Linguistic Theory and Language Technology (LLT) Research Group
We look at language use in context, and in vivo in order account for both the underlying generalizations and possible variations. We strive to answer the basic scientific question of who we are by tackling different perspectives of answering the more specific question of what language is.
The ways we approach these questions as influenced by cognitive sciences, language technology, linguistics, and ontology, among other disciplines. Linguistics taught us how to collect, annotate, and analyze…
Chair Professor of Applied Chinese Language Studies (LST)
Founder of PolyU LLT Research Group
Prof. Chu-ren Huang
Prof. Chu-ren HUANG
Chair Professor of Applied Chinese Language Studies
Founder of PolyU LLT Research Group
Stanford's Top 2% Scientist in the Areas of CL-AI
Professor Huang Churen has been a towering figure in linguistics and computational language research, profoundly shaping the field through his scholarship and mentorship. As he prepares to retire in July 2026, his legacy extends far beyond his academic contributions, reflected in a global network of accomplished scholars and professionals who have thrived under his guidance. This platform stands as a testament to his enduring impact, showcasing the significance of his work and the far-reaching achievements of his mentees, who continue to advance the field worldwide.
- churen.huang@polyu.edu.hk
- Chinese Linguistics; Computational Linguistics; Corpus Linguistics; Lexical Semantics; Applied Language Technologies; Artificial Intelligence
- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8526-5520
Core Members
- HHB708, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 7875
- yu-yin.hsu@polyu.edu.hk
- HHB709
- +852 2766 7447
- ym.lee@polyu.edu.hk
- HHB716, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 3400 3870
- emmanuele.chersoni@polyu.edu.hk
- HHB719, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 6981
- shaonan.wang@polyu.edu.hk
- Personal Website
- HHB703, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 4590
- jinghang.gu@polyu.edu.hk
- HHB801f, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 4648
- mingyu.wan@polyu.edu.hk
Other Members
- Xuemei Tang (PhD, Peking University), 2025-
- Jakob Prange (PhD, Georgetown University), 2022-2023. Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Augsburg.
- Winnie Huiheng Zeng (PhD, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Framing Covid-19 and Public Panic: A Corpus-based Analysis of Metaphors,2021-2024, RAP, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Bo Peng (PhD, Yunan University), 2021- Yue Guan (PhD, Peking University), 2021-2022. Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, CASS.
- Mingyu Wan (PhD City University of Hong Kong) How complex can a lie be? - The computation of complexity in deceptive language, 2019-2022, Lecturer, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Jinghang Gu (PhD Suzhou University) Research on Biomedical Relation Extraction, 2019-2024, RAP, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- Lu Lu (PhD University of London) Transitivity in light verb constructions: Studies in Mandarin Chinese and beyond, 2019-2021. Computational Linguist.
- Andreas Maria Liesenfeld (PhD Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Dialog grammar induction: Interactional and constructional approaches to computational dialog grammar in Chinese and English conversation, 2019-2021. Assistant Professor, Roudboud University
- Emmanuele Chersoni (PhD Aix-Marseille University) Linguistic Complexity, 2017-2021. Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Sicong Dong (PhD University of Macau) Clitics as an Independent Grammatical Unit: Studies Based on Chinese Dialects, 2017-2019. Associate Professor, Harbin Institute of Technology-Shenzhen
- Natalia Kluyeva (PhD Charles University) Traditional and Novel Methods in Multiword Expression Extraction, 2017-2019. Computational Linguist
- I-Hsuan Chen (PhD UC Berkeley) Iconicity, Lexical Semantics, and Orthography, 2016-2018. Research Scientist, Amazon
- Renkui Hou (PhD Tsing Hua University) Research on Metaphor based on Text Mining and Quantitative Linguistics, 2016-2018, Associate Professor Guangzhou University
- Benjamin Brosig (PhD, Stockholm University) The Emergence of Evidentiality in Deed Mongol and Its Areal Context. (Co Supervisor) 2015-2017. Assistant Professor, Nazabaryav University
- Chen-chun E (PhD, University of Arizona). Towards a Grammatical Dictionary of Chinese. 2014-5, Associate Professor, National United University Jiajuan Xiong (PhD, Hong Kong University, Associate Professor Southwest University of Finance and Economy). Ergativity in Chinese Languages. 2013-2016.
