(Michael M.) Mike Opper

Research Interests: Phonology, Languages of China, Language Teaching

EDUCATION

Ph.D. University of Michigan. Department of Linguistics.

Dissertation title:Phonological Contrast in Bai.

Committee members: Andries Coetzee, San Duanmu, Bill Baxter, Pam Beddor

Degree conferred on April 28, 2017.

B.A. Rutgers University. Fall 2006 - Spring 2010. Henry Rutgers Honors Scholar.

Major: Chinese and Linguistics. Minor: Asian Studies.

Highest Honors in Linguistics, High Honors in Chinese.

Selected Academic Awards

• Fulbright US Student Award for China. Academic year 2013-2014. $22,000.

• National Science Foundation – Graduate Research Fellowship. Tuition & Stipend.

• 2012-2013 ($30,000), 2014-2015 ($32,000), and 2015-2016 ($34,000).

• FLAS for Chinese language study at IUP Tsinghua. Summer 2011. $7,500.

• Huayu Enrichment Scholarship. Republic of China Ministry of Education. Monthly stipend for Chinese language study at Mandarin Training Center at Taiwan National Normal University. Summer 2009. Roughly $2400.

Academic Employment History

08/2017 – Present Foreign Expert in Phonology (Southwest University: Chongqing)

· Fall 2017‘Phonetics & Phonology’ and ‘English Academic Writing’

09/2011 – 12/2016 Graduate Student Instructor (University of Michigan)

09/2007 – 08/2010 Editor of theRutgers Multimedia Chinese Teaching System

· Responsible for editing the RMCTS (http://chinese.rutgers.edu)

· Helped develop the Pīnyīn version of this system, currently used as the primary course material for ‘Basic Spoken Chinese’ at Rutgers University

Publications

· Opper, Michael. 2016. Features in Phonology: Summary and Open Questions.theLinguist@NTNU2.

· 欧迈珂[Oū Màikē].撒梅语的概况[Sǎméiyǔ de gàikuàng: Samei Language General Overview]. This work is a brief description of the Samei language to appear in《高坡社区志》[Gāopō Shèqū Zhì: Gaopo District Annals].

· Opper, Michael (80%) and Alexander Sugar (20%). To appear. Truncation and headedness in Chinese compounding: a dictionary-based study.Proceedings of North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics 25.

· Opper, Michael. 2010.Aspects of the Morpho-phonology and Classification of Taiwan Hakka Dialects.BA Thesis, Rutgers University.

Invited Lectures (‘*’ indicates that talk was presented in Chinese)

• Opper, Michael. (June 17, 2017).Mapping Linguistic Boundaries in China with QGIS. North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics – 29. New Brunswick, NJ.

• Opper, Michael. (May 23, 2017).Language and Ethnicity in Yunnan.Minds Abroad (Academic Study Abroad Office in Kunming).

• Opper, Michael. (April 13, 2017).On the Representation of Phonological Contrast: A Look at Bái. Southwest University: College of International Studies. Beibei, Chongqing.

• Opper, Michael. (March 27, 2017).Onset, Rime, and Pre-nuclear Glides. Millersville University. Millersville, PA.

• Opper, Michael.* (November 12-13, 2013).国际音标概要. Intensive two-day course on phonetic and phonological transcription. This course was directed toward researchers of Naxi philology at the Dongba Cultural Research Center

  [东巴文化研究院] in Lijiang, China.

Conference Presentations (‘*’ indicates that talk was presented in Chinese)

· Opper, Michael. (May 8, 2016).Interpreting phonological representations of Initial-Final linguistic descriptions. Ninth North American Phonology Conference (NAPhC9). Concordia University: Montreal, Quebec.

· Opper, Michael. (April 2, 2016).Incorporating Truncation into Chinese Language Pedagogy. International Symposium on Chinese Teaching and Learning (CLTA-S2). University of Maryland.

· Opper, Michael. (September 12, 2015).Pre-nuclear Glides in Bai Syllable Structure. Mid-Phon 20. Indiana University: Bloomington, IN.

