
M.A., Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder
M.A., English, Japan Women’s University
Research Interests: My research interests lie in the language in use and grammar in everyday interaction and written texts in Japanese. My doctoral research particularly focuses on the use of overt first-person singular pronouns, which is marked in Japanese, in naturally occurring face-to-face conversation and written essays. By using the usage-based linguistics as the most significant framework, my research explores how the first-person singular pronouns are interactionally and discursively motivated and what that accomplishes in the actual language use.