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Yunchuan Chen

Assistant Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708
Rm 225 2204 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


My research interests are experimental approaches to grammars, L2 acquisition and heritage languages. My research projects so far include Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, Thai and Nuosu Yi. I am also interested in how to teach/learn foreign languages effectively with meaning-based approaches.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Assistant Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies · 2019 - Present Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Linguistics · 2025 - Present Linguistics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences · 2020 - Present Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, University Institutes and Centers

Recent Publications


Decoding case markers: L1 Chinese L2 Japanese learners’ comprehension of Japanese OSV sentences

Journal Article Linguistics · April 4, 2025 AbstractIt is widely acknowledged that L2 learners whose native language lacks case markers often encounter difficulties when trying to acquire the usage of case markers in a second language. This article in ... Full text Open Access Cite

Scope assignment in Quantifier-Negation sentences in Tibetan as a heritage language in China

Journal Article Second Language Research · July 1, 2024 Quantifier-Negation sentences allow an inverse scope reading in Tibetan but not in Chinese. This difference can be attributed to the underlying syntactic difference: the negation word can be raised at Logical Form in Tibetan but not in Chinese. This study ... Full text Open Access Cite

An experimental investigation of the Deep Double-o Constraint in Japanese causative constructions

Journal Article Journal of Japanese Linguistics · May 27, 2024 AbstractThe Double-o Constraint (DoC) was proposed to explain the ungrammaticality of having two or more noun phrases (NPs) marked by the accusative case ... Full text Open Access Cite
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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Hawaii, Manoa · 2019 Ph.D.
University of Hawaii, Manoa · 2012 M.A.