Phonological Undertakings for Fun
(PUFF, established since 2006)

last updated 12 Jul 2011

PUFF will automatically be cancelled in cases of extreme bad weather. Please check weather reports before coming.

Events and Announcements

Postponed indefinitely
Yushan will lead a discussion on Fun (2005) Interface: the case of expletive epenthesis in modern Chinese.

Jul 9 and Jul 16, 2011
Srinivas will lead a discussion on Candidate Chains (McCarthy, paper to be decided).

Jul 2, 2011
Suki will lead a discussion on Harmonic Serialism (tentatively based on McCarthy (2011) Autosegmental spreading in Optimality Theory).

Jun 25, 2011
Yushan will lead a discussion on Cai (2005) Syllable Structure: evidence from 3 Beijing fanqie languages

Jun 18, 2011
Srinivas will present some Polish data that presents challenges for Wee (2004) Inter-tier Correspondence Theory (sources to be announced).

Jun 11, 2011
Suki will lead a discussion of Fukazawa (2001) Local Conjunction and Extending Sympathy Theory: OCP Effects in Yucatec Maya. In Linda Lombardi (ed.) Segmental Phonology in OT.

Apr 30, May 7 and May 21, 2011
Mingxing will lead a discussion on Stratal OT (Kiparsky, paper to be decided).

Apr 23, 2011
 Lian-Hee will lead a discussion on Sympathy (McCarthy 1998, 2000).

Apr 2 and Apr 9, 2011
Winnie will lead a discussion on Benua (1998) Transderivational Identity: Phonological Relations between Words

Mar 5-19, 2011
Srinivas will talk about the notions Strict Cyclicity, Bracket Erasure, Non-Derived Environment Blocking, and Derived Environment Effects.

Feb 26, 2011
Lian-Hee will give a dry-run presentation of Opacity isn't so Bad for OT.

Feb 19, 2011
Lian-Hee will lead a discussion of Bagemihl (1995) Play Languages and Related Issues. In J. Goldsmith (ed) The Handbook of Phonological Theory, Blackwell.

Jan 29 and Feb 12, 2011
Srinivas will lead a discussion of Pater, Joe (2008) Morpheme-specific Phonology: Constraint Indexation and Inconsistency Resolution. In Steve Parker (ed.) Phonological Argumentation: Essays on Evidence and Motivation. [slides]

Starting this June 2010, Suki will serve as PUFF convener! We thank Monica for her dedicated service over the last year.

Jun 17 and 24, 2010
 Suki will lead a discussion of Yip, Moira (1989) Contour Tones. Phonology 6:149-174.

Jan 23, 2010
 Suki will lead a discussion of Gussenhoven, Carlos (2004) The phonology of tone and intonation, chapter 4. Cambridge University Press.

Jan 16, 2010
Monica will lead  a discussion of Bickmore, Lee (2000)  Downstep and fusion in Namwanga. Phonology, 17: 297-331

Jan 9, 2010 (Happy New Year!!)
 Fiona will lead  a discussion of Nelson (1998) Mixed anchoring in French Hypocoristic Formation. RuLing Papers 1, 185-199. Available at http://aris.ss.uci.edu/ling/people/lecturers/nelson/folder/mixed-anchoring-in-french.pdf

Nov 28 - Dec 26, 2009
Puff will not meet for this period of time due to a combination of examinations, Christmas holidays and Lian-Hee's travel obligations.

Nov 21, 2009
Lian-Hee will present his recent research entitled If tones had weights... There is nothing to read in advance.

Nov 14, 2009
PUFF will join WOC-9 at HKUST (For details see, http://www.swtang.net/woc2009.php).

Oct 31, 2009
 Suki will lead a discussion of Knight & Nolan (2006). The effect of pitch span on intonational plateaux. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36: 21 - 38

Oct 17, 2009
Monica will lead a discussion of Kubozono (1989) Syntactic and Rhythmic Effects on Downstep in Japanese.  Phonology 6, 39-67.

Sep 26, 2009
 Suki will lead a discussion of NG, E-Ching (2009) Non-Plateaus, Non-Tonal Heads Tone assignment in Colloquial Singaporean English.  (Available at http://pantheon.yale.edu/~en27/present/2009_assigntone_cls.pdf)

Sep 19, 2009
Special discussion on the Generative tradition of linguistics. Please read this and devote some time to thinking or researching some the ideas contained there in advance.

Sep 12, 2009
Monica will lead a discussion of Ng, E-Ching (2009) Chinese meets Malay meets English: The origins of Colloquial Singaporean English tone. (Available at http://pantheon.yale.edu/~en27/present/2009_tonogenesis_ms.pdf)

Jul 11, 2009
Lian-Hee will present Teaching Linguistics to those Thinking of Something Else. This is a dry run of a talk he will deliver at the "Teaching Linguistics" Conference in  Konstanz, Jul 20-22, 2009.

