My research projects center around the question of how we might be able to explain the grammatical patterns and phenomena we find in language based on the cognitive capacities of our species and the external stimulation we receive during our learning process. To answer this question, I incorporate diverse perspectives in my research, both in terms of populations (e.g., preschool-aged children, second/foreign language learners, aphasic patients) and crosslinguistic diversity (Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Yoron-Ryukyuan). I also combine different methods (e.g., consultant judgments, corpus analyses, interviews/surveys, experiments in fieldwork and lab settings) to offer multi-faceted view of language. My newest line of research directly tackles the issues of language loss and maintenance in indigenous (Yoron-Ryukyuan in Japan) and ethnic minority communities (Tagalog heritage speakers in the US).
Research Interests:
- Language acquisition
- Second language acquisition
- Heritage languages
- Experimental linguistics
- Japonic languages
