Dennis TAY (Early Career Fellow)
Fields of Study:
Cognitive linguistics, metaphor theory, mental healthcare communication and statistical modelling of discourse processes and products
Profile:
Dr. Dennis Tay is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Associate Dean of Humanities at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Dr. Tay is interested in cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis – in particular, how theories of metaphor, metonymy, and cognitive grammar can be applied to the analysis of real life text and talk. He has specialized in the study of psychotherapy and counseling discourse, and is developing ways to situate this within the broader context of healthcare communication.
Dr. Tay's research in his own words:
"My research covers four overlapping areas: cognitive linguistics, metaphor theory, mental healthcare communication, and data analytics applied to discourse processes and products. One example of how these areas converge is language use in psychological counselling, an important type of mental healthcare communication. This language is often full of metaphors, which according to cognitive linguistics can provide insights into how people conceptualize their psychological issues. Furthermore, there is fascinating variability across speakers, cultures, time, and so on, which needs to be understood using both statistical modelling and qualitative analysis. I often engage with mental healthcare researchers and practitioners to work out the practical implications of linguistic research.
I am currently focusing on two research strands: i) the relationship between metaphor use and psycho-physiological indicators of affect such as galvanic skin response, and ii) applying data analytic techniques (e.g. time series analysis, cluster analysis, sentiment analysis) to different discourse processes and phenomena (e.g. in counseling, newspapers, classrooms, and social media). I also have a secondary interest in language acquisition and pedagogical research, particularly the relevance and acquisition of quantitative literacy in humanities education. I am keen to collaborate on or supervise undergraduate/postgraduate research in any of the areas described above."
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