Publications

Journal articles (*corresponding author)

  1. Zhang, X. & Mai, Z.* (under revision) Development of oral narratives in Mandarin-learning school-age children in multilingual Hong Kong. [PhD student thesis]
  2. Zhou, J.*, Pang, H. K. V., Nie, J, Mai, Z. (under review) Language proficiency moderates cross- and within-language associations in narrative abilities among bilingual children.
  3. Lai, J.*, Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (under review) Code-mixing and grammatical development in four Cantonese-English-Mandarin trilingual toddlers.
  4. Lai, J.*, Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (under review) On the developmental relationship between code-mixing and MLU in bilingual children.
  5. Deng, X., Mai, Z., Yip, V., Matthews, S., & Szeto, P. Y.* (under review) Realization of English past tense by Chinese-English heritage bilingual children: evidence from longitudinal naturalistic data.
  6. Shang, M., Mai, Z.*, Matthews, S., & Yip, V. (under review) Noun-modifying clause construction in Mandarin-speaking children.
  7. Liang, Y. & Mai, Z.* (2025). Grammatical development of the native L1 in Cantonese-English bilingual children: early costs and long-term gains. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 1-14, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728925100412. [PhD student thesis] [Open Access, Open Data]
  8. Liu, J. & Mai, Z.* (2025). Production of only/zhi(you)-focus by bilingual children and parents in naturalistic interactions: a multi-domain analysis. Journal of Child Language. 1-26, https://doi.org/10.1017/S030500092510024X. [PhD student thesis] [Open Access, Open Data]
  9. Mai, Z.*, Wong, P. C. M., Matthews, S., Yip, V., Liao, H., Nie, J., & Chen, Y. (2025). Zhuang-Mandarin bilingual children in rural China and the role of grandparental input in early bilingualism. PLoS One, 20(6): e0326671. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326671. [Open Access]
  10. Zhou, J.*, Mai, Z., Lau, E., Lum, C., Thian, A. L., & Yip, V. (2025, published online Jan 2025). Cross- and within-language associations between phonological, lexical, and grammatical domains in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers in Singapore. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. 68(2), 636-653. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00310. [Open Access]
  11. Deng, X. & Mai, Z.* (2025, published online March 2024). Input effects and unidirectional transfer in Mandarin-English heritage bilingual children: the case of locative prepositional zai-phrases. International Journal of Bilingualism. 29 (3), 651-666. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069241229392.
  12. Shang, M., Zhao, L., Yip, V. & Mai, Z.* (2025, published online March 2024). Protracted development in the heritage lexicon: resultative verb compounds in school-age heritage Chinese children and their input. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. 15 (3), 342-369. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.23001.sha. [MA student thesis]
  13. Yan, S., Mai, Z. & Zhao, Y.* (2023, published online July 2023). Positive cross-linguistic influence in the representation and processing of sentence-final particle le by L2 and heritage learners of Chinese. Frontiers in Psychology. 14:1145493. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1145493.
  14. Zhou, J.*, Mai, Z., Cai, Q, Liang, Y. & Yip, V. (2022, published online Sept 2022). Reference production in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers: linguistic, input, and cognitive factors. Frontiers in Psychology. 13, 897031. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.897031. [Open Access]
  15. Mai, Z.* & Yip, V. (2022, published online Apr 2022). Caretaker input and trilingual development of Mandarin, Cantonese and English in early childhood (1;6-2;11). International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 25:9, 3389-3403. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2022.2060037. [Open Access, Open Data]
  16. 麦子茵*、吴庄、叶彩燕 (2021). 幼儿三语习得研究：现状、个案及前景，《国际汉语教学研究》，4，4-14页. (Mai, Z. *, Wu, Z., & Yip, V. (2021). Early trilingual development: the state of the art and a Chinese case. Journal of International Chinese Teaching. 8(4), pp. 4-14.)
