Xuehua Xiang, PhD
Professor, Head and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Linguistics
Pronouns: She/her/hers
Contact
Building & Room:
University Hall 1508
Address:
601 S. Morgan Street
Office Phone:
Email:
Drop-in Hour: Monday and Wednesday 10:00-11:00AM (Spring 2024)
Building & Room:
Meeting ID: 823 7246 8653 Passcode: hello2024
About
Xuehua Xiang is Professor of Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Chinese Linguistics. Her research interests include image and text, categories and concepts, discourse analysis, Chinese linguistics, and second language teaching and curriculum development. Her work has appeared in journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Text & Talk, Lingua, Written Communication, Chinese Language and Discourse, Language Sciences, Names, Discourse, Context & Media. Her first co-authored book, “Grammar, meaning, and concepts: A discourse-based approach to English grammar,” was published with Strauss Feiz and Parastou Feiz with Routledge in 2018. Her second book, “Language, Multimodal Interaction and Transaction: Studies of a Southern Chinese Marketplace,” was published with John Benjamins in 2021. She has developed and taught courses in general linguistics, discourse and pragmatics, second language curriculum development, and courses in Chinese language and culture through an integrated interdisciplinary approach. Her research, while diverse in focus, centralizes on her conviction of the importance of naturalistic data for linguistic theorizing and viewing language as a meaning-making system situated in multimodal systems and in evolving social environments.
Selected Publications
Books
Sun, Jinai, Xiang, Xuehua, & Li, Ye. (2024). Using Chinese classics for intercultural communicative competence: a teacher’s guide. Routledge. Link.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2021). Language, multimodal interaction and transaction. Studies of a Southern Chinese Marketplace. John Benjamins. Link
Strauss, Susan. Feiz, Parastou, & Xiang, Xuehua. (2018). Grammar, Meaning, and Concepts: A Discourse-Based Approach to English Grammar. Routledge. Link
Selected articles
Xiang, Xuehua. (2019). A Comparative Study of the Restrictive Markings of Mandarin Jiù, Cái, and Zhǐ. In Columbia School Linguistics in the 21 Century, edited by N. Stern, R. Otheguy, W. Reid, & J. Ruggle. John Benjamins.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2019). Personal Pronouns in Chinese Discourse. In Chris Shei (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Discourse Analysis. Taylor and Francis.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2012a). External information processing vs. property-ascertaining: A discourse-pragmatic study of three yes/no question particles in Shishan (Hainan Island, China). Text and Talk 32 (2): 255-280.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2012b). Linguistic and cultural characteristics of the domain names of the top-fifty most-visited websites in the US and in China: A cross-linguistic study of domain Names and e-branding. Names: A Journal of Onomastics 60 (4): 210-219.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2011). Constraint reality: Linguistic expressions of restrictivity and emotive stances: A discourse-pragmatic study of utterance-final lah in Shishan (Hainan Island, China). Lingua 121 (8): 1377-1400.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2009). Addition and reassessment: Preverbal particle ah in Shishan (Hainan Island, China). Text and Talk 29 (1): 99-124.
Strauss, Susan and Xiang, Xuehua. (2009). Discourse particles: Where cognition and interaction intersect – The case of final particle ey in Shishan dialect (Hainan Island, P.R. China). Journal of Pragmatics 41: 1287-1312.
Strauss, Susan and Xiang, Xuehua. (2006). The writing conference as a locus of emergent agency. Written Communication 23: 355-396.
Xiang, Xuehua. (2003). Multiplicity of self in public discourse: A comparative analysis of the use of personal references in two sports radio shows in the U.S. and China. Language Sciences, 25, 489-514.
Research Currently in Progress
I'm currently working on a project that investigates the use of categories in naming and describing photographic images in historical archives. I'm interested in how different symbolic systems (image vs. text, caption vs. narrative, Chinese vs. English) interact to create cultural concepts and subsequently alter perceptions of values in unique times and places.