Lisa Cheng
Professor General Linguistics
- Name
- Prof.dr. L.L. Cheng
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2104
- l.l.cheng@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-0350-5640
Lisa Cheng is Professor of General Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. Her research interests centre upon comparative syntax, and the interactions between syntax and semantics, syntax and prosody, as well as syntax and processing. She is a co-founder of the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC). Since 2017, she is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
More information about Lisa Cheng
News
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SSH labs: a place to be inspired by your colleagues -
From Azerbaijani to Swedish: ‘Multilingualism improves your understanding of others’ -
Lisa Cheng appointed new Scientific Director of LUCL -
A look at music in the brain at the LIBC public symposium -
Three Leiden professors appointed members of KNAW -
Lisa Cheng elected as member of the Academia Europaea -
Vrije Competitie Grant for Lisa Cheng and Anikó Liptak
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Two Vrije Competitie Grants for LUCL researchers
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2012 Regional Chairship Lisa Cheng
Fields of interests
- Comparative syntax
- syntax-semantics interface
- typology
- Chinese syntax
- syntax-phonology interface
- Bantu syntax
Research
What I find intriguing in language is the fact that languages can be superficially so different but at the same time so similar. This can be seen not only across dialects of a particular language (for example Chinese dialects), but also across language barriers (such as Basque vs. Dutch). The central questions of my research thus center upon the how’s and why’s of language variation. The answers to these questions can only be found by studying language as a system, and by doing interdisciplinary research on the brain.
Main research Projects
| 2015-2019 | Ellipsis licensing beyond syntax. Prinpcipal Investigator with co-investigator Anikó Lipták. | NWO |
| 2014-2018 | Understanding Questions. Principal Investigator with co-investigator Jenny Doetjes. | NWO |
| 2014-2019 | Advancing the European Multilingual Experience (AThEME). Principal Investigator. | FP7 European Commission |
| 2004-2008 | Research grant on the Word order and Morphological Marking in Bantu. Principal Investigator with co-investigator Thilo Schadenberg. | NWO |
Awards
- Member Academia Europaea
- LSA Fellow
- Member KNAW
Curriculum Vitae
I obtained my PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, with the dissertation entitled On the typology of wh-questions. I was assistant and associate professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Irvine from 1991 to 2000, before taking up the professor position in Leiden University. For more information please see my CV.
Teaching activities & supervision
I teach syntax and syntax-semantics interface at both the undergraduate and the graduate level in the BA and MA linguistics programmes. I have supervised over 20 PhD students. Below is a partial list.
| Yang Yang (2018) | The two sides of wh-indeterminates in Mandarin |
| Marieke Meelen (2016) | Why Jesus and Job spoke bad Welsh: the origin and distribution of V2 orders in Middle Welsh |
| Hongyuan Sun (2014) | Time reference and bare predicates in Mandarin Chinese |
| Chin-hui Lin (2014) | Utterance final particles in Taiwan Mandarin: contact, context, and core functions |
| Kristina Riedel (2009) | The Syntax of object marking in Sambaa. A comparative Bantu perspective |
| Jenneke van der Wal (2009) | Word order and information structure in Makhuwa-Enahara |
| Martin Salzmann (2006) | Resumptive prolepsis: a study in A’-indirect dependencies |
| Joanna Sio (2006) | Reference and modification in Chinese |
| Anikó Lipták (2001) | On the Syntax of Wh-items in Hungarian |
Professor General Linguistics
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL Linguistics
- Pablos Robles L., Yang Y., Doetjes J.S. & Cheng L.L. (2025), Do readers anticipate wh-in-situ questions?: Cross-linguistic reading time evidence from Mandarin Chinese and French, Applied Psycholinguistics 46: e9.
- Yang Y. , Pablos Robles L. & Cheng L.L. (2023), The processing mechanisms of Mandarin wh-questions, Journal of Chinese Linguistics 51(1): .
- Cheng L.L. (2022), Response particles hai6 in Cantonese, Journal of Chinese Linguistics 50(2): 532-544.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2022), Place and distance: locative expressions in Mandarin and Cantonese. In: Simpson A. (Ed.), New explorations in Chinese theoretical syntax: studies in honor of Yen-Hui Audrey Li. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 77-109.