  17. Mai, Z.*, Zhao, L., & Yip, V. (2022, published online Feb 2021). The Mandarin ba-construction in school-age heritage speakers and their parental input. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. 12(3), pp. 377-405. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18025.mai
  18. Zhou, J.*, Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2021, published online Mar 2020). Bidirectional cross-linguistic influence in object realization in Cantonese–English bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24(1), 96-110. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000231
  19. Mai, Z.* & Deng, X. (2019, published online 2017). Selective vulnerability and dominant language transfer in the acquisition of the Chinese cleft construction by heritage speakers. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. 9(2), pp. 202-227. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16040.mai
  20. Deng, X.*, Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2018). An aspectual account of ba and bei constructions in child Mandarin. First Language. 38(3) pp. 243-262. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723717743363.
  21. Mai, Z.*, Kwan, C. & Yip, V. (2018, published online 2016). Expressing displacement in heritage Cantonese: cross-linguistic influence and structural vulnerability. International Journal of Bilingualism. 22(6) pp. 603-618. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916681084.
  22. Mai, Z.* & Yuan, B. (2016). Uneven reassembly of tense, telicity and discourse features in L2 acquisition of the Chinese shì…de cleft construction by adult English speakers. Second Language Research. 32(2) pp. 247–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658315623323.
  23. Mai, Z. (2016). L2 Chinese: Grammatical development and processing. Second Language Research. 32 (1) pp.123-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658315597737.
  24. 麦子茵 (2010). 语言学、教育学、心理学研究方法在汉语习得研究中的综合应用：以汉语方位词的习得研究为例，《汉语教学学刊》，第六辑，74-86页，北京：北京大学出版社 (Mai, Z.* (2010) Applying a synthesised method to second language research: Investigating the acquisition of Chinese locative postpositions by English Speakers, Journal of Chinese Teaching, Vol. 6, pp. 74-86, Beijing: Peking University Press).

Book chapters and conference proceedings

  1. Yip, V.*, Mai, Z. and Matthews, S. (2018). CHILDES for bilingualism. In Miller, D., Bayram, F., Rothman, J. and Serratrice, L. (eds.) Bilingual Cognition and Language: The State of the Science across its Subfields [Studies in Bilingualism 54], John Benjamins, pp. 183–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sibil.54.09yip
  2. Mai, Z. (2013) Development of multiple interface conditions in adult L2 acquisition of Chinese shì…de cleft construction, Proceedings of the 12th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 12), MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 106-116.
  3. 麦子茵 (2011) 终结性与“（是）……的”焦点结构，《语言学论丛》，第四十四辑，120-140页，北京：商务印书馆 (Mai, Z.* (2011) Telicity and the (shi)…de focus construction, Essays on Linguistics, Vol. 44, pp. 120-140, Beijing: Commercial Press).

Refereed conference papers

  1. Sun, X., Shang, M., & Mai, Z. (2025) Counterfactual reasoning and counterfactual expressions in Mandarin-speaking preschoolers. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Formal Approaches to Meaning in Chinese (ICFAMC-4), 18-19 December 2025, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKSAR.
  2. Chen, Y., Shang, M., & Mai, Z. (2025) Affectedness in Mandarin bei-passives in monolingual and bilingual children. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Formal Approaches to Meaning in Chinese (ICFAMC-4), 18-19 December 2025, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKSAR.
  3. Mai, Z., Cao, Y., Shang, M. & Vermeer, E. (2025) Mother’s child-oriented narrative characteristics predict maternal L2 input quality: a longitudinal study with Chinese-English bilinguals. Paper presented at the 34th conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA34), 25-28 June 2025, UiT the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Norway.
  4. Nie, J. & Mai, Z. (2025) Child-directed L2 input: the roles of caretaker L2 proficiency and perceived child L2 grammatical complexity. Paper presented at the Doctoral Workshop of the 34th conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA34), 25-28 June 2025, UiT the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Norway. [Junior Researcher LAB Award to Jiaqi Nie]
  5. Liu, J. & Mai, Z. (2025) Duration precedes pitch in focus-prosody mapping: production of only/zhi-focus in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers and their monolingual peers. Paper presented at the 34th conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA34), 25-28 June 2025, UiT the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Norway.