Also, we will have special guests from Canada. They are Dr. Jeff Thomas Meuhlbauer (Univ. of Manitoba), Dr Clare Elizabeth Cook and Shujun Chin (Univ. of British Columbia). They will talk to us about their research and experiences. It would be a very valuable opportunity to interact with scholars outside of Hong Kong..

Jul 4, 2009
Vera presents Jyutping: say hi to Jyutping

Jun 27, 2009
Lian-Hee will present Wang, J (2002) An OT Analysis of Neutral Tones in Three Chinese Dialects. Linguistic Science, vol.1:78-85.

Jun 20, 2009
Last year on Jun 23, Prof Wang Jialing passed away. Prof. Wang was a great teacher and linguist. This PUFF session is dedicated to his memory. Li Mingxing, one of Prof Wang's students, presents a paper Wang, J (1997) Representation of the neutral tone in Chinese Putonghua. In Wang and Smith eds. Studies in Chinese Phonology.

May 23, 2009
Lian Hee gives a dry run of a talk he's going to give as part of an upcoming PhD application recruitment drive in Taiwan. The talk is entitled The Artificial Boundary of Humanities and Science: Arguments from Linguistics and Literature.

May 2, 2009
Chloe will lead a discussion on Mohanan's Relativizing the force of rational conclusions.  Available at http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellkpmoh/critical/reason.pdf

Apr 11, 2009
Winnie presents Truckenbrodt (2007) The Syntax-Phonology Interface. In Paul de Lacy (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology, Chapter 18. Cambridge University Press.

Mar 28, 2009
Eluz presents of her honours project on Deletion of schwa in HKE "-ary" sequences.

Mar 21, 2009
 Oasis leads a discussion. Gess, R. (2004). Phonetics, phonology and phonological change in Optimality Theory: Another look at the reduction of three-consonant sequences in Late Latin. International Journal of Latin & Romance Linguistics, 16(1), 21-41. Paper available online from HKBU library.

Mar 13-15, 2009
 There's a postgraduate forum during the above date at PolyU featuring presentations from postgraduate students from many different countries. Details and registration at http://www.cbs.polyu.edu.hk/PRFL6/ .

Feb 21, 2009
 We are very pleased to announce that Professor Sze-wing Tang of PolyU has joined PUFF. To access Sze-wing's works, please click on his name in the People @ Puff list below for his webpage.

Suki  will lead a discussion of Duanmu, S. (2002). Two theories of onset clusters. Chinese Phonology 11 (Special issue: glides, syllable and tone): 97-120. (PDF file, Appendix).

Jan 31, 2009 (First talk for the Year of the Ox, SUPER FEATURE)
Mingxing will present his recent research on Minimal Faithfulness to Lexical Tone: Cases from Chinese Tonal Neutralization.
This paper has been accepted for presentation at the incredibly  prestigious GLOW 2009 (France). We congratulate him on two such amazing achievements. To access Mingxing's works, please click on his name in the People @ Puff list below for his webpage.

Jan 24, 2009 (Chinese New Year Eve Special!!)
Monica  will present her recent research on Phonological Correlates: Structural versus Non-Structural Ambiguity.

We have a new facebook page. Join the group for access to other fun things there!

Jan 17, 2009 (New Year Special!!)
Mingxing will present his recent research on Interaction of Preferences for Distinct Contrast: Cases from Mandarin Chinese. This paper has been accepted for presentation at  the very prestigious GLOW in Asia 2009. To access Mingxing's works, please click on his name in the People @ Puff list below for his webpage.

Jan 3, 2009
In this meeting we will explore notions of grammaticality and universality. Nothing to read in advance, but come prepared for a discussion.

Dec 27, 2008
Eluz will lead a discussion of Fun (2005). Available for download here.

Dec 6, 2008
Ying Ying Tan (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) will talk to us on the topic A cyclical Phonological Exercise: Tone Sandhi in Chaozhou (Chiuchow). Handouts will be distributed. Dinner will be held in Ying Ying's honor after the session.

Nov 22, 2008
Lian Hee will talk about Chain shifts as evidence for antifaithfulness. Handouts will be distributed.

Nov 15, 2008
Winnie will lead a discussion of her paper entitled Span of high tones in Hong Kong English. Available for download here. To access Winnie's works, please click on his name in the People @ Puff list below for his webpage.

Nov 8, 2008
Oasis will lead a discussion of Cai (2005). Available for download here.

Oct 18, and Nov 1 2008
Suki will lead a discussion of Hayes, Bruce (1989) Compensatory Lengthening in Moraic Phonology. Linguistic Inquiry, 20(2), pp.253-306.

Oct 11, 2008
Joanna Sio will talk to us on her research on [aa] in Cantonese.

Sep 27, 2008
We'll explore the idea of Lexicon Optimization in OT.

