Biography

Dr Yanyu Guo is Lecturer (tenured) in Chinese Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and Director of the MA -Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages programme (MA-TCSOL) at University College Cork. She works on second and third language acquisition, Chinese linguistics, formal linguistics and Chinese language teaching. She serves as a board member on the Committee on Linguistics Theories and Language Education Research of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching. Dr. Guo is the PI of two multilingualism projects focusing on English-Irish-Chinese and English-Korean-Chinese trilinguals, funded by Enterprise Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy, respectively. She is also a collaborator on an international project investigating Ln acquisition of Chinese in Spain, in partnership with Shanghai Jiaotong University, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and the University of Cambridge.

Dr Guo was trained in theoretical Chinese linguistics at Renmin University of China (B.A.) and Peking University (M.A.). She obtained her doctorate in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge, supported by a Trinity College external studentship. Her dissertation investigated the L2 acquisition of Chinese aspect markers by English native speakers. She then held a post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge for four years, working on the major research project funded by the AHRC: Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS) and the Cambridge-Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Laboratory for Bilingualism. Her post-doc projects examined the potential roles of age, typological differences, and linguistic experience in the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese by L2, L3 and heritage language learners. Before Dr Guo joined the Department of Asian Studies at UCC, she taught linguistics and Chinese language courses at Tsinghua University (2011-2013) and the University of Cambridge (2013-2020).

Dr Guo has successfully supervised two PhD projects to completion and is currently supervising five PhD projects at UCC. She is happy to work with PhD students who wish to work in generative approaches to second/third language acquisition and Chinese linguistics.

Research Interests

  • Bilingualism and multilingualism in childhood and adulthood
  • Chinese linguistics
  • Formal linguistics (syntax-semantics interface)
  • Language processing
  • GenAI & Chinese language teaching

Research Grants

  Project Funding
Body 		Start Date End Date Award
Linguistic distance and second language proficiency in third language acquisition Royal Irish Academy 01-MAR-25 01-MAR-26 €2,400.00
Diversity and Unity among Multilinguals: Acquiring East Asian Languages in Europe Enterprise Ireland 11-JAN-23 11-JAN-24 €15,898.00
Diversity and Unity among Multilinguals: Acquiring East Asian Languages in Europe University College Cork 10-MAR-23 10-JAN-24 €2,000.00

Peer Reviewed Journals

Year Publication
(2025) 'Disentangling Aspect and Tense in L2 Acquisition: A Feature Reassembly Approach to Perfective Markers le and guo in L2 Chinese Grammars'
Yanyu Guo (2025) 'Disentangling Aspect and Tense in L2 Acquisition: A Feature Reassembly Approach to Perfective Markers le and guo in L2 Chinese Grammars'. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, [Details]
(2025) 'Categorization of cues in L2 input and asymmetrical L2 acquisition: Evidence from the sentence-final particle ne in L2 Chinese grammars'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2025) 'Categorization of cues in L2 input and asymmetrical L2 acquisition: Evidence from the sentence-final particle ne in L2 Chinese grammars'. Chinese Teaching in the World (Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue), [ Publisher's Version] [Details]
(2025) 'Revisiting the L2 Factor in Third Language Acquisition: A Brief Literature Review'
Yanyu Guo (2025) 'Revisiting the L2 Factor in Third Language Acquisition: A Brief Literature Review'. Iris Journal of Educational Research, [ Publisher's Version] [DOI] [Details]
(2024) 'How does a structurally similar background language influence L3 grammars? A study on the syntax of L2/L3 Mandarin'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2024) 'How does a structurally similar background language influence L3 grammars? A study on the syntax of L2/L3 Mandarin'. International Journal of Multilingualism, [DOI] [Details]
(2024) 'Disentangling cues of different domains in transfer and development in L3 acquisition: an investigation of L2/L3 Mandarin yes-no questions'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2024) 'Disentangling cues of different domains in transfer and development in L3 acquisition: an investigation of L2/L3 Mandarin yes-no questions'. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, [DOI] [Details]
(2023) 'Cutting-edge theories in third language (L3) acquisition and research on L3 Chinese grammars'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2023) 'Cutting-edge theories in third language (L3) acquisition and research on L3 Chinese grammars'. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 55 (6):902-913 [DOI] [Details]
(2022) 'From a simple to a complex aspectual system: Feature reassembly in L2 acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers by English speakers'
Yanyu Guo (2022) 'From a simple to a complex aspectual system: Feature reassembly in L2 acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers by English speakers'. Second Language Research, [DOI] [Details]
(2021) 'Asymmetric transfer and development of temporal-aspectual sentence-final particles in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin grammars'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2021) 'Asymmetric transfer and development of temporal-aspectual sentence-final particles in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin grammars'. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, [ Publisher's Version] [DOI] [Details]
(2021) 'Facilitative Transfer Only? L3 Acquisition of Mandarin Sentence-Final Particle Clusters by English-Cantonese Bilinguals'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2021) 'Facilitative Transfer Only? L3 Acquisition of Mandarin Sentence-Final Particle Clusters by English-Cantonese Bilinguals'. Journal of Second Language Studies, 3 (2):262-291 [ Publisher's Version] [DOI] [Details]
(2019) 'Transfer at L3 initial stages: comparing Mandarin temporal-aspectual sentence final particles in L2 and L3 grammars'
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2019) 'Transfer at L3 initial stages: comparing Mandarin temporal-aspectual sentence final particles in L2 and L3 grammars'. International Journal of Chinese Language Education, [ Publisher's Version] [Details]

