language Acquisition Research.’[in Chinese] Chinese Teaching in the World, 34:52-62. |
| 1995 |
‘Acquisition of Base-Generated Topics by English-Speaking Learners of Chinese.’ Language Learning, 45:201-237 |
| 1995 |
‘Variability and Systematicity in the Performance of the Four Chinese Tones by English SLA Learners of Chinese.’[in Chinese] Chinese Teaching in the World, 31:12-26. |
| 1994 |
'Second Language Acquisition of Reflexives Revisited'. Language: Journal of Linguistic Society of America, 70:539-545. |
| 1993 |
'Long-distance and Short-distance Reflexives in Second Language Acquisition'. In C. S. Rhy, D. Adger and A. von Klopp (eds.). FunctionalCategories, Argument Structure and Parametric Variation. Edinburgh University Press, 115-147. |
| 1992 |
'The Asymmetric Resetting of the Non-empty Topic Parameter in Second Language Acquisition'. Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 3:1-13. |
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Dictionaries, Textbooks and Edited Books
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| 2007 |
(editor) Theoretical and Empirical Approach to Applied Chinese Language Studies. London: Cypress Books. |
| 2003 |
[with Kan, Q.] Developing Writing Skills in Chinese. London: Routledge. |
| 2001 |
[with Church, S] Oxford Chinese Minidictionary Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
| 2001 |
[with Church, S] Oxford Starter Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary [New Edition 2007: Oxford Beginner’s Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
Zhao, Yang (2005) Causativity in Chinese and its representations in English, Japanese and Korean speakers’ L2 Chinese grammars. Click here for the abstract.
Liang, George (2006) Nominal phrases in English and Japanese speakers' L2 Mandarin
Grammars. Click here for the abstract.
Zhao, Lucy (2008) The Syntax and Interpretation of Overt and Null Arguments in Chinese and Their Acquisition by Second Language Learners. Click here for the abstract.
Dugarova, Esuna (2010) Behaviours of wh-elements in English and Russian learners'
L2 Chinese. Click here for the abstract.
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