· Opper, Michael. (June 13, 2015).Prosody and Chinese Truncation. The 1^stInternational Conference on Prosodic Studies: Challenges and Prospects

(ICPS-1). Tianjin Normal University: Tianjin, China.

· Opper, Michael.* (October 20, 2014).Bái Phonotactics: Contraction, Rhyming, and Word Formation[白语配音律：合音，押韵，构词法]. 47^thInternational Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China.

· Opper, Michael and Yanzhen Zhao. (May 28, 2014).Prosodic Size and Ordering of Constituents within Dali Bai Nominal Expressions. South East Asian Linguistics Society 24. Yangon University. Yangon, Myanmar.

· Opper, Michael. (August 8, 2013).Word Length Flexibility in Standard Chinese and Nuosu Yi. 46^thInternational Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH.

· Opper, Michael and Alexander Sugar. (June 22, 2013).Truncation and headedness in Chinese compounding: a dictionary-based study. North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics – 25. Ann Arbor, MI.

· Opper, Michael. (April 6, 2013).Word Length Flexibility in Nuosu Yi. Illinois Language and Linguistics Society 5. Urbana-Champaign, IL.

· Opper, Michael. (March 22, 2013).A Morpho-Prosodic Typology of Compound Truncation. Mid-Phon 18. Ann Arbor, MI.

· San Duanmu, Xinting Zhang, Yan Dong, and Michael Opper. (November 3, 2012).A Comparative Study of Lexicon Sizes in Chinese and English. Fifth Meeting of the Chinese Language Association of Michigan (CLAM).

· Opper, Michael and San Duanmu.* (June 11, 2011)现代汉语语料中的日语借词统计[A Corpus-Based Approach to Calculating the Japanese Loanwords in Modern Chinese]. 19th International Association of Chinese Linguistics Conference. Tianjin, China.

· Opper, Michael (March 12, 2011)Problems with the Póyáng/Bōyáng Dialect. 221^stMeeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, IL.

· Opper, Michael. (May 1, 2010)A New Classification for Yuè-Tái Hakka Dialects. Workshop on Chinese Dialects, Phonology, and Lexicography. Rutgers University.

· Opper, Michael. (2008).Written Taiwanese: A Problem with Many Solutions. Presented at MARAAS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Association for Asian Studies) Conference, Rutgers University.

Community Presentations (‘*’ indicates that talk was presented in Chinese)

· Opper, Michael. (September 26, 2016).Phonetic and Phonological Transcription. Linguistics 313 – Sound Patterns. Instructor: San Duanmu.

· Opper, Michael. (November 6, 2015).Segmental Contrast in Southern Bai. Phondi discussion group. University of Michigan.

· Opper, Michael. (November 2, 2015).Fieldwork on Bai.Linguistics 792 – Field Methods. Instructor: Prof. Jeff Heath.

· Opper, Michael. (September 25, 2015).Three moribund languages spoken by the ethnic Yi of Kunming. HistLing discussion group. University of Michigan.

· Opper, Michael.* (May 25, 2015).用PRAAT分析语音文件[Using PRAAT to analyze sound files]. Graduate Level Introduction to Linguistics: Yunnan University. Instructor: Prof. Yanzhen Zhao

· Opper, Michael. (December 4, 2014).Language Typology. Guest Lecture for Intro to Linguistics. Yunnan University: Foreign Languages Department. Instructor: Prof. Xinfeng Zhang

· Opper, Michael.* (April 24, 2014).用PRAAT分析语音文件[Using PRAAT to analyze sound files]. Linguistic Field Methods: Yunnan University. Instructor: Prof. Yanzhen Zhao

· Opper, Michael.* (April 17, 2014).普通话有重音吗？[Does Standard Chinese Have Stress?]. Introduction to Linguistics: Yunnan University. Instructor: Prof. Liquan Yang

· Opper, Michael. (June 14, 2013).Sino-Tibetan Languages. Linguistics 112 – Languages of the World. Instructor: Tridha Chatterjee.

· Opper, Michael. (March 28, 2013).Using CELEX for Phonological Research. Linguistics 513 – Phonology (Graduate). Instructor: Prof. San Duanmu.