Edited Books

  Year Publication
(2020) Acquisition of Chinese: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Boping Yuan and Yanyu Guo (Ed.). (2020) Acquisition of Chinese: Bilingualism and Multilingualism Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [ Publisher's Version] [DOI] [Details]

Book Chapters

Year Publication
(2017) 'Syntactic and semantic features of the Mandarin aspect marker -zhe and its equivalent markers in the Guiyang dialect'
Yanyu Guo (2017) 'Syntactic and semantic features of the Mandarin aspect marker -zhe and its equivalent markers in the Guiyang dialect' In: Proceedings of the Linguistics Association of Beijing. Beijing: Chinese Book Company. [Details]
(2016) 'Imperatives'
Yanyu Guo & Yang Shen (2016) 'Imperatives' In: Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Netherland: Brill Academic Publisher. [ Publisher's Version] [Details]
(2012) 'The Period, the Comma, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark'
Yanyu Guo (2012) 'The Period, the Comma, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark' In: Interpretations of the Guide to Chinese Punctuation. Beijing, China: Yuwen Press. [Details]

Conference Publications

  Year Publication
(2018) The 30th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics
Yanyu Guo (2018) Feature Unlearning in English Speakers' L2 Acquisition of Chinese Imperfective Markers The 30th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics The Ohio State University, [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2025) PACSLRF 2025 & CIL2CHINESE,
Yanyu Guo (2025) Revisiting the Overt Pronoun Constraint: some empirical evidence from Spanish-Catalan bilinguals' L3 Chinese grammars. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], PACSLRF 2025 & CIL2CHINESE, Shanghai Jiaotong University . [Details]
(2024) The annual conference of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching,
Yanyu Guo (2024) What do third language acquisition theories imply for the teaching and learning of Chinese in a multilingual context?. [Keynote Speaker], The annual conference of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, Macau University of Science and Technology . [Details]
(2024) The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use,
Yanyu Guo (2024) Examining the factor of L2 proficiency in L3 acquisition: A study on ditransitive sentences in English-Irish bilinguals' L3 Chinese grammar . [Oral Presentation], The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use, Chuo University, Tokyo . [Details]
(2024) The Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2024) L3 initial stage transfer in English-Irish bilinguals' L3 Chinese grammars . [Oral Presentation], The Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, Yonsei Unbiversity, South Korea . [Details]
(2024) The 12th International Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2024) Factors that modulate transfer at L3 initial stages in English-Irish bilinguals' L3 Chinese grammars. [Oral Presentation], The 12th International Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics, Roma Tre University, Italy . [Details]
(2024) The Annual Conference of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2024) How does L2 proficiency influence the acquisition of an L3? A study on ditransitive sentences in English-Irish bilinguals' L3 Chinese grammar . [Oral Presentation], The Annual Conference of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, UCC, Cork . [Details]
(2024) SHJT Linguistics Forum,
Yanyu Guo (2024) L2 and L3: Same or different? . [Invited Seminars/Guest Lectures], SHJT Linguistics Forum, Shanghai Jiaotong University . [Details]
(2024) The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use,
Yanyu Guo & Boping Yuan (2024) What causes detrimental transfer at the L3 initial stage? -Some evidence from L2/L3 Mandarin oral production. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use, Chuo University, Tokyo . [Details]
(2023) Asian Studies Spring Lecture Series,
