EASC co-sponsored Event: Buckeye East Asian Linguistics Forum 7 (BEALF-7) in person and via Zoom
The Buckeye East Asian Linguistics Forum 7 (BEAL Forum 7) — to take place on 6 November 2026 — provides a platform primarily for students to articulate and exchange ideas on their research findings with forum participants. It is a one-day event with keynote lectures and students’ presentation sessions. While the BEAL Forums aim mainly at graduate students, recent graduates and upper-level undergraduate students are also welcomed to submit an abstract. This year, the forum will be held in a hybrid format. Presenters can opt for an on-site presentation at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, or for a remote Zoom session.
In addition to keynote speeches and regular breakout talks, this year’s BEAL Forum will feature a special session dedicated to Professor Mineharu “JJ” Nakayama of The Ohio State University, celebrating his distinguished contributions to Japanese linguistics. His extensive research — encompassing first and second language acquisition, language processing, syntax, and more — has significantly advanced the field of Japanese linguistics and cross-linguistic research. Beyond his pioneering scholarship, Professor Nakayama has been a steadfast mentor to many graduate students and an exemplary champion for emerging researchers, notably through his role in spearheading and organizing the BEAL Forum since 2014. Presentations in this honorary session will focus on topics related to Professor Nakayama’s areas of expertise.
The BEAL Forum is an excellent opportunity to present one’s research in a public arena and to receive comments individually. The forum is intended to showcase regional research activities in East Asian linguistics. While the event is free and open to the public, online pre-registration will be required in order to obtain the Zoom links. (Note: There will be a proceedings volume after the event, as part of our open-access BEAL Publications series.)
Date: Friday, 6 November 2026
Mode: Hybrid: In-person and virtual via Zoom
Place: The Ohio State University
Agriculture Administration Building, Rooms 246 & 247
2120 Fyffe Road
Columbus, OH 43210
Registration: Please be sure to register by Monday, 2 November 2, to attend in-person (to assist with planning coffee breaks and a catered lunch) and/or to obtain the Zoom link.
Keynote Speakers:
Keynote Speaker I: Professor Seth Wiener, Carnegie Mellon University, “Dumplings, Sleep, and Research” (Abstract & bio)
Keynote Speaker II: Professor Sayaka Abe, Middlebury College, "Making Sense of Causal and Subjective Meaning in Japanese: A Cognitive and Historical Linguistic Perspective” (Abstract & bio)
SPECIAL SESSION:
Special Session in Honor of Professor Mineharu Nakayama
SPECIAL PANEL: The Ideologies of AI: Prompting and Performance in East Asian Languages (Panel & individual abstracts & bios)
Presenter 1: Dr. Paul Ueda, Indiana University, “Language Hierarchies: Language Choice and Audience in Taiwan”
Presenter 2: Professor Jae DiBello Takeuchi, Indiana University, AI Language Tasks: Successes, Failures, and Stereotypes in a Low-resource Japanese Dialect”
Discussion: “Approaching AI as an Object of Sociolinguistic Inquiry”
This event is sponsored in part by The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
