Professor Hayato Aoi Awarded Seizen Nakasone Research Encouragement Award

November 7, 2018

On Saturday the 7th of July (2018), specially-appointed researcher Professor Hayato Aoi (Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa) was awarded the Seizen Nakasone Research Encouragement Award at the Okinawa Center of Language Study’s general meeting held at Okinawa International University. The official reason for selection and Professor Aoi’s related works are as follows.

Reason for selection (excerpt):
The submitted papers were all published in peer-reviewed journals and the research itself was solid, making Mr. Aoi a suitable recipient for this award. Aside from the submitted papers, Mr. Aoi has published co-authored papers on tip-of-the-tongue consonants in Kudaka Island dialect, and central vowels in Amami Oshima language, both of which are solid studies led by Mr. Aoi’s instrumental phonetics-based methods. Mr. Aoi has a keen knowledge and know-how concerning articulatory phonetics, is an expert on laboratory phonology, and has been essential in advancing Ryukyuan language research to a higher more objective level. Mr. Aoi is an indispensable researcher in the further development of Ryukyuan language research, and it is expected that he will continue to contribute to the progress of research in this area.
(Omission)
Mr. Aoi is also highly praised for looking at the works of foreign researchers such as Ladefoged, Catford, Pike and Chiba to explore the Ryukyuan languages from a wider perspective. We hope that Mr. Aoi will contribute to the internationalization of Ryukyuan language research and publish the results of his Ryukyuan phonetics research in English. It can also be expected that Mr. Aoi will contribute to Ryukyuan accent research alongside veteran researchers Ueno, Matsumori and Igarashi, who make up the backbone of this area that has been popular in recent years. As mentioned above, Mr. Aoi’s precise phonology research makes him a suitable recipient for the Seizen Nakasone Research Encouragement Award.

Related works:
・Aoi, Hayato. (2012). Minami Ryūkyū Miyako hougen no onin kouzou. Kōpasu ni motozuku gengogaku kyouiku kenkyū houkoku 8.
・Aoi, Hayato. (2012). Tarama Miyako hougen ni okeru chūzetsuboin no onseiteki kaishaku. Gengo kenkyū 142.
・Aoi, Hayato and Yuto Niinaga. (2013). The Central High Vowels in Ryukyuan Languages: A Comparative Palatographic Study of Yuwan Amami and Miyako Tarama. Journal of Okinawan Studies 4 (1).
・Aoi, Hayato. (2016). Minami Ryūkyū Miyako Tarama hougen no sangata akusento: Sono tokuchou to kata no chūwa. Onsei kenkyū 20 (3).
・Aoi, Hayato. (2018). Minami Ryūkyū Miyako Tarama hougen ni okeru picchi joushou: fukusuu no oninku ga renzokusuru baai no picchi patān no kijutsu. Kokuritsu kokugo kenkyūjo ronshū 14.