Acknowledgments

This book has its origins in my PhD thesis written for the University of Sydney, Australia. I wish to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to Jane Simpson and Derek Herforth, my supervisors, for their remarkable patience and professional guidance. The thesis would not have been possible without their kind support, invaluable advice, probing questions, as well as constructive critiques.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Stephen Matthews, Foongha Yap and Antony Diller, for their very useful comments on my PhD thesis and their encouragement to publish my thesis in the form of a book. In particular, I must thank Foongha for giving me the opportunity to join her research team as a post-doctoral fellow after I came back to Hong Kong, and for her care and continuous support in the past years.

I am also grateful to K.K. Luke, my kindest and most respectful teacher from the University of Hong Kong (now Professor at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), who first introduced me to the field of Cantonese Linguistics, and gave me important guidance during my first steps as a research student. I thank him for awakening my interest in the study of the various properties of verbal particles in Cantonese, and his support and advice all along this path for me to become a true linguist.

Heartfelt thanks also go to my friends and colleagues who have been generous with their time to discuss with me various issues relevant to Chinese/Cantonese linguistics and my research: Nikko Lai, Sam Wong, Percy Wong, Waimun Leung, Wei Zhang and Eden Li.

I owe a great due to my family members for their unconditional love and support. I remain indebted to my parents for giving me much needed support and confidence all along the way. I thank my sister Irene, who is also a student of linguistics, for the discussions we have had on Cantonese linguistics. I must also send my gratefulness to Charles for keeping me company on this journey. Most of all, I thank my two children, Ryan and Chloe, for bringing me the love and joy that I need to make this journey a little more bearable.

Needless to say, I am solely responsible for any remaining errors and shortcomings in this book.