{"id":651,"date":"2023-07-27T13:24:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T04:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp\/igpls\/?page_id=651"},"modified":"2025-05-30T18:35:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T09:35:58","slug":"wataru-nakamura","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp\/igpls\/people\/wataru-nakamura\/","title":{"rendered":"Wataru Nakamura"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"pt-0 name\">Wataru Nakamura<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"position\">Professor<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-3 wp-block-columns profile\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp\/igpls\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/nakamura_wataru-4x6-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-871\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp\/igpls\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/nakamura_wataru-4x6-1.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp\/igpls\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/nakamura_wataru-4x6-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis:75%\">\n<h3>Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I began my research with narrative theory, with a focus on narration (free indirect speech in English and Japanese). As an MA student at University of Tokyo, I dedicated myself to the study of Cognitive Linguistics. My MA thesis (the core part of which was published in <em>Linguistics<\/em>) analyzed the semantics of adverbs within the framework of Cognitive Grammar. During my four-year stay at Buffalo, I shifted my focus to analyzing cases and case systems from a functional perspective and employed Role and Reference Grammar (combined with Optimality Theory) as a comprehensive framework for my investigation. This hybrid approach enabled me to derive the typological variation of case systems from a limited number of constraints and to explain apparently anomalous case assignments in possessor raising constructions, light verb constructions, psych verb constructions, and desiderative constructions. Furthermore, I investigated case syncretism phenomena and successfully showed that they are also amenable to an OT-based account. I also demonstrated that the alleged polysemy of oblique cases (such as dative and instrumental) can be attributed to the interaction between their unified meaning and the qualia structure of the co-occurring elements. Currently, my research is centered around the examination of declension paradigms and case assignments in impersonal constructions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3>Research Interests<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Functional Syntax, Japanese Linguistics, Typology, Syntax, Semantics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Academic Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>1997 - PhD (Linguistics), State University of New York at Buffalo<br>1991 - MA (English Linguistics), University of Tokyo<br>1989 - BA (English Linguistics), University of Tokyo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Major Publications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Bentley, Delia; Mairal-Us\u00f3n, Ricardo; Nakamura, Wataru; &amp; Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. (eds.) 2023. <em>The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru. 2023. \u201cCase Assignment\u201d. In: Bentley, Delia; Mairal-Us\u00f3n, Ricardo; Nakamura, Wataru; &amp; Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. (eds.) <em>The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar<\/em>, pp.318-367. Cambridge University Press.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru. 2021. \u201cA Neo-Jakobsonian Account of Default Cases: Instrumental vs. Dative\u201d. In: Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. (ed.) <em>Challenges at the Syntax-Semantics-Pragmatics Interface<\/em>, pp.135-168. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru. 2018. \u201cThe Second Dative in Russian: A Case for the Last-Resort Case Assignment\u201d. In: Kailuweit, Rolf; K\u00fcnkel, Lisann; &amp; Staudinger, Eva (eds.) <em>Applying and Expanding Role and Reference Grammar<\/em>, pp.139-152. Albert-Ludwigs-Universit\u00e4t, Universit\u00e4tsbibliothek.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru. 2018. \u201cCase\u201d. In: Hasegawa, Yoko (ed.) <em>The Cambridge Handbook of Japanese Linguistics<\/em>, pp.249-275. Cambridge University Press.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru (ed.) 2011. <em>New Perspectives in Role and Reference Grammar<\/em>. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakamura, Wataru. 1999. \u201cAn Optimality-Theoretic Account of the Japanese Case System\u201d. <em>Studies in Language<\/em> 23: 597-649.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3>Contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>wataru.nakamura.a8 (add [at]&nbsp;+ \"tohoku.ac.jp\")<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"more text-center mt-5 font-weight-bold\" style=\" font-size:1.2em;\"><a href=\"\/igpls\/people\/\" class=\"ek-link\">List of PEOPLE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wataru Nakamura Professor Introduction I began my research with narrative theory, with a focus on narration (free indirect speech in English and Japanese). As an MA student at University of Tokyo, I dedicated myself to the study of Cognitive Linguistics. 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