Zhou Tingsheng
周廷升

program

Field of Study

Years of Stay at HYI

Aug 2015 to Dec 2016

University Affiliation (Current)

University Affiliation

Zhou Tingsheng received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from Minzu University of China in Beijing. His doctoral research focused on a comprehensive documentation of the Lalo language (a.k.a. western Yi), a minority language spoken in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, and then writing a reference grammar of the language. Tingsheng was born and raised in a traditional Yi family in a remote but beautiful mountain village in southern Dali, Yunnan, and worked in his hometown for several years promoting rural development programs in native Yi villages. He received his M.A. in English language and literature from Yunnan University, and was a Chinese-English translator before starting his doctoral studies. He is interested in ancient Yi (Lolo) scripts and literature, linguistic anthropology, language diversity preservation, intangible cultural heritage inheritance, rural development, and countryside tourism. He also enjoys writing Chinese brush calligraphy.

His current research project is entitled “Collection of Lalo Oral Literature” and is funded by the Firebird Fellowship for the Documentation of Oral Literature and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. He is also joining the China Language Resource Preservation Project (Zhongguo Yuyan Ziyuan Baohu Gongcheng) and documenting the Phula (Azha) Yi language in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southeast Yunnan. He is interested in linguistic and cultural diversity in the Eastern Himalayan Region and border-crossing areas between Yunnan and Southeast Asia.

Zhou, Tingsheng (2015). “A Brief Introduction to Lalo Language in Xiaowan Area (Xiaowan Yiyu Laluohua Gaikuang)”, Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics (Hanzangyu Xuebao), Issue 9, to appear. Beijing: The Commercial Press. 

 

Zhou, Tingsheng (2015). “Topic Particles and Topic Structures in Lalo Language (Yiyu Laluohua De Huati Biaoji Ji Jiegou Leixing)”, Proceedings of the 3rd Postgraduate Forum on Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (Yuyanxue Ji Yingyongyuyanxue Yanjiusheng Luntan 2014), 96-110. Beijing: Minzu University of China Press. 

 

Zhou, Tingsheng, Hu Suhua (2015). “Vitality and Endangerment of the Lalo Language: A Case Study in Xiaowan Area and a Comparison of the Domains of Language Use between Nuosu Yi Areas and Lalo Yi Areas”, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, vol. 38:2, to appear. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.  

 

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