- Cheng L.L. & Cheng H. (2022), The structural sources for syllabic restrictions in Mandarin. London, U.K.: Queen Mary. [working paper].
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2021), Recursion and the definition of universal prosodic categories, Languages 6(3): 125.
- Cheng L.L. & Griffiths J. (2021), The enduring discoveries of generative syntax. In: Allott N., Lohndal T. & Rey G. (Eds.), A Companion to Chomsky. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell. 52-73.
- Cheng L.L. (2021), What-as-why sentences in Cantonese. In: Soare G. (Ed.), Why is 'why' unique?: Its syntactic and semantic properties. Studies in Generative Grammar no. 142. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 219-246.
- Cheng L.L. (2021), When factivity meets the conjoint/disjoint alternation, Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 62: 75-89.
- Yang Y., Gryllia S. & Cheng L.L. (2020), Wh-question or wh-declarative? Prosody makes the difference, Speech Communication 118: 21-32.
- Cheng L.L. & Yang Y. (2020), Experimental studies on theoretical linguistics, Modern Foreign Languages 43(6): 865-874.
- Schiller N.O., Boutonnet B.P.-A., De Heer Kloots M.L.S., Meelen M., Ruijgrok B.J. & Cheng L.L.-S. (2020), (Not so) Great Expectations: Listening to Foreign-Accented Speech Reduces the Brain’s Anticipatory Processes, Frontiers in Psychology 11: 2143.
- Huang C.T. & Cheng L.L. (2020), Revisiting donkey anaphora in Mandarin Chinese: A reply to Pan and Jiang (2015), International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 7(2): 167-186.
- Gryllia S., Doetjes J.S., Yang Y. & Cheng L.L. (2020), Prosody, clause typing, and wh-in-situ: Evidence from Mandarin, Laboratory Phonology 11(1): 1-30 (19).
- Cheng L.L., Meelen M. & Mourigh K. (2020), V3 in Dutch urban varieties. In: Bárány A., Biberauer T., Douglas J. & Vikner S. (Eds.), Syntactic Architecture and Its Consequences II: between syntax and morphology. Open Generative Syntax no. 10. Berlin: Language Science Press. 327-355.
- Pablos Robles L., Doetjes J.S., Ruijgrok B.J. & Cheng L.L.S. (2019), Backward licensing of Negative Polarity Items in Dutch: an ERP investigation, Journal of Neurolinguistics 51(August 2019): 96-110.
- Yang Y., Gryllia S., Pablos Robles L. & Cheng L.L. (2019), Clause type anticipation based on prosody in Mandarin, International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 6(1): 1-26.
- Bonet E., Cheng L.L., Downing L. & Mascaró J. (2019), (In)Direct reference in the phonology-syntax interface under phase theory: a response to Modular PIC, Linguistic Inquiry 50(4): 751-777.
- Cheng L.L. (2019), On the interaction between modals and aspects, English Linguistics 35(2): 241-260.
- Yang Y. & Cheng L.L. (2019), 汉语韵律的标句作用及其实验研究 : The role of prosody in Chinese clausal typing: an experimental study, Studies in Prosodic Grammar 4(1): 65-82.
- Verbiest F., Cheng L.L.S., Iwaarden A. van & Verrips M. (2018), AThEME: Advancing the European Multilingual Experience, European Journal of Applied Linguistics 6(2): 337-343.
- Pablos Robles L., Doetjes J. & Cheng Lisa L.-S. (2018), Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions, Frontiers in Psychology 8: 2237.
- Reckman H., Cheng L.L., Hijzelendoorn P.M. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (2017), Crossroads Semantics. Computation, experiment and grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- Cheng L.L. & Demirdache H. (2017), On covert movement: partially fronted wh vs. wh-in-situ. In: Halpert C., Kotek H. & Urk C. van (Eds.), A Pesky Set: Papers for David Pesetsky. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics no. 80: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 37-46.
- Cheng L.L., Heycock C. & Zamparelli R. (2017), Two levels for definiteness. Erlewine M.Y. (Ed.), Proceedings of GLOW in Asia XI - Volume 1. GLOW in Asia XI 20 February 2017 - 22 February 2017. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics no. 84 79-83.
