Hi, I am Nala Lee, a Singaporean linguist working as an associate professor at the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies. I am also currently Assistant Dean of Research at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

I seek to understand extreme language change brought about by multilingualism. My specific areas of interests lie in language endangerment, language death, language documentation, language contact, typology, and sociolinguistics. Locally, I am interested in Baba Malay and other creoles. I am also a co-developer of the Language Endangerment Index, a method that is used to assess linguistic vitality.

These are the modules that I teach:

EL1101E: The Nature of Language

EL3213: Language Typology

EL3214: Language Documentation

ELC5204: Linguistic Typology

I welcome MA and PhD supervisees in ​a wide range of areas (see research interests mentioned in this profile). I also welcome supervisees who are interested in embarking on a variationist type sociolinguistics project or in producing a grammatical description  of any language using a functional approach.

Language documentation, language endangerment and death, language contact, typology, descriptive approaches to grammar, sociophonetics, sociolinguistics

Baba Malay and other contact languages.

BOOKS/MONOGRAPHS AUTHORED

• Lee, N.H. 2022. A grammar of modern Baba Malay. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Chacon, Thiago C., N.H. Lee, and W.D.L. Silva (eds.) 2022. Language Change and Linguistic Diversity: Studies in Honour of Lyle Campbell. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

• Lee, N. H. 2022. Managing data for writing a grammar. In Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker, Bradley McDonnell, & Eve Koller (eds.) The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management. MIT Press: Open Handbooks in Linguistics series. 287-299.
• Lee, N. H. 2021. Pidgin and creole languages of South and Southeast Asia. In Umberto Ansaldo and Meriam Meyerhoff (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages. London/New York: Routledge. 74-87.
• Lee, N. H. and J. Van Way. 2018. The language endangerment index. In L. Campbell, J. Van Way and A. Belew (eds.) Cataloguing the World's Endangered Languages. Routledge. 66-78
• Camp, A, L. Campbell, V. Chen, N. H. Lee, M. Magnuson, C. Mann, and S. Rarrick. 2018. Writing grammars of endangered languages. In K. Rehg and L. Campbell (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages. Oxford University Press. 271-304.
• Lee, N. H. and J. Van Way. 2018. Assessing degrees of language endangerment. In K. Rehg and L. Campbell (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages. Oxford University Press. 48-65.
• Nomoto, H, and N.H. Lee. 2012. Realis, factuality and derived-level statives: Perspectives from the analysis of Singlish got. In C. Nishida and C. Russi (eds.) Building a bridge between linguistic communities of the Old and the New World: Current research in tense, aspect, mood and modality. Cahier Chronos 25. 219-239. Amsterdam: Rodopi
• Lee, N.H. 2011. Language and the Brain. In A. Schafer and J. Terrell (eds.) Introduction to the Study of Language: Class Reader. University of Hawai'i at Mānoa: Curriculum Research and Development Group.
• Lee, N.H. 2010. What are Singaporean babies actually listening to? Prosodic aspects of multilingual motherese in Singapore. In M. Cruz-Ferreira (ed.) Multilingual Norming. Peter Lang.

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS

• Lee, N.H. 2022. Speech style variation in an endangered language. Linguistic Vanguard. 2022: 20210029.
• Lee, N.H., C. Siew, and N. Ng. 2022. The network nature of language endangerment hotspots. Scientific Reports 12: 10803.
• Lee, N. H. 2020. Utilizing the matched-guise as a method of examining perceptual change in an endangered creole. Applied Linguistics. 42(2): 207-229. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaa011
• Lee, N. H. 2018. Baba Malay: Diverging trends in two ecologies. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 33(1):135-172.
• Varela, M. E. and N. H. Lee. 2018. Language documentation: a reference point for theatre and performance archives? International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. DOI: 10.1080/14794713.2018.1453242
• Varela, Miguel E. and Nala H. Lee. Language documentation: a reference point for theatre and performance archives? International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 14(1): 17-33.
• Lee, N. H. 2018. Contact languages around the world and their levels of endangerment. Language Documentation & Conservation. 12: 53-79
• Lee, N. H. 2017. The vitality or endangerment of some non-indigenous languages: a response to Mufwene. Language. 93(4): e234-e242
• Lee, N. H. 2018. Contact languages around the world and their levels of endangerment. Language Documentation & Conservation. 12: 53-79
• Lee, N.H. and J. Van Way. 2016. Author's response to Grenoble on the Language Endangerment Index. In Language in Society. 45(2): 301-303. N. H. Lee and J. Van Way.  
• Lee, N.H. and J. Van Way. 2016. Assessing levels of endangerment in the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (ELCat) using the Language Endangerment Index (LEI). In Language in Society 45(2): 271-292.

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• Lee, N.H. 2013. Review of Shure WH30XLR cardioid headset microphone and Countryman E6 omnidirectional earset microphone. In Language Documentation & Conservation. 7:177-184.
• Lee, N.H. 2012. Multidisciplinary perspectives on the Austronesian Homeland: A critique. In Working Papers in Linguistics: University of Hawai'i at Manoa 43(4):1-15.
• Lee, N.H, H. Nomoto and A. Ling. 2009. Colloquial Singapore English got: functions and substratal influences. In World Englishes 28(3): 293-319.
• Lee, N. H. 2020. Utilizing the matched-guise as a method of examining perceptual change in an endangered creole. Applied Linguistics. 42(2): 207-229. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaa011

THESES/DISSERTATIONS

• Lee, N.H. 2014. A Grammar of Baba Malay with Sociophonetic Considerations. PhD in Linguistics dissertation. University of Hawai'i at Manoa.