FELLOWSHIPS / GRANTS / HONORS
GRANTS
- Co-Investigator, “Ethnolinguistic contact across the Indo-Myanmar-Southwestern China mountains: migration routes, intercultural interactions, and linguistic outcomes”. JSPS-NTU/NUS Joint Research Project, 2019-2021.
- Principal Investigator, “On the typology of grammatical alignment patterns, and the interactions and interdependencies of grammatical alignment, transitivity, information structure and referent saliency”. Nanyang Technological University Academic Research Tier 1 grant, S$90,000.
- Principal Investigator, “Grammar, texts, and dictionary of the Rawang language of Kachin State, Myanmar”, Nanyang Technological University Start-up Grant, S$100,000.
- Principal Investigator, “On the typology of grammatical alignment patterns, and the interactions and interdependencies of grammatical alignment, transitivity, information structure and referent saliency”, ROC National Science Council Chair Professor Fellowship and Research Grant, 2012-2014 (cut short after five months because of move to NTU—project refunded there).
- Principal Investigator, “Rawang-Dulong-Anong Language and Culture Website”, La Trobe University e-Research Grant for development of electronic resources, 2011.
- Co-Investigator, “Noun-Modifying Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Reshaping theoretical and geographical boundaries”, Stanford University Presidential Fund for Innovation in the Humanities Grant, 2008-2011 (PI: Yoshiko Matsumoto).
- Co-Investigator, “Stance Marking in Asian Languages: Linguistic and Cultural Perspectives”, Hong Kong RGC General Research Fund (GRF) 2010-2013 (PI: YAP Foong Ha).
- Professorial Start-up Grant, La Trobe University, 2004-2007 (AU$40,000/year).
- Principal Investigator, “Qiang Language Dialect Atlas Project”, Hong Kong Research Grants Council Competitive Earmarked Research Grant (CERG) Project No. 9040777, 2002-2004.
- Principal Investigator for “Qiang Language Dialect Atlas Project”, Strategic Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong, 2001-2002. (pilot for CERG)
- Principal Investigator for “Comparative Tibeto-Burman Morphosyntax”, Strategic Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong, September 1999-August 2000.
- Principal Investigator for “Rawang Texts and Dictionary Project”, Small-Scale Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong, September 1-December 31, 2000.
- Principal Investigator for “Project for Fieldwork on and Analysis of the Dulong and Anong Languages”, Strategic Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong , September 1997- August 1999.
- Principal Investigator for “Tibeto-Burman Morphosyntax”, Strategic Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong, 1997-2000.
- Principal Investigator for “Grammar, Texts, and Glossary of the Northern Qiang Dialect”, Small-Scale Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong, Feb. 1997-July 1997.
- Principal Investigator for “Rawang/Dulong Fieldwork Project”, funded by the Academia Sinica, August 1994-July 1996.
- Associate Investigator for “Project for Fieldwork on and Analysis of Qiangic Languages” (Gong Hwang-cherng, Principal Investigator), funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, July 1994-June 1996.
- Principal Investigator for “Northern Qiang Dialect Fieldwork Project”, funded by the National Science Council, ROC, April 1994-July 1996.
- Principal Investigator for “Project on Tibeto-Burman Comparative Morphology”, funded by National Science Council, ROC, August 1992-July 1993.
- Newhouse Fund Grant (unsolicited), Spring 1989.
- U.C. Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies Fellowship (unsolicited), 1986-87.
- U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships for advanced work in Chinese language and linguistics, 1984-85, and 1985-86.
HONORS
- Elected Honorary Member, Migration Linguistics Unit, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; and Lifetime Member of International Association for Migration Linguistics, 2022.
- One of my journal articles (LaPolla & Poa 2002) was included in the common high school textbook for standard elective courses in China (普通高中课程标准选修课程用书,《汉字汉语专题研讨》), Beijing: People’s Education Press, 2021.
- Awarded Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics Lifelong Membership Award (Eminent Scholarship), September, 2016.
- Invited to join Editorial Board of Chinese Language and Discourse , October 2014.
- Invited to be Associate Editor of Language and Linguistics, Jan. 2014.
- Invited to join the Advisory Board of the Center for the Study of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity, Jan 2014.
- Invited to join the Advisory board of The Journal of Modern Languages, Jan 2014.
- Invited to be Co-Editor of the Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics (《汉藏语学报》), 2013 (had been Deputy Editor since 2005).
- Appointed Honorary Professor, Yuxi Normal University, Yunnan, China, December 2010.
- Elected Honorary Member, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, November, 2010.
- Invited to join the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, 2010.
- Invited to join the Review Panel of the Endangered Languages Documentation Program, London, 2010.
- Invited to join the Editorial Board of Australian Journal of Linguistics, June 2010.
- Invited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Philippine Linguistics, 2008.
- Elected to the Australian Academy for the Humanities, October 2008.
- Elected President of the Australian Linguistics Society, September 2007.
- Invited to join the Editorial Board of Minzu Yuwen (Nationality Languages), January 2006.
- Elected Vice President of the Australian Linguistics Society, September 2005.
- Selected by Ministry of Education of the PRC to be a Cheung Kong Scholar, February 2005.
- Elected Vice President of the International Association for Bilingual Studies, January 2005.
- Invited to join the Editorial Board of Nankai Yuyanxue Kan (Linguistics Journal of Nankai University), July 2005
- Invited to join the Editorial Board of Language and Linguistics, April 2004.
- Invited to join the International Advisory Board of Diachronica: International Journal for Historical Linguistics, 2002.
- Co-authored book, Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics Series; with Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. Cambridge University Press, 1997), nominated for the Linguistic Society of America’s Bloomfield Book Award, Jan. 2000.
- Invited to become a Consulting Editor of Studies in Language, 1997.
- Award for “Excellence in Research” from the National Science Council of the ROC, February 1995.
- Award for “Excellent Publication on the Minority Languages of China” from the Ministry of Education of the ROC, May 1994.
- Award for “Excellence in Research” from the National Science Council of the ROC, March 1994.
- Invited to become a member of the Editorial Committee of Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, September 1990.