Department of Theoretical Linguistics

Department of Theoretical Linguistics

Department of Theoretical Linguistics

The Department of Linguistic Science has a diverse staff with expertise in various fields of linguistics, ranging from theoretical research such as semantics and syntax to language education, language history research, pragmatics, and psycholinguistics.

We conduct comparative research from the viewpoints of cognitive linguistics and generative linguistics on various languages of the world, not only Japanese and English, to clarify the similarities and differences among them, and to elucidate the characteristics of natural languages and the human cognitive abilities and linguistic functions that underlie their acquisition, learning, comprehension, and use.

Through close collaboration with the Department of Applied Linguistics, the Integrated Course in General Linguistic Sciences (IGPLS), and the Research Center for Integrated Science of Language, Brain and Cognition, we provide educational programs from multiple perspectives, applying results from theoretical research to research on language acquisition and language education, to foster human resources with a broad perspective. In particular, we offer interdisciplinary research and educational programs in English as well as Japanese, while conducting research to empirically verify the results of linguistics research using psychological and cranial neuroscience methods.

The Language Science Research Course 01 The Language Science Research Course 02 The Language Science Research Course 03

Special Subjects

  • Generative syntax
  • Cognitive linguistics
  • Pragmatics
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Corpus linguistics
  • Language and Culture
  • Cognitive Science of Language
  • History of the Japanese Language
  • Theoretical Analysis of Japanese

Teachers in charge

Professor Hiroyuki Eto

Hiroyuki Eto/Professor

Research Themes
  • Linguistics in History of Ideas and Science
  • Historical English Semantics and Grammar
  • English Language Education and English Academic Writing as a Liberal Arts Education
  • English(s) and English Language Education in East Asia
E-mail
hiroyuki.eto.d6[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Professor Daiko Takahashi

Daiko Takahashi/Professor

Research Themes
  • Linguistics (Generative Linguistics)
  • Syntactic Theory
  • Comparative Syntax, Japanese Syntax, English Syntax
E-mail
daiko.takahashi.e1[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Professor Mariko Nakayama

Mariko Nakayama/Professor

Research Themes
  • Psycholinguistics
  • A study of visual word recognition processes (Japanese, English, Japanese-English bilingual)
  • Word production process research (Japanese, English, Japanese-English bilingual)
E-mail
mariko.nakayama.d5[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Associate Professor Takeshi Nakamoto

Takeshi Nakamoto/Associate Professor

Research Themes
  • Romance Languages and General Linguistics
  • Politeness Theory and Pragmatics
  • Translation Theory and Comparative Stylistics
E-mail
takeshi.nakamoto.e3[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Associate Professor Zisk, Matthew

Zisk, Matthew/Associate Professor

Research Themes
  • Japanese linguistics, history of the Japanese language (reception and influence of Kanji/Kanbun)
  • Linguistic contact theory (how borrowing occurs and classification of borrowing forms)
  • Comparison of Chinese reading of Chinese texts in East Asia and classical annotation in Europe
  • Linguistic terminology and grammatical description (morphological glosses, phonemic notations)
E-mail
matthew.zisk.a6[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Masahiro Yoshihara Associate Professor

Masahiro Yoshihara/Associate Professor

Research Themes
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Visual word recognition and production in Japanese as a first language
  • Visual word recognition and production in Japanese as a second language
E-mail
masahiro.yoshihara.b6[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Senior Assistant Professor Ryo Maie

Ryo Maie/Senior Assistant Professor

Research Themes
  • Cognitive psychological approaches to second language acquisition/education research (Japanese, English)
  • Methodological and applied statistical research in language research
  • Task-based language teaching
E-mail
ryo.maie.e5[@]tohoku.ac.jp
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Master's Thesis Title

Completed in FY2024

  • Null Arguments in Vietnamese
  • Politeness in ELF Interactions among Japanese and Chinese University Students
  • A Comparative Study of Verb-Repetition Responses in Japanese and Chinese

Completed in FY2023

  • Contrastive study of consideration expressions in Japanese and Indonesian
  • A study on incomplete sentence expressions in modern Japanese
    –Focusing on "noni"–
  • Historical consideration of the metaphorical use of "Iro" (color)
    –In relation to the ancient Chinese "Se"–
  • Contrastive study of Japanese "no" and Chinese "de"
    –Focusing on noun-connection usage–
  • Visual word recognition in Japanese-Chinese bilinguals
    –Examination through phonological priming research–
  • A study of the semantic structure of compound verbs in Kanbun-kundoku
    –Focusing on the Early Heian annotations of the Saidai-ji Version of Konkomyo Saishoo-kyo–

Completed in FY2022

  • The use of youth slang "Yabai" and its implications for Japanese language education
  • Contrastive study of directional verbs in Japanese and Thai
    –Focusing on "Deru" and ʔɔ̀ɔk ‘exit’–
  • Japanese-Chinese contrastive study on subject omission
    –Focusing on anaphora in novels–
  • On the misuse of "ta" by Chinese learners of Japanese
    –Contrastive study of "ta" and Chinese "le"–

Doctoral Dissertation Title

Completed in FY2024

  • Li Chen
    Cognitive linguistic study on deictic motion verbs in Japanese and Chinese
  • Shinichi Hotei
    Learning effects of English phrasal verbs containing particles up, down, on, off, and out using conceptual metaphors: Targeting Japanese beginner EFL learners
  • Mikito Sawaragi
    Integrated study of spatiotemporal metaphors focusing on Japanese: A cognitive-functional linguistic approach
  • Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen
    A study of Kanbun reading in Vietnamese: Focusing on the commentaries of "The Analects" compiled in Vietnam
  • Zhangwen Shen
    Semantic extension of Japanese modality expressions: In contrast with Chinese

Completed in FY2023

  • Yanyan Zhang
    Translation norms in Chinese dubbing of Japanese video works
  • Yizhuo Hou
    Japanese-Chinese contrastive study of onomatopoeia related to food texture expressions
  • Shan Li
    Cognitive linguistic study on semantic extension of Japanese potential expressions

Completed in FY2022

  • Li Guo
    Japanese-Chinese contrastive study on semantic extension of basic color terms: From a cognitive linguistics perspective
  • JAVANMARDI, Parimah
    Head-based reconsideration of motion expression typology: Corpus analysis of Japanese, English, and Persian

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