- Cheng L.L. (2017), Verb Copying. In: Sybesma R., Behr R., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang C.T.J. & Myers J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics no. 4 488-490.
- Cheng L.L. (2017), Wh-words, non-Interrogative Use of. In: Sybesma R., Behr W., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang C.T.J. & Myers J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics no. 4. Leiden: Brill. 539-543.
- Cheng L.L. (2017), Donkey Anaphora. In: Sybesma R., Behr W., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang C.T.J. & Myers J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics no. 2. Leiden: Brill. 113-117.
- Cheng L.L. (2017), Dōu 都. In: Sybesma R., Behr W., Gu Y., Handel Z., Huang C.T.J. & Myers J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics no. 2. Leiden: Brill. 117-125.
- Cheng L.L. & Bayer J. (2017), Wh-in-situ. In: Everaert M. & Riemsdijk H.C. van (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Syntax. U.K.: Wiley Blackwell. 1-44.
- Gryllia S., Cheng L.L. & Doetjes J.S. (2016), On the intonation of French wh-in-situ questions: What happens before the wh-word is reached?, Speech Prosody 2016. Speech Prosody 2016 31 May 2016 - 3 June 2016.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2016), Phasal Syntax = Cyclic Phonology?, Syntax 19(2): 156-191.
- Ruijgrok B.J., Cremers C.L.J.M., Cheng L.L. & Schiller N.O. (2016), Processing ellipsis: electrophysiological signatures of retrieval and integration mechanisms [22nd Conference for Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMPLaP), September 1-3, 2016, Bilbao, Spain]. [conference poster].
- Badan L. & Cheng L.L. (2015), Exclamatives in Mandarin Chinese, Journal of East Asian Linguistics 24: 383-413.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2015), Mandarin. In: Kiss T. & Alexiadou A. (Eds.), Syntax – Theory and Analysis. An international handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1518-1559.
- Pablos Robles L., Doetjes J.S., Ruijgrok B.J. & Cheng L.L. (2015), Active search for antecedents in cataphoric pronoun resolution, Frontiers in Psychology 6: 1-13.
- Ruijgrok B., Cremers C., Cheng L.L. & Schiller N.O. (2015), Electrophysiological evidence for recovery of meaning of elliptical sentences [Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL), 15-17 October 2015, Chicago, USA]. [conference poster].
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2014), The problems of adverbs in Zulu. In: Caspers J., Chen Y., Heeren W.F.L., Pacilly J.J.A., Schiller N.O. & Zanten E.A. van (Eds.), Above and beyond the segments: experimental linguistics and phonetics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 42-59.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2014), The syntactic structure of noun phrases. In: Huang C.T. James, Li Y.H. Audrey & Simpson A. (Eds.), The handbook of Chinese linguistics. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics. London: John Wiley & Sons. 248-274.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2014), Transitive psych-predicates. In: Li H.Y.A., Simpson A. & Tsai W.T.D. (Eds.), Chinese syntax in a cross-linguistic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 207-228.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L. (2014), Indefinite subjects in Durban Zulu. Hamlaoui F. (Ed.), Preverbal domain in Bantu. . Berlin: ZAS.
- Ruijgrok B., Cremers C., Cheng L.L. & Schiller N.O. (2014), Recovery of meaning during reading: An event-related potential study on the processing of elliptical sentences [21st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), 5-8 April, 2014, Boston (MA), USA]. [conference poster].
- Cheng L.L. & Vicente L. (2013), Verb doubling in Mandarin Chinese, Journal of East Asian Linguistics 22(1): 1-37.
- Cheng L.L. & Corver N. (2013), Diagnosing Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Cheng L.L. & Giannakidou A. (2013), The non-uniformity of wh-indeterminates with polarity and free choice in Chinese. In: Gil K., Harlow S. & Tsoulas G. (Eds.), Strategies of quantification. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 123-151.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2013), Clefts in Durban Zulu. In: Hartmann K. & Veenstra T. (Eds.), Cleft structures. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today no. 208. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 141-163.
