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Curriculum Vitae

Xun Gong
SOAS University of London, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Post-Doc
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Curriculum Vitae Xun Gong [koŋ˥˥˥ ɕyn˥˥˥] Flat 7 9, Leigh Street London, WC1H 9EW United Kingdom E-mail: minus273cn@gmail.com Fields of research Language documentation, historical linguistics, phonology, morphosyntax Languages and zones of interest Sino-tibetan Qiangic Rgyalrongic. I work on the language documentation of Zbu Rgyalrong, a Rgyalrongic language spoken by a population of 5 000. This language shows a fascinating segmental and suprasegmental phonology, as well as a morphology with a complexity unique not only inside Rgyalrongic, but in Sino-Tibetan in general as well. Tangut. This extinct language, close to Rgyalrong languages, preserves the frst written testimony for the Qiangic group in Sino-Tibetan. I am interested in the reconstruction of Proto-Qiangic and Proto- Sino-Tibetan from Tangut data. Tibetic Tibetan, written and modern dialects. The Tibetan language, with its contemporary diversity and a well-attested proto-language, is one of the best natural laboratories for phonologists and diachronicians alike. I seek to understand the diachrony of Tibetan with tools from synchronic phonology. Chinese Chinese, Old, Middle and modern dialects. Historical linguistics is an enterprise of iterative improve- ment. The convergence of recent reconstructions of Old Chinese means that we now know much more about this stage of Chinese than earlier. I attempt to utilize this knowledge to improve synchronic and diachronic treatments of Middle Chinese and modern dialects. I am equally interested in the use of data from Southern dialects and non-Chinese languages in the study of Old Chinese. Positions 2018 – : Post-doctoral research fellow, SOAS. 2014 –2018: Part-time lecturer, INALCO. 2013 –2016: PhD fellow, INALCO. Education 2013 – 2018: Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales PhD (Docteur de l’INALCO en Sciences du langage), Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l’Asie orientale (CRLAO) & INALCO.
Xun Gong 2 Thesis supervisor: Guillaume Jacques (CNRS) Title of the thesis: Le rgyalrong zbu : une langue tibéto-birmane de Chine du Sud-Ouest. Une étude descriptive, typologique et comparative [Zbu Rgyalrong, a Tibeto-Burman language of Southwestern China. A descriptive, typological and comparative study] Defended on 22 June, 2018. 2007 – 2013: École normale supérieure Master de Linguistique théorique et formelle (LFT), ENS – Paris 8, 2010 – 2013 (grade très bien) Master 1 in Computer Science (MPRI), École normale Supérieure, 2008 – 2010 Undergraduate diploma of Computer Science, Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, 2007 – 2008 (grade bien) 2005 – 2007: Shanghai Jiao Tong University University studies, ACM Honoured Class, major Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2005 – 2007 Publications Xun Gong, to appear. ‘Uvulars and uvularization in Tangut phonology’, to appear in Language and Linguistics. Xun Gong, 2017c. ‘Review of Mariëlle Prins : A Grammar of rGyalrong, Jiǎomùzú (kyom-kyo) Dialects: A Web of Relations’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 80:2, 393–394. Xun Gong, 2017b. ‘Verb stems in Tangut and their orthography’, Scripta, 9, 29–48. Xun Gong, 2017a. ‘嘉絨語組語言與上古漢語的形態學 (Rgyalrongic languages and the morphology of Old Chinese)’. In Park Haeree, Chen Shaoxuan (eds.) “古文字與漢語歷史比較音韻學 Paleography and Chinese Historical and Comparative Phonology” (pp. 132–154). Shanghai, Fudan Daxue Chubanshe. Xun Gong, 2016b. ‘Prenasalized refex of Old Tibetan <ld-> and related clusters in Central Tibetan’, Cahiers de linguistique Asie Orientale, 45:2, 127–147. Xun Gong, 2016a. ‘A Phonological history of Amdo Tibetan rhymes’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 76:2, 347–374. Xun Gong and Lai Yunfan, 2016. ‘Consonant clusters in Chinese’. In Rint Sybesma et al. (ed.) Ency- clopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, Brill. Xun Gong, 2014. ‘The Personal agreement system of Zbu rGyalrong (Ngyaltsu variety)’, Transactions of the Philological Society, 112:1, 44–60. Selected presentations 25 September 2018. ‘Verb for “to butcher, to kill” from “fesh” – an attempt in Burmo-Qiangic dialec- tology’. 51 st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (ICSTLL#51), Kyoto, Kyoto University. 26 April 2018. ‘The ʕayn theory of Grade II in Middle Chinese’. Workshop “Old Chinese and Friends: Advances in the Reconstruction of Old Chinese Phonology”, Jena, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 28 February 2017. ‘Grade II in Tangut and Hexi Late Middle Chinese’. Workshop “Recent Advances in Tangut Studies”, London, SOAS.
