The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which Asian languages should be conceptualized as a whole, the distinct characteristics of each language group, and the relationships and results of interactions between the languages and language families in Asia.

Asia is the largest and the most populous continent on Earth, and the site of many of the first civilizations. This Handbook aims to provide a systematic overview of Asian languages in both theoretical and functional perspectives, optimally combining the two in intercultural settings. In other words, the text will provide a reference for researchers of individual Asian languages or language groups against the background of the entire range of Asian languages.

Not only does the Handbook act as a reference to a particular language, it also connects each language to other Asian languages in the perspective of the entire Asian continent. Cultural roles and communicative functions of language are also emphasized as an important domain where the various Asian languages interact and shape each other. With extensive coverage of both theoretical and applied linguistic topics, The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics is an indispensable resource for students and researchers working in this area.

Chris Shei lived in Taiwan until the age of 40 and went on to pursue an MPhil and a PhD at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, respectively. Shei’s work with Swansea University started in 2003, consisting of teaching and research in applied linguistics and translation studies. He also edited and co-edited a number of Routledge Handbooks published since 2017 through to the present, including those on Chinese Translation, Chinese Discourse Analysis, Chinese Language Teaching, and Chinese Studies. In addition to the most recent Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics, a handbook on mind engineering and an online Routledge Encyclopedia of Chinese Studies are currently in preparation.

Saihong Li isSenior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting Studies at the University of Stirling. Dr. Li has been appointed as a Visiting/Honorary Professor at the University of Strathclyde and at Hainan Normal University. Dr Li also worked as a freelance interpreter and a pharmaceutical business consultant from 1999 to 2012 in China, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Dr. Li has produced a substantial body of research including monographs and refereed journal articles on themes including food culture translation, political discourse translation, and policymaking regarding multilingual education. Her research methods are drawn from the digital humanities and from related fields including corpus linguistics and digital humanities in experimental research. She has also conducted translation and interpreting research by using multimodal technology such as eye-tracking, skin response, heart rate, and face recognition.