LCS faculty

Kimi Akita

Associate professor

Keywords

Ideophones/Onomatopoeia, Sound symbolism, Cognitive linguistics

Research interests

My research interests concern iconic phenomena in language. I am especially interested in how cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, and linguistic typology can explain the grammatical, functional, and developmental properties of ideophones (aka giongo / gitaigo or onomatopoeia).

Background

I received my Ph.D. in Linguistics from Kobe University in 2009. I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tokyo (2009-2011) and the University of California, Berkeley (2009-2010). I then taught Cognitive Linguistics at Osaka University (2011-2015) before joining the Department of Applied Linguistics (2015-2017) and the Department of English Linguistics (2017-present) at Nagoya University. I am also a visiting associate professor at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics.

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Edward Haig

Professor

Keywords

Critical discourse analysis, Systemic functional linguistics, Ecolinguistics, Media discourse, News in seventeenth century England

Research interests

My current research interests include ecolinguistics (both the language of ecology and the ecology of language); the ideological use of language in Japanese and English news media; the interrelations between public and private discourses of youth, crime and class; and the language of radio broadcasting. Recently I have begun studying the earliest English newspapers and pamphlets published around the time of the English Civil War. The two main theoretical and methodological tools that I use in my research are systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis.

Background

I am a professor in the Graduate School of Humanities' English Education Department. I have an M.Sc. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Aston University, UK) and Ph.D.s in Ecology (King's College London, UK) and Linguistics (Lancaster University, UK).

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Dylan McGee

Associate professor

Research interests

My principal field of research is Japanese literature of the Edo period (1603-1868), with a focus on the history of book publication, circulation and reception. In addition to several translations of early modern Japanese narrative fiction and poetry, I have also published articles on the works of Ueda Akinari (1734-1809), the history of amateur chaban kyōgen performance, and the development of clock-based narrative time in the popular genres of kibyōshi and sharebon (1780-1796). At present, I am writing a monograph on the history of the Daiso lending library, which operated in Nagoya between 1767 and 1899 and rose to status as the largest commercial lender in Japan.

Background

I earned my Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (Japanese/Chinese) from Princeton University (2009) after conducting research for my dissertation at Kanazawa University (2004-2005). I have been working as a designated associate professor at Nagoya University since 2011.

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Koji Miwa

Associate professor

Keywords

Psycholinguistics, Bilingualism, Morphology, Multivariate analysis

Research interests

As a psycholinguist, who takes an experimental approach to the linguistic issue of how language is "done" in the mind, I am primarily investigating (1) how complex words are represented/processed in the mind, (2) how bilinguals read in one language with two languages in the mind, and (3) how language affects thought. That is, I am interested in the mechanisms by which complex things are processed effortlessly and efficiently in our daily life, which often happens at a subconscious level.

Background

I received a B.A. (Hons) and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Alberta (Canada). I then spent two years in Tuebingen (Germany) as a Humboldt postdoctoral researcher. I have been working as an associate professor at Nagoya University since 2017.

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Remi Murao

Associate professor

Research interests

My primary research area is second language processing. I am particularly interested in phonological processing in spoken word recognition, and the mapping of continuous speech sounds onto the mental lexicon. My Ph.D. work focused on the influence of prosody and the formulaicity of language on the recognition of spoken words.

Background

I received a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Nagoya University in 2009. My first academic position was as an assistant professor at Waseda University in 2007, where I taught English to undergraduate students for three years. Apart from academics, I enjoy playing the violin in an amateur orchestra.

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Akitoshi Nagahata

Professor

Research interests

My area of study is American literature and culture, with a focus on poetry. I have published articles on Modernist and contemporary American poets (including Pound, Stevens, Ashbery and Ginsberg), and post-war American novelists (Thomas Pynchon, John Barth) and artists (Bob Dylan, Woody Allen), among others.

Background

I have M.A.s in English Studies (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) and English (State University of New York at Albany). I have been teaching at Nagoya University since 1988.

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Chikako Nagayama

Associate professor

Research interests

My scholarly pursuits combine discourse and visual analyses with community-based research for equity. Informed by feminist, (post)colonial and critical race studies, my work engages with a particular site of cultural production - such as film, music, theatre, school, travel, museum or cultural policy - and elaborates on how the medium, space or policy shapes one's 'place' in society. Having become culturally hybrid yet called upon as a Japanese female subject, colonialism, wars and trans-local solidarity work for anti-oppression are my enduring concern.

