Research (PKULR) is a cooperation project between Springer Nature and Peking University Press. This series presents the latest discoveries and developments of significance in linguistic research conducted by famous Chinese scholars. Titles in this series are carefully evaluated, examined and selected by Peking University (which ranks No. 10 in the world and No. 1 in China in the QS World University Rankings-Linguistics 2016) and Peking University Press (which was honored as the most influential publisher in linguistics according to Chinese Book Citation Index, 2016), covering all major aspects of linguisticsphonetics, phonology, pragmatics, semantics, morphology, syntax, theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics and inter-disciplinary studies. PKULR aims to provide an invaluable guide to the very nature of language. On the one hand, it tries to offer a thorough grounding in the fundamental concepts of linguistics; on the other hand, it also attaches great importance to the practical application of these concepts, esp. in Chinese context.