This collaborative research project builds upon a three-year SOLIFIC project conducted from 2009 to 2011that focused on the theory of interlinguistics, namely the choice of different linguistic resources in contexts where speakers do not share the same first language. Specifically, we looked at the use of code-switching in multilingual contexts, mixed languages, such as pidgins and creoles, planned languages, such as Esperanto, and hegemonic languages, such as English. The findings of this project were published in Sophia Linguistica No. 60 (2012).
However apart from comparing different types of interlingual communication, it is also important to consider how interlinguistic strategies may be applied differently depending on the language(s) used and the specific social context. To this aim, since 2012 we have been comparing the use of English, French, German, Portuguese and Japanese as lingua francas, with particular attention given to the characteristics, possibilities and specific issues relating to the use of each language as an interlinguistic resource. Our primary goals are to investigate the similarities and differences between each interlinguistic strategy beyond the individual language and also to determine how lingua franca communication is different from communication between native and non-native speakers. In the 2017 academic year, the main aim was to publish the results of the symposium held in 2015. In 2018, we will try to summarize the findings of the past years.
This research project is concerned with universal and diverging (‘parametric’) properties of human language syntax, from a number of different, though fundamentally related, points of view, including straight syntax and comparative syntax, lexical syntax/semantics, the brain science of language, mathematical and formal studies, evolutionary linguistics, etc.
One of the major discoveries of modern theoretical linguistics is that humans are endowed with a species-specific biological property, called the “faculty of language,” which enables them to acquire a specific formal computational system (human language) – but not other symbolic systems – that allows for generation of unbounded arrays of hierarchical structures (linguistic expressions) linking sounds – or signs, as in the case of sign languages – and meanings. The scientific study of this biological capacity constitutes a major part of contemporary linguistics, and the object of inquiry so defined calls for truly cross- and trans-disciplinary studies. As the evidence compellingly shows, the faculty of language is species-specific, and also uniform across the species, i.e., it is a universal capacity for all humans. Thus, syntax, the main computational component of this capacity, has universal properties. What are the universal properties of human language syntax? This is the fundamental research question addressed in this project. On the other hand, rather surprisingly, various manifestations of human language (English, Japanese, German, Swahili, Tongan, etc.) do exhibit certain degrees of variation. If the faculty of language is truly a universal biological property, as has been convincingly shown in the technical literature, where does the variation come from? Why is it that there seem to be various different languages in the world? This is the second important problem we investigate in this project.
We started this project in 2012 and continued on in the following years until 2017. In these years, we have investigated in detail various empirical and theoretical issues such as negation in Japanese, English, and other languages, the relation between syntax and the lexicon in German, Japanese, etc., the nature of the fundamental operation Merge and its manifestations in the brain, the evolution of language from the point of ethology, and so on. In 2018, we will continue to explore and develop analyses and theories pertinent to these issues, and will try to unify some of the results accumulated in the past years.
The purpose of the proposed project is to explore the relationship between learning strategies students employ, their learning styles and their undergraduate majors. Given the purpose, the study is intended to test the validity of the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between three factors. The data will be collected by administering a set of inventories to the undergraduate students of various majors, learning various foreign languages, including German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, amongst others. The data will be statistically analyzed, and the results will be interpreted in the framework of CLIL with the focus on three basic elements comprising language, cognitive skills (i.e., language learning strategies) and topical knowledge (i.e., majors). Based on the outcome that has been obtained so far, self-taught materials will be developed to help those students majoring in applied and theoretical linguistics to achieve academic success in the field.
Second language acquisition is an intricate process in which external factors (learning environment, teaching methods) interact with internal factors (learners’ characteristics) and the nature of grammatical forms (developmental stages, difficulty etc.). These factors also interact with learners’ cognitive mechanisms that could lead to brain mechanisms. This study aims to explore these complex processes and mechanisms, by collecting data from learners of Japanese as a second language.
Since the year 2-16, a collaborative research with members of the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC) of Tohoku University has been conducted. The purpose of this project is to explore how input processing skills will develop as proficiency levels increase from the neurocognitive perspective by examining how learners’ proficiency levels and language aptitude (namely, working memory capacity) will affect brain activities during sentence processing. In the year 2017, neural and behavioral data were collected from Chinese learners of Japanese, using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). In the year 2018, the IDAC team will mainly analyze neural imaging data, and the Sophia team, behavioral data. Then, both teams will jointly discuss the relationship between brain activities and learners’ proficiency levels and individual differences in input processing.
The present research project is a developed version of the project in the previous year: “Basic research and development for innovative educational methods in phonetics applying advanced information technology”. We continue our research on the basic science and development of various web servers and cloud servers for research and education of phonetics.
Currently, a small-scale web server is running in Prof. Kitahara’s office for a contents management system (CMS) used for all classes taught by Prof. Kitahara. The merit of an independent CMS compared to Moodle and Loyola provided by Sophia University is that it is light-weight and editable in an on-going classroom activities. In addition, it is easy to customize the system for a flexible application. For instance, the comment function of the CMS is available for any cell phones in class so that students can share the discussion of a given topic promptly and visually. Students can also review the discussion after the class.
Meanwhile, main resources of the phonetics lab as well as BA, MA, and PhD theses advising are conducted on a similar CMS on a commercial server. There is no running web server open to public in the phonetics lab. This is due to recent increasing security risks against the safe management of private servers without any full-time technical staff.
Therefore, we have changed the main focus of our research from the research plan in the previous year: the main research and CMS web-servers will be implemented on a commercial server and local servers are managed for small-scale pilot services. Contents of the services will also be a main topic of the research. Particularly, we aim to construct a digital studio for higher-resolution graphics and multimedia data for a production and editing of sound and movie files for phonetic education. Equipment and know-hows for such contents are rapidly developing year by year, so that we have to keep learning new approaches. The goal is to develop an easy-to-use web-based phonetic experiment/feedback system in order to collect a large amount of data swiftly. This will lead to various applications in language teaching, such as hands-on phonetic tasks and pronunciation/listening training systems.
In addition, studies of large scale corpora and sound database have been flourishing in recent phonology/phonetics area. Our phonetics lab aims to apply the technic and the results of such studies in practical educational situations to develop versatile and robust speaking/listening skills. To achieve this goal, a local server in the lab will be used to manage resources in a centralized and efficient way and multiple terminals in the lab can work together for a collaborative research projects.
