Research

I specialize in Linguistics, which is a field of science focusing on language and languages. The science of linguistics cover a wide variety of human activities related to linguistic activities.  Of these, I am particularly interested in the following areas.
(1) Descriptive Linguistics, where lexical items and grammatical characteristics of specific languages are documented based on field work.
(2) Comparative (Historical) Linguistics, in particular of languages with no early written documents, such as the Austronesian language family, where modern languages are compared to reconstruct their ancestor languages and to clarify the developmental paths of the currently spoken languages. I’m particularly interested in establishing methodologies for morphosyntactic comparison and reconstruction.
(3) The linguistic prehistory of Oceania, based on what can be inferred from studies of the spread of cultural features.
(4) Sign and spoken language linguistics. I have been serving as an academic coordinator for research into Sign Language linguistics at Minpaku since 2011.  This has involved collaborating with Deaf and hearing specialists both in Japan and abroad. I believe that capturing the similarities and differences between signed and spoken languages ultimately leads to a better understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of human language.
(5) The development of eLecture tools for delivering linguistic lecture materials with sign language interpretation and subtitles.  This project is to make linguistic information more accessible for Deaf and hard of hearing researchers and students. I have been finding that flexibility, originality and creativity are all required to successfully conduct research on these topics, which I believe makes them not only  challenging but ultimately worthwhile.   

Sign Language Linguistics Research Projects

Historical Linguistics Research Projects