人文學院通訊 ． FHM Newsletter 12 語言學及現代語言系 Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies Invited Seminar by Prof. Chen Hao-Jan, Howard Message from the Head The Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies (LML) was established in 2012 upon the restructuring of the Faculty of Languages, now re-titled the Faculty of Humanities. LML aspires to seek knowledge for advancing our understanding of the triangulated relation among language, mind and society. Because of the progress in information technology, human communications have been changing drastically. Now we often found ourselves communicating via multimedia devices that allow multilingual switching. Records of communication can be stored and transmitted instantly with very little limitations. The impacts of these changes to human language system, its learning and its use have not yet been duly gauged. LML, the youngest linguistics department in Hong Kong, will make its best effort in this exciting and challenging scientific inquiry. With the above undertakings, we also anticipate synergies between general linguistics and applied linguistics in the curriculum development of language education and language studies, which will further contribute to the growth of the Faculty of Humanities. Professor Cheung Hin Tat（張顯達教授 Head, Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies This semester, Dr. Lai Yee King, Regine（黎爾敬博士）and Dr. Grégoire Winterstein joined the department as new lecturers. Regine is an expert in phonetics and phonology. She studies the acquisition of artificial languages to shed light on the cognitive abilities of the human brain. Grégoire is specialised in formal semantics and pragmatics. He uses probabilistic modelling paired with experimental and computational methods to study natural language interpretation and the way we use language for argumentation. Both will contribute to new areas of research in the department and use their skills to further enhance the teaching provided by LML. This year, two of our colleagues successfully applied for Knowledge Transfer projects. Dr. Chin Chi-on, Andy will be conducting a project named “A Digital Language Museum on Cantonese” and Dr. Jackie Lee will be working on “Grammar Teaching Resources for School Teachers”. Both these projects are emblematic of the will of the department to make the product of our academic work accessible to other professionals as well as to the greater public. This summer will mark the opening of the first course of Korean, which is the third language being taught at the Institute after Japanese and French. The demand for modern languages teaching is high among students, and we keep on working on improving and promoting the classes offered at the Institute. A notable event in this regard was the Language Fun Fair, co-organised in March by LML and the Arthur Samy Language Learning Centre. There, students and staff were introduced to cultural aspects of Japan, Korea and France and had the chance to try their hand at introductory language classes.
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