  6. Liang, Y. & Mai, Z. (2025) Trilingual children leverage phonologically similar translation equivalents to build up trilingual lexicons by age 3. Paper presented at the 34th conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA34), 25-28 June 2025, UiT the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Norway.
  7. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., Yip, V. (2025) English sentences are longer but Mandarin sentences are more complex: the development of syntactic complexity in Mandarin-English bilingual preschool children. Paper presented at the 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), June 9-13, 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
  8. Mai, Z., Liang, Y., Wu, Z. & Yip, V. (2025) Trilingual toddlers strategically draw on closely-related languages to catch up. Paper presented at the 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), June 9-13, 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
  9. Zhang, X., Liang, M., Shang, M. & Mai, Z. (2025) Continuous development of narrative microstructure in school-age heritage children. Paper to be presented at the 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), June 9-13, 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
  10. Shang, M., Vermeer, E. Y., Mai, Z., Matthews, S., & Yip, V. (2025) English gapless relative clauses in Mandarin-English bilingual children. Paper presented at the 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), June 9-13, 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
  11. Liang, M., Lai, J., Yip, V. & Mai, Z. (2025) Trilingual children code-mix to fill lexical gaps and more. Paper to be presented at the 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15), June 9-13, 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
  12. Mai, Z., Shang, M., Liu, J., Yan, S., Matthews, S., & Yip, V. (2024) Acquiring Chinese in US, Hong Kong and Beijing: three new corpora and three verbal structures. Paper presented at the Symposium “Developing Chinese as a first language in US, Hong Kong and Beijing” (Convenor: Ziyin Mai) at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  13. Liu, J. & Mai, Z. (2024) Marking exclusive focus in Mandarin-English bilinguals: syntactic, discourse and prosodic means. Paper presented at the Symposium “Developing Chinese as a first language in US, Hong Kong and Beijing” (Convenor: Ziyin Mai) at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  14. Shang, M., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2024) Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Mandarin-English bilingual children across contexts. Paper presented at the Symposium “Developing Chinese as a first language in US, Hong Kong and Beijing” (Convenor: Ziyin Mai) at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  15. Kan, A., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2024) Verb-particle and directional verb constructions in Mandarin-English bilinguals. Paper presented at the Symposium “Developing Chinese as a first language in US, Hong Kong and Beijing” (Convenor: Ziyin Mai) at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  16. Lai, J., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2024) Code-mixing as translanguaging: evidence from MLU in two trilingual Cantonese-Mandarin-English speaking children. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  17. Lai, J., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2024) On the developmental relationship between code-mixing and MLU in bilingual children. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  18. Lü, C., Zhang, X., Guo, L., Pace, A. & Mai, Z. (2024) Educational context and bilingual learners’ narrative skills. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  19. Zhang, H., Zhou, J., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2024) Assessing Mandarin Receptive Vocabulary in preschool children learning Mandarin as an additional language. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  20. Zhang, X. & Mai, Z. (2024) Oral narrative development in school-age learners of Mandarin. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), July 15-19, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  21. Chen, Y., Mai, Z., Hu, X. & Shang, M. (2024) Reflexive pronouns in Chinese-learning monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual toddlers, and their parental input. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  22. Cheng, R., Zhou, J., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2024) Lexical tone production in Singaporean Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers: Associations with articulation, vocabulary and grammar. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  23. Liang, Y. & Mai, Z. (2024) Grammatical development in L1 Cantonese in bilingual children in Hong Kong: early costs and long-term convergence. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  24. Liang, Y., Mai, Z., Yip, V. & Wu, Z. (2024) Early vocabulary development in multilingual toddlers: input and language interaction. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  25. Liu, J. & Mai, Z. (2024) Exclusive focus marking in spontaneous production by Mandarin preschoolers: a multi-level analysis. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  26. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., Cai, Q. & Cheng, R. (2024) Beyond Words: Referential Gesturing in Bilingual and Monolingual Mother-Child Dyads and Its Role in Early Development. Paper presented at Child Language Symposium 2024 (CLS-2024), 9-11 July, Newcastle University, UK.