Sep 20, 2008
 Paul He on his research on  'China English' or Native Speaker Based Standard? A Study of College Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of the Ideal Pedagogic Model of College English in Mainland China

Sep 13, 2008
Winnie will lead a discussion of Odden, D. 1995. Tone: African Languages. In J. Goldsmith ed. The handbook of Phonological Theory, Chapter 12. Blackwell.

Aug 30, 2008
The paper under discussion is
Hall, T. 2006. Derived Environment Blocking Effects in Optimality Theory. Natural Languages & Linguistics Theory, 24:803-856.

Aug 23, 2008
Yao Yao (Univ. of Calif., Berkeley)  will address us on the topic: The pronunciation of THE in American English. Yao Yao will also share with us some recent fieldwork studies at UC Berkeley. Dinner will be held in Yao Yao's honor after the session. PUFF begins at 2.30pm this week and will be held in the same OEM1008.

Aug 16, 2008
Today we discuss a very interesting paper:
Yip, Moira (2003) Casting doubt on the onset-rime distinction. Lingua 113.8:779-816.

Aug 2, 2008
L.H. Wee presents What is kiw-ling (killing) about OT ah? – LL from English in Singapore and Hong Kong. This is a dry run for talk to be given at Centre for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) Seminar Series, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 07 Aug 2008.

Earlier presentations not documented here because the website only began in Aug 2008.

People @ PUFF (in no particular order)

Current Active Members
Suki S.Y. YIU (Convener, BA (Hons) and BEd.(Hons) 2010, HKBU)
Srinivas (Coordinator for PUFF Google Group, PhD candidate, HKBU & EFL)
CHEN, Yitian Chloe (BA (Hons) and BEd.(Hons) 2011, HKBU)
Winnie H.Y. CHEUNG
LI, Mingxing (MPhil candidate, CUHK)
WU Yushan (MA candidate, Shenzhen Univ.)
OU Jinghua (MPhil candidate, PolyUHK)
WEE, Lian Hee (Trouble-maker)

Special/Occasional Appearances
 May T.M. CHAN (PhD candidate, Univ. of Oxford)
CHIN Shujun Seok Koon (ABD, Univ. of British Columbia)
Clare COOK (Post-doc fellow, Univ. of Manitoba, Canada. Click here for dissertation)
Denise W.F. BOK (dessert chef, BA Hons. 2007, HKBU)
Franticek KRATOCHVIL (Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological Univ.)
Jeff MUEHLBAUER (Post-doc fellow, Univ. of Lethbridge and Univ. of Manitoba, Canada. Click here for dissertation)
Joanna U.S. SIO (Lecturer, NTU)
TAN Ying Ying (Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Sze-Wing TANG  (Associate Professor, CUHK)
YAO Yao (Assistant Professor, PolyUHK)
ZHANG Ling (PhD candidate, PolyUHK)
 

Members no longer active
 Monica C.K. CHENG (BA Hons. 2009, HKBU)
Fiona K.M. CHEUNG (BA Hons. 2011 HKBU)
Crystal Y.L. CHIU (BA Hons. 2008, HKBU)
Vera W.L. CHIU (BA (Hons) 2010, HKBU)
Paul D. HE (PhD candidate, CityUHK )
Julian H.Y. KAM (BA Hons. 2007, HKBU)
Oasis M.L. KEUNG (BA and BEd Hons. 2009, HKBU)
Kate N.T. KWAN (BA. Hons. 2007, HKBU)
Eluz K.Y. KWOK (BA Hons. 2009, HKBU)
Carol K W. LEUNG (BA Hons. 2007, HKBU)
Fiona H.P. LIU (BA Hons. 2007, HKBU)
PENG, Yaya
QIN, Zhen (MPhil candidate, CUHK)
Jade S.P. TSANG (BA Hons. 2008, HKBU)
Crono TSE (MPhil candidate, CUHK)
Ivy K. Y. TSOI (BA Hons. 2008, HKBU)
 

What’s PUFF about?

PUFF is an unofficial reading group where people interested in phonology could meet. It was founded in the summer of 2006 when Lian Hee arrived at Hong Kong Baptist University and couldn't find people to play with on Saturdays. So he came up with the devious idea of getting students to come to school on weekends.

We usually meet on Saturdays at HKBU, OEM1008 at 2pm, though PUFF may occasionally be cancelled. At PUFF we serve as sounding boards for one another’s ideas and as a place to explore readings that are interesting to any of our members. This means that we sometimes read material outside of phonology, so perhaps PUFF should really be called CUFF (Curious Undertakings For Fun).

PUFF folks range from the highly trained to the regular undergraduate. Our sessions are thus conducted in plain language with the aim to learn rather than to rush. However, we do try to be rigorous in working through the material carefully. We try to be unafraid of difficulty, but it’s hard to say if we could actually tackle rocket science.

If you’re interested in joining us, please contact Lian Hee .