My name is Ian Joo (주이안 in Korean, 朱易安 in Chinese). My last name, Joo, is pronounced [tɕʰù]. My first name, Ian, is pronounced [i.an], and has the meaning of ease (i) and comfort (an).
I was born in Daejeon, South Korea.
I did my bachelor’s in Literary Studies (focusing on Francophone literature) at Université Laval (Québec City, Canada), and did my Master’s in linguistics at National Chiao Tung University (Hsinchu, Taiwan), which is now National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. My master’s thesis is now published at the journal Linguistic Typology.
I stayed at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History for a year as a doctoral student, but did not continue my doctoral studies there for personal reasons.
I’m currently based in Hong Kong, doing my PhD at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under the supervision of Dr. Yu-Yin Hsu and the co-supervision of Prof. David Chor Shing Li.
My research interests are mainly linguistic iconicity and areal linguistics. In other words, I am interested in (i) the resemblance between form and meaning and (ii) how languages that are spoken close by develop similarities or dissimilarities.
For my doctoral thesis, I am working on compiling Phonotacticon 1.0, a phonological database of around 500 Eurasian languages, in order to detect phonological convergence patterns across Eurasia.
From September 2023, I will assume the position of a lecturer at Nagoya University of Commerce & Business.
While not doing research, I enjoy hiking, painting, traveling, playing badminton, reading novels, and watching Disney films.