Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Linguistics
Director, USC Chinese Language Program
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
213-740-3717
audreyli@usc.edu
Professor Li's research interests include linguistics; English, Mandarin and Taiwanese language; and language policies in Taiwan. She is particularly interested in the general structural properties of natural languages, how and why human languages are the way they are and how and why languages differ in the way they do. Her work is centered on the theme that languages differ in a principled and systematic manner. She has worked on the issues related to order and constituency at the sentential level and, recently, such issues at the nominal level. Data have shown that differences in the linear and hierarchical order of constituents among different types of languages can be traced to their structural differences. Professor Li directs the EALC Chinese Language Program and is also interested in the issues regarding language acquisition and pedagogical implications.
Education:
Ph.D. (Linguistics), University of Southern California, 1985
M.A. (Linguistics), National Taiwan Normal University, 1981
B.A. (English), National Taiwan Normal University, 1977
Selected Publications:
Li, A., Huang, J., & Li, Y. Syntax of Chinese, in preparation for Cambridge University Press.
Li, A. & Aoun, J. (2003). Essays on the representational and derivational nature of grammar: the diversity of wh-constructions. MIT Press.
Li, A. & Simpson, A. (Eds.). Functional structure(s), form and interpretation. to appear Curzon Press.
Li, A., et al. New Century Chinese Book I (2001); Book II, (2002). Beijing Language and Culture University.
Li, A., Humphries, J., & Wei, C. (2000). Chinese, living languages. Random House.
Li, A. & Huang, J. (Eds.). (1996). New horizons in Chinese linguistics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Li, A. & Aoun, J. (1993). Syntax of scope. MIT Press.
Li, A. (1990). Order and constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Honors and Awards:
USC Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award, 1993