RESEARCH INTERESTS
Syntax and its interaction with sentence processing, language acquisition and computational modeling
EMPLOYMENT
2020- Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Michigan State University
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
2013-2019 Ph.D. in Linguistics,
Linguistics Department,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. thesis title
The syntax, semantics and processing of agreement and binding grammatical
illusions
Ph.D. committee members
Prof. Sam Epstein, Prof. Richard Lewis, Prof. Acrisio Pires, Dr. Jonathan Brennan
2009-2012 M.A. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Center for Studies of Chinese as a Second Language (CSCSL)
Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), Beijing, China
PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS
Journal papers
to appear Ke, Alan Hezao. Syntax and semantics of NPs in Chinese possessive topic constructions.
Journal of East Asia Linguistics. (with minor revision)
to appear Ke, Alan Hezao. Can Agree and Labeling be reduced to Minimal Search? Linguistic Inquiry.
to appear Ke, Alan Hezao. Domain of transfer. The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalism. eds.
Kleanthes K. Grohmann & Evelina Leivada. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2023 Ke, Alan Hezao. Search downward: minimal search-based Agree. Glossa.
https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.6526
2022 Chia-Wen Lo, Tzu-Yun Tung, Alan Hezao Ke, Jonathan R. Brennan. Hierarchy, not lexical
regularity, modulates low-frequency neural synchrony during language comprehension.
https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00077.
2022 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Local versus long-distance bound implicit arguments of
inalienable relational nouns in Chinese. Journal of Linguistics. 58(2), 269-305.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226721000190.
2020 Ke, Alan Hezao & Liqun Gao. Domain restriction in child Mandarin: implications for
quantifier spreading. Linguistics 58(6): 1839-1875.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0246.
2019 Ke, Alan Hezao, Ya Zhao, Liqun Gao, Shuying Liu & Acrisio Pires. On the implicit anaphoric
argument of relational nouns in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. Journal
of Psycholinguistic Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-019-09633-2.
2019 Ke, Alan Hezao. Exploring the Immediate Constituent Analysis of Person-denoting Complex
NPs (in Chinese). Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences].
Reprinted in Yuyanxue [Linguistics], Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Shubao Ziliao Zhongxin
[Renda Information Center for Social Sciences], 2019(8): 25–36.
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao, Samuel Epstein, Richard Lewis & Acrisio Pires. The quantificational domain
of dou: An experimental study. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 47(3): 537–556.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-017-9532-9.
Manuscripts
in review Ke, Alan Hezao. Null object, topic, and the (un)availability of the quantity reading.
in review Ke, Alan Hezao. Null object, topic, and the availability of the sloppy reading.
in review Ke, Alan Hezao, Andrew McInnerney & Yushi Sugimoto. Lack of c-command in coordinate
structures: Evidence from binding.
ms. Ke, Alan Hezao. Jingying Xu & Lijun Ding. The clustering approach to parameter setting:
Sitting between grammar selection and direct parameter setting.
Proceedings
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Inalienable Relational Nouns and Logophors. Proceedings of
20th Seoul International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG).
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Covert reflexive argument in inalienable relational nouns.
Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v3i1.4334.
2016 Ke, Alan Hezao, Samuel Epstein, Richard Lewis & Acrisio Pires. Syntactic Constraints on
Quantifier Domains: An Experimental Study of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese. Penn
Working Papers in Linguistics 40.
REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2023 Ke, Alan Hezao. Null object, topic, and the availability of the quantity reading. Poster
presentation at the 59th Chicago Linguistic Society conference (CLS 59). University of Chicago.
2022 Ke, Alan Hezao, Andrw McInnerney & Yushi Sugimoto. Lack of c-command in coordinate
structures: Evidence from binding. The 45th Generative Linguistics in the Old World
(GLOW 45). Talk presented online. Queen Mary University of London. April 26-29, 2022.
2019 Ke, Alan Hezao. On Minimal Search. The 42th Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW 42).
University of Oslo, Norway.
2019 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Inalienable Relational Nouns and Logophors. Linguistic Society
of America (LSA) 2019 Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao. Minimal Search in Agree. Multiple Agreement across Domains 2018, Berlin,
Germany. (not able to attend due to funding issues)
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Inalienable Relational Nouns and Logophors. 20th Seoul
International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG).
2018 Ke, Alan Hezao & Acrisio Pires. Covert Reflexive Argument in Relational Nouns. Linguistic
Society of America (LSA) 2018 Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City.
2016 Ke, Alan Hezao, Samuel Epstein, Richard Lewis & Acrisio Pires. Syntactic Constraints on
Quantifier Domains: An Experimental Study of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese.
Generative Linguistics in the Old World 39 (GLOW 39), Georg-August-Universität Göttingen,
Germany.
2016 Ke, Alan Hezao. Full Phase Transfer. Penn Linguistics Conference 40. University of
Pennsylvania.