  27. Shu, T., Mok, P., Yip, V. & Mai, Z. (2024) The acquisition of Mandarin retroflex sibilants by Mandarin-Cantonese-English trilingual children: a case study of the Leo Corpus. Paper presented at the International Child Phonology Conference (ICPC) 2024. 7-9 May, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, U.S. [virtual conference]
  28. Liu, J. & Mai, Z. (2023) Identifying intended focus in zhi(you)-structures in Mandarin: the contribution of parental input. Paper presented at the 10th International Conference on Formal Linguistics (ICFL-10), 28-29 Oct, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
  29. Mai, Z., Liang, Y., Cai, Q, Chan, Y. H., Nie, J. & Cheng, R. (2023) Caretaker proficiency and input quality in L2 English: bilingual mothers, helpers and 3-year-olds in Hong Kong. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  30. Shang, M., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2023) Mandarin noun-modifying clause constructions in Mandarin-English bilingual preschool children. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  31. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., Lum, C., Thian, A. L. & Yip, V. (2023) Narrative comprehension in Mandarin-English bilingual preschool children in Singapore: age, receptive vocabulary and executive function. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  32. Yip, V., Zhou, J., Lau, E., Lum, C., Thian, A. L., Mai, Z., & Matthews, S. (2023) Assessment of Mandarin and English in Singapore bilingual preschool children: within- and cross-language relations between phonological, lexical and grammatical domains. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  33. Liu, J., Liang, Y, Zhang, X. & Mai, Z. (2023) Cross-linguistic reinforcement and interference in only/zhi focus structures by Mandarin-English bilingual preschool children. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  34. Chan, Y. H., Guo, Y., Zhao, L. & Mai, Z. (2023) Chinese perfective aspect markers in heritage bilinguals and trilinguals in UK. Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14), 26-30 June, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  35. Mai, Z., Zhao, L., Deng, X., Shang, M. & Yip, V. (2023) Grammatical vulnerabilities in heritage Mandarin in contact with English: evidence from three verbal constructions. Paper presented at the 29th Conference of International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-29), 26-29 May, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China.
  36. Yip, V., Zhou, J., Lum, C., Thian, A. L. & Mai, Z. (2023) Within- and cross-language associations between phonological, lexical and grammatical domains in Mandarin-English bilingual preschool children. Paper presented at the 29th Conference of International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-29), 26-29 May, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China.
  37. Mai, Z., Cai, Q, Liang, Y., Liu, J. & Yip, V. (2022) Linear and nonlinear relations between input and developmental outcomes in Cantonese, Mandarin and English in multilingual 3-year-olds in Hong Kong. Paper presented at the Workshop on Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use, 22-23 October, KCL, UK.
  38. Szeto, P. Y., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2022). Verbal inflection in heritage bilinguals’ English: Parallels with East and Southeast Asian contact languages. Paper presented at the Workshop on Population Movements, Language Contact in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and Evolutionary Linguistics. The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex | The Francis and Rose Yuen Campus, 8–11 June.
  39. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., Cai, Q., Liang, Y., & Yip, V. (2022). Reference production in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers: Linguistic, input, and cognitive factors. Paper to be presented at the 4th Bi-SLI (Bi-/multilingualism and Developmental Language Disorder), ZAS, Berlin, Germany, 9-10 May.
  40. Kan, K. H., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2021) The acquisition of verb-particle construction in Hong Kong bilingual children and American heritage Chinese children. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB-13), Warsaw, Poland, 10-14 July.
  41. Shang, M., Mai, Z., Matthews, S., & Yip, V. (2021) Acquisition of noun-modifying clause constructions in monolingual and heritage Mandarin-speaking children. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB-13), Warsaw, Poland, 10-14 July.
