Research Interests
Languages I have personally done fieldwork on:
Tibeto-Burman: Angami, Chang, Chungli Ao, Thang dialect of Khiamniungan, Patsho dialect of Khiamniungan, Lotha, Mongsen Ao, Sangtam, Yimkhiung, Zeme
Indo-Aryan: Hindi (Haflong Assam variety), Nagamese, Nepali (Nagaland variety), Assamese
Tai-Kadai: Central Thai, Southern Thai, Shan.
Research topics:
Language documentation and description, anthropological linguistics, linguistic typology, language contact in South Asia/Southeast Asia, nominalization, clause linkage, Tibeto-Burman historical linguistics, grammaticalization, morphosyntax, tone systems, articulatory and acoustic phonetics, pragmatic influences on grammar, language maintenance, lexicography for minority languages.
Research Grants – Principal investigator
| 2022 – 2025 | Academic Research Fund Tier 1 grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project title: RG99/21 The typology of Tibeto-Burman tone: Diachronic and synchronic perspectives from Northeast India. | Amount awarded: SGD $79,976.07. |
| 2019 – 2022 | Japan Society for the Advancement of Science-Nanyang Technological University grant (with Prof Hideo Sawada, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign studies). Project title: Ethnolinguistic contact across the Indo-Myanmar-Southwestern China mountains: Migration routes, intercultural interactions, and linguistic outcomes. | Amount awarded: SGD $41,925 |
| 2016 – 2021 | Academic Research Fund Tier 1 grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project title: RG63/16 Archaeological linguistics and the prehistory of Northeast India: reconstructing the past through ancient technologies and practices, and correlating the results with migration histories. | Amount awarded: SGD $81,627.97. |
| 2016 – 2018 | Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. Project title: Linguistic diversity in north-east India: contact, convergence and classification. | Amount awarded: Eur. 41,712. |
| 2013 – 2016 | Academic Research Fund Tier 2 grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project title: MOE2012-T2-1-100 Exploring the crossroads of linguistic diversity: Language contact in Southeast Asia. | Amount awarded: SGD $527,455. |
| 2011 | Seed funding for development of a Tier-2 research proposal, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University. | Amount awarded: SGD $5000. |
| 2010 – 2011 | Start-up Grant, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University. Project title: ‘Grammatical description and digital documentation of endangered languages of Nagaland, North-east India.’ |
Amount awarded: SGD $83,818. |
| 2009 | Endeavour Research Fellowship, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Government of Australia (offer declined to take up tenure-track position at NTU). | Amount awarded: AUD $23,500. |
| 2004 – 2007 | Principal investigator, Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. Project title: DP0450943 A typology of adverbial subordination and clause linkage in Tibeto-Burman languages. | Total amount awarded: AUD $280,168. |
Research Grants – Co-PI
| 2024 – 2027 | Academic Research Fund Tier 1 grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project title: RG127/23 Documenting and Digitizing Singapore’s Linguistic Heritage: Constructing a Repository of Singapore Chinese Language Varieties (PI Lin Ningxia). | Total amount awarded: SGD $92,472.25 (20% commitment). |
| 2013 – 2016 | Academic Research Fund Tier 2 grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project title: MOE2013-T2-1-016: Grammar matrix reloaded: Syntax and semantics of affectedness (PI František Kratochvíl). | Total amount awarded: SGD $312,490 (20% commitment). |