The Institute for Japanese Studies presents:
"Multiple Grammar Model"
Shoichi Iwasaki
University of California, Los Angeles
Abstract: In this talk, I discuss the “Multiple Grammar” model to explore an individual speaker’s cognitive organization of grammar. Although conversation plays a crucial role in the emergence of grammar, for some speakers in a literate society, the written language environment may also contribute to developing a grammar. The two language environments are expected to provide unique incentives to shaping grammar differently as they diverge greatly in terms of media types (sound vs graph), constraints (online processing vs detachment), and purposes (interaction vs ideational formation), among others. At the same time, speakers may come in contact with and acquire additional sets of grammar for specific genres. Though the grammars acquired in different genre environments may be merged at the most abstract level, each grammar contains genre-specific grammatical patterns. I will analyze different sets of spoken and written discourses produced by the same speaker to explore aspects of the “Multiple Grammar” model. Download the PDF Flyer here.
Shoichi Iwasaki is a Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.
Education: UCLA (Ph.D) in Linguistics; University of Hawaii (MA) in East Asian Languages; International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan (BA) in Japanese Language; Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan (BA) in English Literature
Research: His book publications include Subjectivity in Grammar and Discourse: Theoretical Considerations and a Case Study of Japanese Spoken Discourse (Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 1993), Japanese – Revised edition (John Benjamin Publishing, 2013), and A Reference Grammar of Thai (co-authored, Cambridge University Press, 2005). He is a standing member of the Japanese/Korean (JK) Linguistics Conferences, and has edited five JK volumes. He published articles on language typology, Japanese, Thai and Ryukyuan languages in various journals, such as Journal of Pragmatics, Studies in Language, and Language in Society. Recently, he co-authored a dictionary of Ikema, an endangered language of Miyako Island.
Free and Open to the Public
If you require an accommodation, such as live captioning, to participate in this event, please contact EASC at easc@osu.edu. Requests made at least two weeks in advance of the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