Xun Gong 3 17, 24 January 2017. ‘Linguistique historique des langues sino-tibétaines et est-asiatiques’. Guest lec- tures in Master-level course “Introduction à la linguistique historique et comparative” (lecturer Atha- naric Huard), Paris, EPHE. 8 October 2016. ‘Verb stems in Tangut and their orthography’. SCRIPTA 2016 – Tangut and Other Asian Scripts, Seoul, Hunminjeongeum Society. 8 – 10 September 2016. ‘Infuences of tone on the diachrony of Zbu Rgyalrong vocalism’. Fourth Work- shop on Sino-Tibetan Languages of Southwest China, Seattle, University of Washington. 14 December 2015. ‘Uvulars and uvularization in Tangut phonology’. Workshop “Tangut studies”, Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (Universität Hamburg). 23 October 2015. ‘嘉绒语组语言与上古汉语的形态学 (Rgyalrongic languages and the morphology of Old Chinese)’. Workshop “古文字与汉语历史比较音韵学 Paleography and Historical and Comparative Phonol- ogy of Old Chinese”, Shanghai, Fudan University. 6 November 2015. ‘How old is the Chinese in Bái? Reexamining Sino-Bái under the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction’. Workshop “Recent Advances in Old Chinese Historical Phonology”, London, SOAS. 23 June 2015. ‘以西夏语材料证汉语见系声母小舌音现象’ (Uvular realization of Chinese velars in Tangut- language sources). French-Chinese colloquium “Nouveaux horizons en linguistique chinoise”, Paris, IEA de Paris. 4 March 2015. ‘Gradual feature loss in the evolution of initial clusters in Eastern Tibetan’. CRLAO seminar on “Recherches actuelles en linguistique”, Paris, CRLAO-EHESS. 2 October 2014. ‘“Pharyngealization” in the Tangut vowel system. A reinterpretation of Division III of Tangut in light of Rgyalrongic evidence’. Conference “reconstruction et classifcation des langues sino-tibétaines”, Paris, INALCO. 4 June 2014. ‘Prenasalized refex of Old Tibetan ld- and related clusters in Central Tibetan’. 14 th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14), Taipei, Academia Sinica. 28 May 2014. ‘Word-Level Prosodic Structure and Stress in Old Tibetan’. Special panel Mediaeval Tibeto-Burman Languages VI, 24 th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS24), Yangon, SOAS/Yangon University. This talk received a prize for outstanding presentations. 2 – 4 September 2013. ‘Tone and stress in Zbu rGyalrong verbal morphology (Ngyaltsu variety)’. 3rd Sino-Tibetan Workshop on the Languages of Sichuan, Paris, CNRS. 30 June – 1 July 2011. ‘Le système d’accord personnel du rgyalrong zbu (parler du Ngyartsu)’. XXIV èmes Journées de Linguistique d’Asie Orientale, Paris, CRLAO/CNRS-EHESS. Teaching 2017 – 2018: INALCO Scripting languages (1st year Master) 2016 – 2017: INALCO Scripting languages (1st year Master) 2015 – 2016: INALCO General typology of languages (3rd year undergraduate) “you had several very good students to whom you have given a taste for typology…” Scripting languages (1st year Master) “yours was the course in the year I learned the most…” 2014 – 2015: INALCO
Xun Gong 4 Chinese composition (3rd year undergraduate) Tibetan dialects (3rd year undergraduate) Academic Service Peer reviewed articles for the following journals: Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, Central Asiatic Journal, Études mongoles & sibériennes, centrasiatiques & tibétaines. 2014. Co-organizer of the 27th Paris Meeting on East Asian Linguistics (CRLAO, EHESS - CNRS - IN- ALCO). Fieldwork 2010 –, Documentation of Zbu Rgyalrong, spoken in ʿBar·khams county, Rnga·ba prefecture, Sichuan province, China, and bordering counties (notably Rnga·ba and ’Dzam·thang). Spring 2016. 4 months. Summer 2015. 3 weeks. August 2014. 2 weeks. May 2014. 1 month. Summer 2012. 2 months. January 2011. 1 week. Summer 2010. 2 months. Financing and projects Project member. Project ANR PASQi « Phylogenetic Assessment of Southern Qiangic languages » (2008 – 2011) directed by Ekaterina Chirkova (CRLAO–CNRS). MEXT/JSPS Overseas Fieldwork Grant « International joint feld survey of the rGyalrongic languages » (2009 – 2012) directed by Yasuhiko Nagano (Minpaku, Japon). Project member. Project ANR-Corpus HimalCo « Corpus parallèles en langues himalayennes » (2012 – 2014) directed by Guillaume Jacques (CRLAO–CNRS). Language and computer skills Mother tongue: Mandarin Chinese Fluent : English (C2 Oxford Online Placement Test), French Can speak: Zbu Rgyalrong, Amdo Tibetan, Japanese Reading knowledge: Classical Chinese, German, Written Tibetan, Russian Knowledge: Turkish, Chinese dialects, Burmese Computer: Sound knowledge of Unix systems. Multiple programming languages (C, Shell, Perl, Ruby, OCaml, Coq).