- Cheng L.L. & Corver N. (2013), Syntactic diagnostics in the study of human language. In: Cheng L.L.S. & Corver N. (Eds.), Diagnosing syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1-17.
- Cheng L.L., Doetjes J.S., Sybesma R.P.E. & Zamparelli R. (2012), On the interpretation of number and classifiers, Italian Journal of Linguistics / Rivista di Linguistica 24(2): 175-194.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L. (2012), Against FocusP: arguments from Zulu. In: Kucerova I. & Neeleman A. (Eds.), Contrasts and positions in information structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 247-266.
- Cheng L.L. (2012), Counting and classifiers. In: Massam D. (Ed.), Count and mass across languages. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 199-219.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2012), Classifiers and DP, Linguistic Inquiry 43(4): 634-650.
- Cheng L.L.-S & Vicente L. (2012), Verb doubling in Mandarin Chinese, Journal of East-Asian Linguistics : .
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L. (2012), Prosodic domains do not match spell-out domains. In: , McGill Working Papers in Linguistics.
- Cheng L.L., Delfitto D. & Marten L. (2011), The structure and interpretation of nouns and noun phrases (part I): introduction, Italian Journal of Linguistics / Rivista di Linguistica 23(2): 199-202.
- Cheng L.L. (2010), Cantonese as a tense second language. In: Wouter J.W. & Vries M. de (Eds.), Structure preserved: studies in syntax for Jan Koster. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today no. 164. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 73-79.
- Di Sciullo A.M., Piattelli-Palmarini M., Wexler K., Berwick R.C., Boeckx C., Jenkins L., Uriagereka J., Stromswold K., Cheng L.L., Harley L., Wedel A., McGilvray J., Gelderen E. van & Bever T.G. (2010), The biological nature of human language, Biolinguistics 4(1): 4-34.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2010), Locative relatives in Durban Zulu, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 53: 33-51.
- Cheng L.L. & Demirdache H. (2010), Trapped at the edge: on long-distance pair-list readings, Lingua 120(3): 463-484.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2009), Where's the topic in Zulu?, The Linguistic Review 26(2-3): 207-238.
- Cheng L.L. (2009), On every type of quantificational expression in Chinese. In: Rathert M. & Giannakidou A. (Eds.), Quantification, definiteness, and nominalization. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 53-75.
- Cheng L.L. (2009), Wh-in-situ, from the 1980s to now, Language and Linguistics Compass 3(3): 767-791.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2009), De 的 as an underspecified classifier: first explorations, Yŭyánxué lùncóng 39: 1-19.
- Cheng L.L. (2008), Deconstructing the shì … de construction, The Linguistic Review 25(3-4): 235-266.
- Cheng L.L., Doetjes J.S. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2008), How universal is the Universal Grinder?, Linguistics in the Netherlands 25(1): 50-62.
- Kula N.C. & Cheng L.L. (2007), Phonological and syntactic phrasing in Bemba relatives, Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 28(2): 123-148.
- Cheng L.L. (2007), The autonomy of syntax. In: Groen A. in't, Jonge H.J. de, Papma H., Klasen E. & Slooten P. van (Eds.), Knowledge in ferment: dilemmas in science, scholarship and society. Leiden: Leiden University Press. 209-226.
- Cheng L.L. & Downing L.J. (2007), The prosody and syntax of Zulu relative clauses. Kula N. & Marten L. (Eds.), SOAS Working papers in linguistics. SOAS Conference on Bantu Grammar: Description and Theory 20 April 2006 - 22 April 2006 no. 15. Londen: SOAS. 51-63.
- Cheng L.L. (2007), Verb copying in Mandarin Chinese. In: Corver N. & Nunes J. (Eds.), The copy theory of movement. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today no. 107. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishers. 151-174.
- Sybesma R.P.E. & Cheng L.L. (2006), A Chinese relative. In: Broekhuis H., Corver N., Huybregts R., Kleinhenz U. & Koster J. (Eds.), Organizing grammar: linguistic studies in honour of Henk van Riemsdijk. Studies in Generative Grammar no. 86. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 69-76.
