general linguistic issues pertaining to meaning, culture and human cognition and their implications for human communication, including the practice of translation; semantics; pragmatics; intercultural communication; translation and stylistics; translatability; the language of emotion; emotion and bilingualism; psychological anthropology; Chinese linguistics; Chinese literature; life writing.

Teaching interests: 

LING2008 & LING6008 Semantics 

LING2015 & LING6015 Language, Culture, Translation 

LING2017 & LING6017 Chinese Linguistics 

LING2021 & LING6021 Cross-Cultural Communication 

LING3035/6015 Semantic Typology  

LANG3002 & LANG6002 Translation Across Languages: Specialised Materials 

LANG8016 Translation Project 

Zhengdao Ye moved to Australia after receiving her BA in Chinese Linguistics and Literature from the East China Normal University. She completed a Grad.Dip in Applied Linguistics from the Australian National University in 1998, followed by an MA in Linguistics (2000) and a PhD in Linguistics (2007). She has taught linguistic courses at the University of New England, Monash University, and the Australian Linguistic Institute held at the Macquarie University. The courses she has taught in a number of institutions include: Semantics; The Language of Emotions; Chinese Linguistics; Cross-Cultural Communication; Language, Culture and Translation; Translation Across Languages (Literary Texts & Specialised Materials); Second Language in Use; and Introduction to the Study of Language. Some of the highlights in her academic experiences include invited linguistic consultant at the Instituto Universitario Orientale (IUO) in Italy, invited lecturer on Lexicography and Cultural Semantics at the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) and National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) , invited speaker as ‘Distinct New Voice’ on Intercultural Communication at IATEFL conference in Aberdeen, invited panellist on words and feelings at International Congress of Psychology in Berlin, and invited keynote speaker at the Naming the Humans conference (Strasbourg University). She was the keynote speaker on Cross-Cultural Communication for the Pre-Departure Training for the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development, and delivered a training session on culture and communication at the Australian and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). She is the editor of the book The Semantics of Nouns (Oxford University Press, 2017), the co-editor (with Cliff Goddard) of 'Happiness' and 'Pain' across Languages and Cultures (John Benjamins, 2016), and the co-editor (with Helen Bromhead) of Meaning, Life and Culture: In Conversation with Anna Wierabicka. (ANU Press, 2020) [https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/meaning-life-and-culture]. She has presented seminars at Aarhus University, Copenhagan Business School, l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), and Nanyang Technological University,

Zhengdao Ye joined the ANU as a full-time lecturer in the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics in 2014. 

- Zhengdao is a key member of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) international research network, of which ANU is the home base. With Anna Wierzbicka, the founder of NSM theory (ANU), and Cliff Goddard (Griffith University), she co-organises the annual NSM workshop at ANU.

- A monograph on Emotion, Senses, and Social Categorisation: A Chinese Perspective. 

- Preserving Shanghai Wu 

PhD theses (as Chair of Panel and Primary Supervisor)

The Uncle-Type Kinship Terms in Major Sinitic Languages: An NSM-based Semantic Typological Approach. 

Translators' ideology and practice 

Understanding the cognitive processes in sight translation

Musicality in poetry translation 

PhD Theses

An NSM-based cultural dictionary of Australian English: from theory to practice (as Chair of Panel and Primary Supervisor)

Foreign Literary Influence in Liu Cixin's Diqiu Wangshi (as Chair of Panel and Primary Supervisor) 

The Cultural Semantics of Forms of Address: A Contrastive Study between English and Italian. (as Associate Supervisor) 

MA Theses

Indonesian Cultural Keyword Hati and its English translations 

Chinese passives and their translations in literary texts: a preliminary study

Semantic Primes and Universal Syntax in Mandarin Chinese: An Update.

The Semantics of 'Uncle-type' Kinship Terms in Cantonese (Guangzhou) and Teochew (Jieyang). 

Applications of NSM and Minimal English in Second Language Teaching. 

Rules to be Broken: Translating the Avant-Garde Writing of Ma Yuan. 

George Orwell in Chinese Translation: Rebellion and Compromise. 

'Happiness' and 'Pain' in Javanese: Meaning, Culture, and Implications for Community Development. 

Translation and Exegesis: Speakability in Drama Translation: The Case of Ray Lawler's Summer of Seventeenth Doll into Chinese. 

Translation and Exegesis: Megan Marshall's Biography Margaret Fuller: A New American Life. 

How easy is it to translate 'Type 2 Diabetes for Dummies' into Arabic: Challenges and Solutions.

An Inquiry into Happiness and Anger in Romanian. 

Honours Theses

Address Terms as a Pragmatic Resources for Speakers of Chinese. 

The Semantics of Cantonese Particles laa¹ and laa^3_.