Egashira Hiroki (Professor)
Ockham’s razor
Theoretical Linguistics Generative Grammar Theory
When humans are born into this world, they begin to understand and speak language. My interest is in discovering what mechanisms (grammar) are necessary for humans to be able to use language. The grammar I am referring to here is different from the English and Japanese grammar you learned in middle and high school; it refers to universal grammar that can explain all languages. In order for humans to be able to use language easily and quickly, we need to consider a small number of grammar mechanisms. My recent interest is in how far we can reduce the number of grammar mechanisms.
There are two approaches to language research: the nature approach and the nurture approach. In this seminar, we will study the latter approach. For example, the pronunciation of the English expression "fourth floor" varies depending on the social and economic status of the speaker. People with a higher social and economic status tend to pronounce the [r] more clearly. We will study changes in language usage that arise due to differences in age, gender, ethnic background, occupation, etc.