- Cheng L.L. (2006), Decomposing Bantu Relatives. Deal A.R. (Ed.), NELS 36. The thirty-sixth annual meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 28 October 2006 - 30 October 2006. Amherst: UMass. 197-215.
- Cheng L.L. & Kula N.C. (2006), Syntactic and phonological phrasing in Bemba relatives, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 43: 31-54.
- Cheng L.L. & Corver N. (2006), Lines of inquiry into Wh-Movement. In: Cheng L.L.-S. & Corver N. (Eds.), Wh-movement: moving on. Cambridge: MIT Press. 1-18.
- Cheng L.L. & Giannakidou A. (2006), (In)definiteness, polarity, and the role of wh-morphology in free choice, Journal of Semantics 23(2): 135-183.
- Reintges C.H., Lipták A.K. & Cheng L.L. (2005), The nominal cleft construction in Coptic Egyptian. In: Kiss K.É. (Ed.), Universal grammar in the reconstruction of ancient languages. Studies in Generative Grammar no. 83. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 105-136.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2005), Classifiers in four varieties of Chinese. In: Cinque G. & Kayne R.S. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 259-292.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2004), Postverbal 'can' in Cantonese (and Hakka) and Agree, Lingua 114(4): 419-445.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (2003), Forked modality, Linguistics in the Netherlands 20(1): 13-23.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (2003), The Second Glot International State-of-the-Article Book. Berlijn: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Cheng L.L. (2003), Wh-in-situ, part II, Glot International 7(5): 129-137.
- Cheng L.L. (2003), Wh-in-situ, Glot International 7(4): 103-109.
- Cheng L.L. (2000), Moving just the feature. In: Lutz U., Mueller G. & Stechow A. von (Eds.), Wh-scope marking. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today no. 37. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 77-99.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (2000), The First Glot International State-of-the-Article Book. Berlijn: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Cheng L.L. & Rooryck J.E.C.V. (2000), Licensing Wh-in-situ, Syntax 3(1): 1-19.
- Cheng L.L., Huang C., Li Y.H.A. & Tang C. (1999), Hoo Hoo Hoo in Taiwanese. In: Ting P.H. (Ed.), Contemporary Studies on the Min Dialects. Berkeley: Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 146-203.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (1999), . Glot International.
- Sybesma R.P.E. & Cheng L.L. (1999), Bare and not so bare nouns and the structure of NP, Linguistic Inquiry 30(4): 509-542.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (1998), Yi-wan Tang, yi-ge Tang: Classifiers and Massifiers, Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies XXVIII(3): 385-412.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (1998), . Glot International.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (1998), On dummy objects and the transitivity of run. Bezooijen R. van & Kager R. (Eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands 1998. . Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 81-93.
- Cheng L.L., Huang C. & Tang C. (1997), Negative Particle Questions: a dialectal comparison, Journal of Chinese Linguistics : .
- Cheng L.L. (1997), On the Typology of Wh-questions. New York/Londen: Garland Publishing.
- Cheng L.L., Huang C., Li Y. & Tang C. (1997), Causative Compounds across Chinese Dialects: a study of Cantonese, Mandarin and Taiwanese. In: , Chinese Languages and Linguistics IV: Typological Studies of Languages in China. Taiwan: Academia Sinica. 199-224.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (1997), . Glot International.
- Cheng L.L. (1997), Resultative Compounds and Lexical Relational Structures, Chinese Languages and Linguistics III: Morphology and Lexicon : 167-197.
- Cheng L.L. (1997), "Partial" Wh-movement, UCI Working Papers in Linguistics 3: 27-50.
- Cheng L.L. & Huang C. (1996), Two types of donkey sentences, Natural Language Semantics 4(2): 121-163.
- Cheng L.L., Huang C. & Tang C. (1996), Negative Particle Questions, a dialectal comparison. In: Black J.R. & Motapanyane V. (Eds.), Microparametric Syntax and dialectal Variation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 41-78.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (1996), . Glot International.
- Cheng L.L. & Sybesma R.P.E. (Eds.) (1995), . Glot International.
- Cheng L.L. (1995), On Dou-quantification, Journal of East-Asian Linguistics 4: 197-234.
- Raad van Advies