Boer Fu

付波儿 [ fu pwo əɻ ] / Boer Fu [ boəɹ fu ]

boerfu[at]mit.edu

About me

I am a recent Linguistics PhD graduate from MIT. My research is mostly focused on phonology. I have worked on Mandarin prenuclear glides, diminutive r-suffixation, tone 3 sandhi, Mongolian vowel harmony. I often make use of language games to uncover the inner workings of phonological grammar. I dabble in semantics, with a focus on negation in biased questions. Currently, what fascinates me is the connection between language and music. I'm working on a project that explores the tone-tune alignment in the lyrics of Mandopop music.

A little bit more about me

I was born in a town named Fuxin in the Liaoning Province of China, where there is a significant Mongolian population. I moved to Shanghai when I was 4 years old and grew up there. I am learning French at the moment. In my free time, I play the violin/Irish fiddle, sing in a Chinese choir, watch soccer, look at diachronic maps and dinosaur bones.