  42. Mai, Z., Zhou, J. & Yip, V. (2019) Sentence-final particle ne in child heritage Mandarin (2;00-3;05). Paper presented at the 44th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston, US, 7-10 November.
  43. Mai, Z., & Deng, X. (2019) Input effects and cross-linguistic reinforcement in early trilingual development of Mandarin, Cantonese and English (2;02-2;11). Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition Conference (GALA 14), Milan, Italy, 12-14 September.
  44. Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2019) Early trilingual development of Mandarin, Cantonese and English: the Leo Corpus (1;06-2;11). Paper presented at the conference on “Acquisition of Chinese: Bilingualism and Multilingualism”, Cambridge, UK, 1-3 July.
  45. Mai, Z., Wu, Y., Wong, K. H. Y., Law, T. Y., & Yip, V. (2018) Preserving the zoeng-construction in heritage Cantonese: Evidence from the Winston corpus. Paper presented at the 4th Workshop on Innovations in Cantonese Linguistics (WICL-4), UBC, 23-24 June.
  46. Mai, Z., Zhao, L. X. & Yip, V. (2018) Complex verbal predicates in school-age Mandarin heritage bilingual children. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, UCLA, 16-17 Feb.
  47. Zhu, Y., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2018) Documenting a heritage Mandarin child’s language development: the Luna corpus. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, UCLA, 16-17 Feb.
  48. Zhou, J. Y., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2018) Documenting the bilingual development of Mandarin and English in US children: the Avia corpus. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, UCLA, 16-17 Feb.
  49. Lau, E. Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2017) Syntactic optionality delays acquisition: late acquisition of passives in Mandarin vs. early acquisition in Cantonese. Paper presented at the 41st Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), Boston University, 3-5 November, 2017.
  50. He, C., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2017) Mandarin lexical tone in monolingual, bilingual and trilingual children at 2 years. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Monolingual and Bilingual Speech, Chania, Crete, Greece, 4-7 September.
  51. Ge, H., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2017) How Cantonese-English bilingual adults use prosody to interpret focus in English: Evidence from eye movement in the visual world paradigm. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Cognitive Science. Taipei, 1-3 September.
  52. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2017). Cantonese-English bilingual children’s interpretation of omitted objects: An experimental study. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Cognitive Science. GIS NTU Convention Centre, Taipei, Taiwan, 1-3 September.
  53. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2017). Object realization in Cantonese-English bilingual children. Paper presented at the 14th International Congress for the Study of Child Language. University Lyon 2, France, 17-21 July.
  54. Ge, H., Kang, X., Mai, Z., Lam, H., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2017) Association of prosodic focal information with only in L1 and L2: Evidence from eye movement in the visual world paradigm. Paper presented at the Experimental Psycholinguistics Conference 2017, Menorca, 28-30 June.
  55. Ge, H., Kang, X., Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2017) How Cantonese-speaking adults use prosody to interpret focus in L2 English: Evidence from eye movement in the visual world paradigm. Poster presented at the 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism, University of Limerick, Ireland, 11-15 June.
  56. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2017). The interpretation of null objects by Cantonese-English bilingual children: An experimental study. Paper presented at the 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB11). University of Limerick, Ireland, 11-15 June.
  57. Lee, L.-C., Kang, X. & Mai, Z. (2016) Processing Cantonese classifiers by Mandarin speakers: an eye-tracking study. Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Annual Research Forum 2016. December 3. Hong Kong Education University. Hong Kong.
  58. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2016) A corpus study of post-verbal keoi in Cantonese-English bilingual children. Paper presented at the 28th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL28). 5-8 May, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA.
  59. Mai, Z. and Yip, V. (2015) Causative ba-construction in heritage, second language and native Chinese grammars. Paper presented at the 12th conference of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA 12), September 10-12, University of Nantes, Nantes, France.
  60. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2015) Object omission in Cantonese-English bilingual Children. Paper presented at the 10th International Symposium of Bilingualism (ISB10), May 20-24, Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.
