Visitors

Prof. Ding-qian Gu and Ms Dan Wei (3-4 July 2011)

Prof. Ding-qian Gu, deputy dean of faculty of education at Beijing Normal University, and Ms Dan Wei, director of the synthesis section of the department of language planning and administration (PRC ministry of education), visited our centre on 3-4 July 2011. Our team introduced our two corpora to them and we had some discussions on the transcription systems of the HKSL and Cantonese data.

Researchers from the Philippine Deaf Resource Center (20-21 Jun 2011)

Two hearing and one Deaf researcher from the Philippine Deaf Resource Center visited our centre for two days of training on the construction of a sign language corpus and the use of ELAN software. The two research teams briefly introduced their on-going projects to each other. During the training, the coding systems of the Child HKSL Corpus and Child HKSL-Cantonese Bilingual Corpus were introduced to the researchers. In return, they shared their experience in the coding of non-manual signs. Second, our research team demonstrated the various functions of ELAN to the Filipino researchers. As they planned to construct a database for Filipino Sign Language, our staff also introduced the Asian Sign Bank to them.

Prof. Sze-wing Tang (19 Nov 2010)

Prof. Sze-wing Tang of the department of Chinese language and literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong visited our centre on 19 November 2010. Our team introduced our two corpora to him and he gave us some comments on our work.

Prof. Kevin Yuen (9 Nov 2010)

Prof. Kevin Yuen is a qualified audiologist and speech-language therapist. He has recently joined the department of special education and counselling at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Prof. Yuen visited our centre on 9 November 2010. Our team introduced the two corpora to him and he shared with us his views and commented on our work.

Prof. David Corina (20 Oct 2010)

Prof. David Corina of the Centre for Mind and Brain at the University of California is a renowned scholar in neurolinguistics. Prof. Corina visited our centre on 20 October 2010 and shared his views on various neurolinguistics experiments. Our team introduced our two corpora to him.

Prof. Ka-wai Chui (3 Aug 2010)

Prof. Ka-wai Chui, a linguistics professor at National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, visited our centre on 3 August 2010. Our team introduced the two corpora to her and she discussed the use of research software with us.

Prof. Brian MacWhinney (12 Dec 2008)

Prof. Brian MacWhinney of the department of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University is a renowned scholar in child language acquisition. He has made great contributions to the studies of language acquisition by designing and maintaining the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES), a platform for sharing child language data. Our team was honored to collaborate with Prof. MacWhinney, working on the Child HKSL Corpus that documents adult-child interaction in sign language. During the visit, Prof. MacWhinney discussed with us various issues concerning the documentation of simultaneous production of Cantonese and Hong Kong Sign Language by a bilingual Deaf child.

Prof. Yi-ching Su (30 Jul-01 Aug 2008)

Prof. Yi-Ching Su is an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. During her visit to the centre, Prof. Su presented a series of talks concerning elicitation methodology in child language acquisition, using examples from relative clauses, passives, and causative alternation in Mandarin.

Malaysian sign language research project team (16-20 Jun 2008)

The Malaysian sign language research project team of the faculty of languages and linguistics at the University of Malaya attended a five-day training workshop on sign language documentation organised by the centre. During the workshop, the Malaysian sign language researchers and our staff had fruitful exchanges on how linguistic signals can be distinguished from non-linguistic ones and the techniques involved in the construction of sign language corpora. Moreover, a discussion was held on possible future research collaborations between the University of Malaya and the centre.

Mr Adam Stone and Mr Michael Cheung (11 Jun 2008)

Mr Adam Stone and Mr Michael Cheung visited our centre on 11 June 2008. Mr Stone is a Gallaudet alumnus who runs the DeafDC.com web log and is currently involved in promoting the study of sign language in Sri Lanka. Mr Cheung is an American Sign Language instructor at Chabot College, USA. Our Deaf colleagues introduced our Child HKSL Corpus to them.

Prof. Paul Dudis (2-8 Jun 2008)

Prof. Paul Dudis, assistant professor in the linguistics department and the co-strand director of Language Structure and Visual Modality (LSVM) at Gallaudet University, visited our centre in June 2008. He shared his views on the role of Deaf researchers in the development of sign linguistics with both our hearing and Deaf colleagues. He also presented a talk about his recent research in American Sign Language. Our team introduced our Child HKSL Corpus to him.

The Hong Kong Society for the Deaf and Macau Deaf Association (25 May 2008)

The Hong Kong Society for the Deaf and Macau Deaf Association visited our centre to exchange ideas about the development of services for the Deaf community. Our team introduced the Child HKSL Corpus to the visitors.

Prof. Bencie Woll and Dr Gary Morgan (26 Jan 2008 - 3 Feb 2008)

Prof. Bencie Woll and Dr Gary Morgan, director and co-director (respectively) of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, University College London visited the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages from 26 Jan 2008 to 3 Feb 2008.

During their stay in Hong Kong, Prof. Woll presented a talk entitled "Sign Language and English: How the Brain Processes Language in Different Modalities" at the department while Dr Morgan presented a talk entitled "Mental States and Deaf Children's Development of Theory of Mind Abilities" at the centre.