This is the professional site of Dr Zhang Dongbing (张冬冰 in Chinese characters), also known as Mus /mus/, a Mongolian name used among colleagues. He holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Sydney, for which he developed a discourse-based description of the interpersonal grammar of Khorchin Mongolian from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics.
I am currently Associate Professor of Linguistics in the School of International Studies, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing. I’m interested in understanding
- the way grammar works in discourse across languages (with particular attention to Mongolian, Chinese, and English),
- the dynamic unfolding of social interaction,
- and the systemic modelling of semiotic systems in general.
I also collaborate with colleagues and students on
- educational linguistics,
- health communication,
- translation studies,
- ecolinguistics,
- and Legitimation Code Theory.
Courses I teach at UIBE
- Undergraduate
ENG786 Introduction to Linguistics
ENG797 Syntax
ENG822 Discourse analysis - Postgraduate
06103012 Syntax
06103011 Functional Linguistics
I have also been teaching English as a foreign language for over ten years at various universities in China.
Selected publications (see Research page for more)
Articles in which I develop the systems at move rank in discourse semantics
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2021. Dynamism in knowledge exchanges: Developing move systems based on Khorchin Mongolian interactions. Discourse Studies 23(3). 386-413.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2024. Towards a responsibility-based model of the move system in discourse semantics: Reasoning from above. Lingua. 309.
Articles in which I describe Khorchin Mongolian from an SFL perspective
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2020. Towards a discourse semantic characterisation of the modal particles in Khorchin Mongolian: A case study of an interaction. Journal of Pragmatics 158. 13–32.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2020. Dialogic positioning in Khorchin Mongolian: The temporal and spatial dimensions of propositional engagement in conversations. Lingua 244.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2020. Axial argumentation below the clause: The verbal group in Khorchin Mongolian. In J.R. Martin, Y.J. Doran & Giacomo Figueredo (eds.), Systemic functional language description: Making meaning matter, 35-72. New York/London: Routledge.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2021. TENSE in Khorchin Mongolian: An interpersonal perspective. Language Sciences 85.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2021. The nominal group in Khorchin Mongolian: A systemic functional perspective. WORD 67(3). 350-386.
- Zhang, Dongbing. 2021. Interpersonal grammar in Khorchin Mongolian. In J.R. Martin, Beatriz Quiroz & Giacomo Figueredo (eds.), Interpersonal grammar: Systemic functional linguistic theory and description. 64-95. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
My other sites
ZHANG DONGBING 