2016 Ke, Alan Hezao, Samuel Epstein, Richard Lewis & Acrisio Pires. Syntactic Constraints on
Quantifier Domains: An Experimental Study of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese. Penn
Linguistics Conference 40. University of Pennsylvania.
2014 Ke, Alan Hezao. From a Syllable System to a Phoneme System. 19th Mid-Continental Phonetics
& Phonology Conference. University of Wisconsin – Madison, Wisconsin.
2014 Ke, Alan Hezao, Ya Zhao, Liqun Gao & Shuying Liu. Null Anaphoric Possessor Arguments of
Kinship Nouns and Long-Distance Binding in Mandarin. Generative Linguistics in the Old World
(GLOW) in Asia X. National Tsinghua University, Taiwan.
2013 Ke, Alan Hezao & Gao, Liqun. Domain Restriction in Child Mandarin. Generative Approaches to
Language Acquisition (GALA) 2013. University of Oldenburg, Germany.
2012 Ke, Alan Hezao & Gao, Liqun. Domain Restriction in Child Mandarin. Generative Linguistics in
the Old World (GLOW) in Asia IX. Mie University, Japan. (accepted as oral presentation, but
unable to attend)
2012 Ke, Alan Hezao & Gao, Liqun. Children's Acquisition of Distributivity. Workshop on Language
Development in Typical and Atypical Populations. Beijing Language and Culture University,
Beijing, China. (Invited speaker with Liqun Gao)
2011 Ke, Alan Hezao, Zhao,Ya & Liu, Shuying. Referential Dependence of Relational Nouns in
Mandarin: An Experimental Study. The 5th International Conference on Formal Linguistics.
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Guangzhou, China.
2010 Ke, Alan Hezao & Gao, Liqun. An Experimental Study on Mandarin Children's Interpretation
of the Wh-phrase shei ‘who’. Workshop on Acquisition of Scope and Phrase Structure:
Comparative Perspectives. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. (Invited speaker with
Liqun Gao)
OTHER TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
2017 Ke, Alan Hezao, Samuel Epstein, Richard Lewis & Acrisio Pires. Syntactic Constraints on
Quantifier Domains: An Experimental Study of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese.
Linguistics Department Student Colloquium, University of Michigan.
2015 Hettiarachchi, Sujeewa, Acrisio Pires, Julie Boland & Alan Hezao Ke. On L2 Syntactic
Competence and Processing: Evidence from Sinhala/English Bilinguals, Linguistics Department
Colloquium, University of Michigan.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant in Language and Cognitive Architecture Lab at the University of Michigan. (2013-present)
Supervisor: Prof. Richard Lewis
Assistant in the project The emergence of logic in child language (Discovery Projects, funded by Australian Research Council, cooperated with Macquarie University and Chinese University of Hong Kong). No. DP1096160. (2010 - 2013)
Supervisors: Prof. Stephen Crain, Prof. Liqun Gao, etc.
Assistant in the project Children’s Acquisition of semantics and logic: a comparative study of Chinese and English (Funded by China National Foundation of Social Science). No. 09BYY022. (2009 - 2013)
Supervisors: Prof. Liqun Gao, Prof. Stephen Crain, etc.
Assistant in the project Linguistic knowledge in children with Specific Language Impairment. Macquarie University Research Fellowship (2012 - 2015), No. MQRF201215. (2012 - 2013)
Supervisors: Dr. Peng Zhou, Prof. Liqun Gao, etc.
Research assistant in the Cognitive Science Lab of Center for Studies of Chinese as a Second Language (CSCSL) of BLCU, and manager of the Eye-tracking lab. Responsibilities: Experiment designing, experiment conducting, data collecting and data analyzing. (2010 - 2013)
Supervisor: Prof. Liqun Gao.
SUMMER COURSES
2015 Linguistic Summer Institute 2015 at the University of Chicago.
2011 The 9th CLSI (China Linguistics Summer Institute), Summer School, Beijing University. Courses:
lexical semantics (Dr. Anna Rumshisky and Prof. James Pustejovsky), second language
acquisition (Prof. Hong Gang Jin)
2010 Summer courses by Prof. James Huang (Harvard University) at BLCU.
TEACHING CERTIFICATES & EXPERIENCE
06/2012: Advanced Level Certificate for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, conferred by National Office of
Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language under the Ministry of Education.
03/2012-06/2012: Chinese teacher
North China Electric Power University, Responsibility: Teaching foreigners Chinese, Courses: Chinese Reading (intermediate), Chinese Speaking (elementary).
09/2010-01/2011: Chinese teacher
North China Electric Power University, Responsibility: Teaching foreigners Chinese, Courses: Chinese Speaking (elementary), Chinese Speaking (intermediate).
EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGM
Truth Value Judgment Task, Self-paced Reading Task, Mouse Tracking, Eye-tracking, ERP, corpus linguistics, speech analysis in Praat
PROGRAMMING SKILLS
Python, R, C++, VBA (Visual Basic for Applications for Excel and other Office programs)