Virginia Yip
Chairperson, Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages
A Decade of Excellence
Established in 2004, the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages has reached a momentous milestone in 2014. It’s time to celebrate our 10th birthday and reflect on where we came from and where we are headed. While ten years is a relatively short time depth in historical linguistics, a great deal of significant change can take place within the twinkling of an eye which can be compared to the changes in the development of language in early childhood. The birth of our department was a dream come true, enabling the young and vibrant discipline of linguistics to have its own space to grow and flourish on CUHK campus. The early seeds were planted in fertile soil and have grown, blossomed and continued to bear fruit. We have come a long way from a small team to becoming a sizable team with regional and international recognition as well as global and local impact.
The past decade has seen remarkable achievements which would not have been possible without the dedication and concerted effort of colleagues in the two sections. To offer high quality programmes and solid training in linguistics and languages has been top of our agenda. The QS World University Rankings by subject ranked our Linguistics Programme no.27 in 2011 and Modern Languages no. 11 in 2014. The Linguistics major programme ranked second in the Faculty of Arts in 2013-2014, attracting the best and brightest students to our department. Spurred by the recognition, we will continue to achieve excellence in building our programmes, teaching and learning and conducting scholarly research.
In spite of the passage of time and changes in the past decade, there are certain core values that we hold onto steadfastly:
- Commitment to excellence in research and scholarship: first and foremost, we are dedicated to nurturing outstanding scholarship and pioneering research. Research and scholarship are the foundation upon which the department builds its reputation. Together, our team of researchers, students and staff seek to achieve excellence in our strategic areas including theoretical linguistics, language acquisition, bilingualism, sign linguistics and the neuroscience of language and language disorders. With a solid grounding in theoretical linguistics, we will continue to develop the strategic areas with a strong interdisciplinary emphasis in the years to come. Building on our existing strengths, we aspire to make scholarly contributions recognized by the international academic community.
- Diversity of languages: we value and respect languages of the world that are different, whether spoken or signed, regardless of their size and modality. Minority and endangered languages are accorded as much significance as languages with large numbers of speakers. Universal properties and variation of human language will be better under understood when investigated against a rich background of linguistic diversity.
- Diversity of theoretical and empirical approaches to language: each approach has its own strengths and the potential to contribute to interdisciplinary perspectives illuminating complex issues on language and mind. In our department, colleagues and students come from many different countries and backgrounds as well as different intellectual and theoretical orientations. We value and celebrate this diversity, with our unique strengths and expertise complementing each other in a synergistic manner.
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a researcher and teacher in this department is the nurturing of young talents and scholars. We are privileged to have the opportunity to educate and mentor generations of students by transmitting knowledge of language and linguistics and working closely with them on research projects. Equipped with training in linguistics, students and graduates of the undergraduate, MA, MPhil and PhD programmes have reached a more enlightened understanding of language in its many manifestations across bilingual and multilingual contexts and deepened their appreciation of what a quality education in linguistics and modern languages can offer.
The Modern Languages programmes have been highly sought after, with enrollment of students across our campus increasing from around 2,000 in 2004 to over 5,000 in 2014. The most recent additions to the programmes include Arabic and Russian courses which serve to diversify the language variety. The no. 11 ranking by QS World University Rankings in 2014 made us no. 1 in Asia and the highest ranking among the programmes in the entire CUHK. The spectacular achievement is in no small measure the result of the dedication and commitment of our Modern Languages colleagues.
We take pride in being the most multilingual and international department at CUHK where we celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures in Asia and Europe. As the gateway to internationalization, the department’s efforts to develop links with overseas institutions and provide student exchange opportunities will be redoubled. To nurture students with a competitive edge and broad horizons by increasing their international exposure remains a high priority. On the research front, we will develop interdisciplinary collaboration and strategic partnerships with laboratories and research centres in prestigious institutions around the world.
Standing at the nexus of humanities and sciences, Linguistics at CUHK combines knowledge and insights from disciplines including psychology, biology, engineering, cognitive and neuroscience to shed light on the nature of language and specific aspects of the mind and brain. Working with our collaborators and research teams, we apply scientific methods and techniques to address basic and fundamental questions about how language works and ultimately how the mind and brain work. We reaffirm the importance of our interdisciplinary orientation: our department aspires to become a hub for interactions between linguistics and cognate fields. We invite interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration from other departments within our faculty and across faculties.
In this 10th anniversary commemorative volume, you will hear the voice of our faculty, students and alumni who share their reflections and memories. The sharing of students is in some sense a documentary about how the teachers initiated and inspired generations of students to pursue the scientific study of language and open up new perspectives on language, from the everyday to the extraordinary. Just as I enjoyed reading the articles which brought back memorable vignettes from the past, I hope you will enjoy their sharing and spend some time for your own reminiscences. Apart from a strong sense of mission, you will be infused with the passion and enthusiasm for linguistics from our students and colleagues.
With your continued support, the department will move forward with renewed vigour into a second decade of the indefatigable pursuit of excellence.
New horizons beckon. The best is yet to come.
Virginia Yip
Chairperson, Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages