Jonathan Webster

Biography

Prof. Jonathan WEBSTER received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in Linguistics. Prior to coming to Hong Kong in 1987, he taught at the National University of Singapore in the Department of English Language and Literature. His research interests include text linguistics, computational lexicography, and example-based machine translation. Research and Teaching Interests Text Linguistics Computational Lexicography Example-based Machine Translation

Editor or Editorial Membership

Journal Editorship

WORD, Managing Editor 2013-ongoing

WORD is the journal of the International Linguistics Association, headquartered in New York. It is not a new journal but has been around for over fifty years - since 1945. Over the course of its history, the journal has enjoyed an impressive roster on its editorial board including such well-known linguists as André Martinet, Ruth Brend, Edward G. Fichtner, William G. Diver, Uriel Weinreich, Robert P. Austerlitz, Robert L. Allen, and Joseph Greenberg — to name just a few. Early members of the ILA, which was originally known as the Linguistic Circle of New York, included Roman Jakobson, Morris Swadesh, André Martinet, Henri F. Muller, Giuliano Bonfante, Robert Austerlitz, Robert Fowkes, Henry Lee Smith, Wolf Leslau, and Louis H. Gray. As its new Managing Editor, I have been tasked with building WORD into a premier 21st century journal of linguistics

Linguistics and the Human Sciences (UK: Equinox) Founding Editor (2005-onoing)

Linguistics and the Human Sciences is devoted to exploring the relationships between linguistics and other areas of scholarly concern, including but not limited to history, sociology, politics, archaeology, religious studies, translation, and the study of art. The first issue appeared in July 2005.

Journal of World Languages (UK: Routledge, Taylor & Francis) Founding Co-Editor (2013-ongoing)

This new journal explores linguistic, communicative and socio-cultural implications of the spread of languages worldwide. In addition to an editorial board of leading international scholars, the Editors are joined by five associate editors who are representative of major world languages.

Research Interests/Areas

• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• Text linguistics
• Visual semantics
• Intelligent linguistic applications

Teaching

• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• Text linguistics
• Visual semantics
• Intelligent linguistic applications