· Opper, Michael. (March 21, 2013).Stress, Stress Rules, and Syllable Weight. Linguistics 313 – Sound Patterns. Instructor: Prof. Jeff Heath.

· Opper, Michael. (January 17, 2013).Tutorial on P-Base and Excel for Phonological Research. Linguistics 513 – Phonology (Graduate). Instructor: Prof. San Duanmu.

· Opper, Michael. (December 7, 2012).Word Length Flexibility in Chinese, English, and Nuosu Yi. Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Workshop. Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. Chaired by William H. Baxter.

· Opper, Michael. (November 30, 2012).Compound Truncation in English. PhonDi group. University of Michigan.

· Opper, Michael. (October 25, 2012).Morphology. Three Guest Lectures for Linguistics 111 – Intro to Linguistics. Instructor: Jon Yip.

· Opper, Michael. (March 20, 2012).Language Typology. Guest Lecture for Linguistics 111 – Intro to Linguistics. Instructor: Prof. Andries Coetzee.

· Opper, Michael. (December 5, 2011).Language Typology. Guest Lecture for Linguistics 111 – Intro to Linguistics. Instructor: Prof. Ezra Keshet.

· Opper, Michael. (November 15, 2011).Prosody Cloning. Guest Lecture for Linguistics 102 - Sounds of English. Instructor: Prof. San Duanmu.

· Opper, Michael. (November 15, 2011).Syllable Structure. Guest Lecture for Linguistics 313 - Phonology. Instructor: Prof. San Duanmu.

· Opper, Michael. (October 14, 2011).Reconstructing Chinese: Written Sources and Modern Dialects. HistLing discussion group. University of Michigan

· Opper, Michael. (May 10, 2011).Phonetics I. Guest Lecture for Linguistics 111 summer session. Instructor: Tridha Chatterjee.

· Baxter, William H. and Michael Opper. (November 12, 2010)Language Contact in China. HistLing discussion group. University of Michigan.

· Opper, Michael. (October 15, 2010)Morpho-phonology of the Nominal Suffix in Taiwan Hakka Dialects. Phondi discussion group. University of Michigan.

· Opper, Michael. (Spring 2010)Common Dialectal Chinese and Chinese Phonetics. Guest Lecture for Writing and Literacy of East Asia. Instructor: Prof. Young-Mee Cho.

· Opper, Michael.* (February 1, 2010)About Learning Chinese. Edison Chinese School.

Community and Professional Service

· Fall 2015 – Winter 2016: Member. Linguistics undergraduate committee.

· Summer 2014: Manuscript reviewer forMorphology.

· Fall 2013: Manuscript reviewer forLingua.

· Winter 2012 – Winter 2013: Co-chair. MidPhon-18 (with San Duanmu).

· Fall 2012 – Summer 2013: Student co-chair. Linguistics colloquium committee.

· Fall 2012 – Summer 2013: Secretary. NACCL-25.

· October 31, 2012: Led a workshop on graduate school applications for undergraduate students in linguistics at the University of Michigan.

· Fall 2011: Editor of two linguistics articles forLinguistics in China No. 2.

《语言学文选（第二辑）》. Published Feb 2014 by World Publishing Corp.

· Fall 2011, Winter 2012, and Winter 2013: President. Graduate Linguists at Michigan. (Organizing committee for linguistics graduate students).

· Fall 2009 – Spring 2010. Translation assistant to Richard V. Simmons forResearch in Tōng-Tài Dialect Phonology. Published 2015 by Lincom Europa.

Referees

Doctoral Mentors

· San Duanmu, Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan,duanmu@umich.edu(Phonology, Chinese)

· Andries Coetzee, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan,coetzee@umich.edu(Phonology, Linguistics)

· William H. Baxter, Professor of Asian Languages & Cultures and Linguistics, University of Michigan,wbaxter@umich.edu(Chinese, Sound Change)

Former Supervisors for Research and Teaching Related to Chinese

· Richard VanNess Simmons, Professor of Chinese, Rutgers University,rsimmon@alc.rutgers.edu

· Haiqing Yin, Lecturer I, UC Davis,hqyin@ucdavis.edu

CONTACT

TEL:18669106487

E-MAIL:opper@umich.edu