Background

• 2009 Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
• 1998 M.A., Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyoto University, Japan
• 1994 B.A., Sociology Major, Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University, Japan

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Yoshikazu Oshima

Associate professor

Keywords

Japanese linguistics, (Formal) semantics, Pragmatics, Syntax

Research interests

My principal research fields are semantics, pragmatics, and syntax. I have mainly worked on the contemporary Japanese language, with strong interests in general linguistics and typology. The topics I have recently worked on include: (i) the semantics of discourse particles in Japanese, (ii) the usage of anaphoric demonstratives in Japanese and English, (iii) the semantics of marked/biased interrogative constructions, (iv) the taxonomy of "backgrounded" meaning (presupposition and conventional implicature), and (v) the semantic characteristics of Japanese stative predicates.

Background

I am an associate professor of Linguistics in the Graduate School of Humanities. I earned an M.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1999, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2006. I taught at Arizona State University and Ibaraki University before taking up my current appointment, and have been a researcher at Kobe University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the University of Texas at Austin.

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David Wright

Associate professor

Keywords

Comparative literature, Creative Writing, Electronic literature

Research interests

I am an author and an academic. I write short stories, novels, electronic (digital-born) literature, and poetry. As a creative writer, I explore experimental literary forms, and have a particular interest in the works of Italo Calvino. As an academic, I have expertise in the following areas: Comparative Literature, Australian Literature, Postmodern Literature, Electronic (digital-born) Literature, the Italo Calvino corpus, American Literature (with an emphasis on the William Faulkner corpus), Creative Writing pedagogy, and Practice-led Research.

Background

I have a PhD (Comparative Literature) from Murdoch University, an MSc (Creative Writing) from the University of Edinburgh, and a BFA (Film & Television) from the Queensland University of Technology. I have been a lecturer (Literature, Creative Writing) at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and an editor of poetry and prose for a special issue of Westerly (UWA). I was awarded the Murdoch University School of Arts Prize for best Doctor of Philosophy thesis with a creative component and the School of Arts Prize for Outstanding Thesis for best Doctor of Philosophy thesis in a traditional research area. For my digital novel Little Emperor Syndrome, I was awarded the Queensland Literary Awards' Digital Literature Prize and Robert Coover Award (2nd prize). I have been shortlisted for various other international prizes and published in multiple creative and academic journals. I am currently co-editor of The Digital Review.

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Junko Yamashita

Professor

Research interests

The field of my research broadly relates to second language acquisition and foreign language education. More specifically, my primary research interests are in factors causing individual differences in second language reading ability, cross-linguistic influence in second language processing, and instruction and assessment of second language reading.

Background

I received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Lancaster University, UK. I have been teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) courses at the undergraduate level and second language acquisition courses at the graduate level at Nagoya University, Japan. I have also been serving as an advisor for M.A. and Ph.D. theses. I was a visiting scholar at Georgia State University and Carnegie Mellon University (USA) from 2007 to 2008.

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Eiko Yasui

Associate professor

Keywords

Conversation analysis, Microanalysis of interaction, multimodality in interaction, Gesture

Research interests

I specialize in conversation analysis, a micro-analytic approach to human interaction based on videotaped conversational data. I am interested in how people employ multimodality including language and body to accomplish participation in everyday activities. My current project involves the use of multimodality in instructions of a body-centered activity, such as dance, sports, arts and crafts, etc.

Background

I earned my Ph.D from the University of Texas at Austin in Communication Studies after receiving an M.A. from Michigan State University in Communication and a B.A from Osaka University in English Linguistics.

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Wei Zeng

Lecturer

Keywords

Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, history of analytic philosophy, Wittgenstein

Research interests

My current research focuses on the philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science with a practice-based approach. I am interested in investigating mathematical and scientific practices (explanation, understanding of empirical science and mathematics, diagrammatic reasoning, etc.) from a philosophical perspective. I am also interested in the history of analytic philosophy and philosophy of language, with a focus on the work of Wittgenstein, Frege, Kripke, and Carnap.

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