  61. Zhou, J., Mai, Z., & Yip, V. (2015) Null Objects in Cantonese-English Bilingual Children. Paper presented at the 23rd annual conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL), 26-28 August, Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea.
  62. Zhong, J. & Mai, Z. (2014) Acquisition of Cantonese perfective aspect marker zo2 by adult L2 Mandarin-speaking learners. Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) Annual Research Forum (ARF), December 6, 2014, City University of Hong Kong.
  63. Kwan, J. C.-Y., Mai, Z., Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2014) The grammar of Displacement in Cantonese heritage speakers. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, March 7th, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
  64. Mai, Z. & Yip, V. (2014) Perfective –de in adult heritage Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, March 7, 2014, UCLA, Los Angeles, California.
  65. Mai, Z. (2013) Shì…de clefts in its V-O-de form: Native speakers’ judgements and interpretations. Paper presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL 21), June 9, 2013, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
  66. Mai, Z. (2013) Let’s not focus on the ‘result’: development of multiple interface conditions in adult L2 acquisition of Chinese shi…de focus construction. Paper presented at the 12th Conference of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA 12), April 27, 2013, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
  67. Mai, Z. (2010) Telicity and the (shi)…de focus construction. Paper presented at the 16th Symposium on Modern Chinese Grammar, June 9, 2010, City University of Hong Kong.

Keynote, plenary, invited talks and masterclass

  1. “Research data management for child language corpora”, masterclass presentation at the Annual Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society (ALS), 2-5 Dec 2025, Griffith University, Australia (with Carleon Mendoza, Yuqing Liang, Stephen Matthews, Virginia Yip).
  2. “Language input and cross-linguistic interaction in multilingual Chinese-learning children: from bilinguals to trilinguals”, plenary talk at Pacific Second Language Research Forum 2025 in conjunction with Conference on Innovation in L2 Chinese Acquisition Research, 30 May-01 June, 2025, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
  3. “Input and experience in early trilingual development”, keynote speech, Symposium on Language Acquisition in Diverse Contexts: from Bilingualism to Multilingualism, 17-18 Jan 2025, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  4. “A lexical and semantic account for protracted development in heritage Mandarin development at school age”, invited talk, Symposium on Languages in China: Typology and Acquisition, March 11, 2024, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 
  5. “Theories and methods in research on early multilingual development”, invited talk, Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 21 Dec 2023, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
  6. “Acquisition of Chinese in multilingual contexts: language input and early development”, keynote speech, the Seventh International Conference on Chinese as a Second Language Research (CASLAR-7), 18 Aug 2023, Peking University, Beijing, China.
  7. “Acquisition and maintenance of the ba-construction in multilingual contexts”, invited talk, The 11th Annual Meeting of European Association of Chinese Linguistics (EACL-11), 2 Jul 2022, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
  8. “Caretaker input and multilingual development in early childhood”, invited talk, RIBiLT Chinese Language Learning and Teaching Webinar Series, 6 May 2022, Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
  9. “Input and outcomes in Early Trilingual Development of Mandarin, Cantonese and English”, invited talk, the 3rd Meeting of Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 5 Dec 2020, Guangzhou, China.
  10. “幼儿三语习得研究：现状、个案及前景”. 北京华文学院海外华文教师研习班. June 2021. Beijing.
  11. “Input effects in early bilingual and trilingual development”, invited talk, 29 Aug 2019. LT Research Forum, City University of Hong Kong.
  12. “Interpretation of focus and presupposition by native and non-native speakers of Mandarin”. invited talk, Workshop on issues of L2 Mandarin, 16 Dec 2016, Peking University, Beijing.
  13. “Acquisition of Chinese by heritage and second language speakers: grammatical representation and development”, invited talk, Linguistics Seminar, Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, 6 Dec 2016, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  14. “Chinese as a heritage and second language: some differences and similarities. International Symposium on Psycholinguistics of Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism”, invited talk, 18-19 Dec 2015, Shenzhen Research Institute, Chinese University of Hong Kong.