- Huarui Zhang (PhD, Peking University). Dispersive Model of Language. 2010-2012. Lecturer, Peking University
- Jingxia Lin (PhD, Stanford). Lexical Semantics of Motion Verbs. 2011-2012, Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University
- Tommaso Caselli (PhD, Pisa). Event annotation and Detection. 2011-2012. Assistant Professor, Univeristy of Groningen
- Francesca Strik Lievers (PhD, Pisa). Linguistic expression of synesthesia. 2011. Associate Professor, University of Genoa
- Qi Su (PhD, Peking University), Deep Sentiment Analysis and Emotion Classification Based on Linguistics Theories. 2009-2011. Associate Professor, Peking University
- Jia-fei Hong, PhD 2010. (PhD, National Taiwan University). Automatic classification of lexical meaning. Professor/Head/Associate Dean, National Taiwan Normal University
- Shoushan Li (PhD, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Automatic sense detection for Mandarin Chinese. 2008-2010. Professor, Suzhou University
- Ying Chen (PhD, University of Colorado), Unsupervised web-based relation detection. 2008-2010. Associate Professor Chinese Agricultural University)
- Shu-Kai Hsieh (PhD, University of Tuebingen), Ontology of Chinese Writing System.2005-2006. Professor and Associate Dean, National Taiwan University)
- Laurent Prévot (PhD, Toulouse Research Institute of Computer Science.) Ontology and NLP. 2005-2006. Professor, Aix-Marseille University; Research Director, LPL-CNRS
- Simon Smith (PhD, Birmingham), Chinese Wordnet. 2003. Senior Lecturer, Coventry University.
- Oliver Streiter (PhD, University of Saarland) Chinese Parsing 1999. Associate Researcher, French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC, Taipei).
- Zhao-Ming Gao (PhD, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), Collocation and Treebank. 1998. Professor, National Taiwan University
- Mei-Chih Tsai (PhD, University of Paris VII), Chinese Lexical Semantics and Near Synonyms. 1995-1996. Emeritus, National Sun Yat-Sen University
- Charles C. Li (PhD, Stanford University), Chinese Language Processing. 1995. Formerly Prof. Christ’s College, Taiwan
- Mei-chun Liu (PhD, University of Colorado), Interaction between Semantics and Pragmatics. 1993-1994. Professor, City University of Hong Kong
- Cheng-hui Liu (PhD, Ohio State University), Chinese historical grammar. 1991-1993. Professor, National Tsing Hua University
- Ge, Yingqiu
- Yang, Haocheng
- Zhao, Qun
- Zhao, xiaojing
- Song, Huacheng
- Yang, Yiheng (joint supervision)
- Liang, Ke
- Bao, Xiaoyi
- Shao, Yimei
- Wang, Yu (*HKPFS)
- Zhai, Yu
- Cao, Siyi (Joint Supervision)
- Li, Yuxi (Joint supervision)
- Pan, Biwei
- Li, Junlin, PhD (2026) Post-doctoral Fellow at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence
- Luo, Xin Tracy, PhD (2025) Post-doctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- Zhao, Xinlan, DALS (2024),
- Salicchi, Lavinia, PhD (2024) Post-doctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- Chen, Jing, PhD (2024) Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Milan.
- Li, Yanlin, DALS (2023) Post-doctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- James Britton, PhD (2023) Post-doctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- PARTI, Gábor, PhD (2023) (*HKPFS). Mapping the Language of Spices: A Corpus-Based, Philological Study on the Words of the Spice Domain. Best Thesis award runner-up.
- Lei, Siyu, PhD (2023). Mapping Neologism and Collective Human Behavioral Changes: A Study of Covid-19 Related Emergent Neologisms Using Big Data. Assistant Professor,
- Li, Longxing, (Co-Supervisor) PhD (U. Macau 2022), Assitant Professor, Macau Polytechnic University.
- Mu, Tong (Co-Supervisor) DALS 2022. EDB, Hong Kong.
- Zhu, Pan (Co-Supervisor) DALS 2022.
- Wang, Xiaowen. DALS 2021. Professor, Guangzhou University of Foreign Studies.
- Li, An-ran. Ph.D 2021. A Corpus-based Research of Chinese Verbal Irony.
- LAU, Yan Ping Helena PhD. 2020 (Co-Supervisor). Decoding Emotions in Social Media: A Linguistic Analysis of Implicit Emotions and Events. Computational Linguist.