Yanyu Guo (2023) One Brain, Multiple Languages. [Oral Presentation], Asian Studies Spring Lecture Series, UCC, Cork . [Details]
(2023) The 4th International Conference on Theoretical East Asian Psycholinguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2023) How do previously acquired grammars influence L3 syntactic processing of Chinese?. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], The 4th International Conference on Theoretical East Asian Psycholinguistics, Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea . [Details]
(2023) The 29th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2023) Cross-domain transfer in L2 and L3 grammars: a learning spectrum of Mandarin sentence-final particle NE. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], The 29th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, Macau University of Science and Technology . [Details]
(2023) The 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism,
Yim Han CHAN, Yanyu GUO, Lucy ZHAO, Ziyin MAI (2023) Chinese Perfective Aspect Markers in Heritage Bilinguals and Trilinguals in UK. [Poster Presentation], The 14th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Macquarie University . [Details]
(2022) The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use,
Yanyu Guo (2022) What is transferred at L3 initial stages and How does L3 syntax develop? Some Evidence from L3 Mandarin grammars. [Oral Presentation], The L3 Workshop: Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing and Use, King's College London . [Details]
(2022) The Annual Conference of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2022) How does L3 syntax develop? Evidence from L3 Mandarin grammars. [Oral Presentation], The Annual Conference of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, Munster Technological University . [Details]
(2022) The 11th International Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2022) What is transferred at L3 initial stages: evidence from English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin yes-no questions. [Oral Presentation], The 11th International Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic . [Details]
(2022) The Annual Conference of the Association of China-Ireland Academics,
Yanyu Guo (2022) Language, Bilingualism and Multilingualism. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], The Annual Conference of the Association of China-Ireland Academics, Galway University . [Details]
(2022) GASLA 16 - Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition,
Yanyu Guo (2022) Q-operations in Yes-No Questions in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin Grammars. [Oral Presentation], GASLA 16 - Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, NTNU, Norway . [Details]
(2021) The 9th International Conference on Formal Linguistics,
Yanyu Guo (2021) Q-operations in Yes-No Questions in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin Grammar. [Oral Presentation], The 9th International Conference on Formal Linguistics, Fudan University; Shanghai . [Details]
(2021) The Annual Conference of MU Chinese Studies,
Yanyu Guo (2021) Facilitative and detrimental transfer in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin grammar. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], The Annual Conference of MU Chinese Studies, Maynooth University . [Details]
(2020) UIUT research seminar,
Yanyu Guo (2020) Asymmetric transfer and development of temporal-aspectual sentence-final particles in English-Cantonese bilinguals' L3 Mandarin grammars. [Invited Seminars/Guest Lectures], UIUT research seminar, UIUT . [Details]

Committees

Committee Function From / To
The Irish Association of Chinese Teaching Board member 2025 /
Linguistics Theories and Language Education Research of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching Board member 2020 /

Teaching Interests

  • Second/Third Language Acquisition
  • Chinese Linguistics
  • Syntax of Chinese
  • Classical Chinese