- Zhong, Yin. DALS. 2020. Sensory Lexicon, Sensory Modalities and Lexical Categories in Mandarin Chinese. Senior Lecture, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
- Long, Yunfei. PhD. 2019. (Co-Supervisor) A Study on Using Personal Profiles for a Biased Reader Emotion Prediction Model, Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer), Queen Mary University of London.
- Cheng, Meng Leo. DALS. 2019. Chinese Dou as a Distributive Operator in Event Plurality. Zhengjiang University.
- Neergaard Karl David. PhD. 2018. A Graph Theoretic Approach to the Mandarin Phonological Mental Lexicon, Research Scientist, Institute for the Future of Education Europe, Tecnologico de Monterrey.
- Zhou Mi. PhD. 2018. (Co-Supervisor). Inter-Propositional Logic and Speaker-oriented Adverbs, Lecturer, Xidian University.
- Zhao Qingqing. PhD. 2018. Synaesthesia: A New Perspective to Language and Cognition. *PKU Press/Springer Thesis of the Year Award in Chineser Linguistics, *Best Thesis of the Year Award, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, CASS.
- Jiang Menghan. PhD. 2018. A Comparable Corpus-based Study of Grammatical Variation between Different Variants of Mandarin Chinese, Assistant Professor, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University,
- Liu Hongchao.PhD. 2018. A Vector Approach to Mandarin Resultative V-V Construction, Associate Professor, Shandong University.
- Laszlo, Anna. PhD. 2017. (*HKPFS) A corpus-based textual analysis of irony and sarcasm in scripted discourse.
- Santus, Enrico. PhD. 2016. (*HKPFS) Making Sense: From Word Distribution to Meaning. NLP Section Head, Bloomberg.
- Wang, Shichang, PhD. 2016. Crowdsourcing Method in Empirical Linguistic Research: Chinese Studies Using Mechanical Turk-Based Experimentation. Associate Professor, Shandong University.
- Quattri, Francesca. Ph.D. 2015. (*HKPFS) Automatic Extraction of Lexico-Semantic Information on Shape Words. Researcher, University of Leicester.
- Duann, Ren-Feng. Ph.D. (NTU, co-supervised) 2015. Metaphor of Body Parts in Political Discourse; Lecturer, National Taitung University.
- Xu, Hongzhi, PhD. 2015. The Chinese Aspectual System. Associate Professor/Zhiyuan Scholar, Shanghai International Studies University.
- Ding, Jing. Ph.D. 2015. A Lexical Semantic Study of Chinese Opposites. Lecturer. South China Universit of Science and Technology.
- Pease, Adam. DALS. 2014. Ontology. CEO, Articulate Software. Technical Editor of SUMO Ontology; Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School
- Wang, Shan. Ph.D. 2013. Semantics of Event Nouns. *Best Thesis of the Year Award, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Associate Professor, Universit of Macau.
- Šimon, Petr. PhD. 2012. Procedural Lexical Semantics
- Xu, Ge, PhD (Peking University, co-supervised). 2011. Sentiment Lexicon and Polarity Extraction. Professor and Associate Dean, Minjiang University.
- Lee, Sophia Yat-mei. PhD 2010. A Linguistic Approach to Emotion Detection and Classification. *Best Thesis of the Year Award, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Associate Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- Hong, Jia-fei. PhD (National Taiwan University, co-supervised) 2010. Automatic Prediction of Senses in Chinese.. *LST Best Thesis of the Year Award. Associate Professor and Director of Long-distance Learning, Professor, Head and Associate Dean, National Taiwan Normal University.
- Wang, Meng, PhD (Peking University, co-supervised). 2010. The Intepretation and Automatic Classification of Chinese Compounds. Best Thesis Award (nominated). Assistant Professor, Jiangnan University.
- Chung, Siaw-Fong. PhD (National Taiwan University, co-supervised) 2007. Linguistis Study of Metaphor in Mandarin Chinese. *ACLCLP Best Thesis of the Year Award. Professor and Head, National Chengchi University.
- Chou, Ya-Min. PhD (National Taiwan University, co-supervised) 2005. An Ontology for Chinese Writing System. Honorable Mention, *Best thesis of the year award, R.O.C. Computer Science Association. Associate Professor, National Taipei University.
Group Gathering 1
Group Networking
Recent Group Gathering
CLSW
