Activity Reports

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Lecture - "Understanding Japanese through its Structure: How Linguistics Can Contribute to Language Learning"

Lecturers: Wesley M. Jacobsen, Harvard University

Date: Tuesday, 7 December 2010, 14:50-16:20 (Lecture), 16:30-17:20(Tea Reception)

Venue: (Lecture) Prometheus Hall, Agora Global Bldg., (Tea Reception) Medium Conference Room, Administration offices, TUFS Fuchu campus

Professor Jacobsen's lecture was attended by more than 70 international students, members of the public and staff. The lecture introduced three types of structure that linguists deal with in talking about Japanese and showed how these can serve as useful tools for teachers and learners of Japanese as well, particularly in comparative perspective with English. They are (1) Immediate Constituent Structure (knowing the vertical relationship between words in a sentence); (2) Argument Structure (knowing the number of words a verb needs in order to function accurately and how it can change according to the types of sentences); and (3) Information Structure (being able to understand the link between what is being talked about now and what went before, .e.g., 'wa' refers to old information while 'ga' refers to new information). According to Professor Jacobsen, Japanese is not a peculiar language as it shares with all human languages the property of having structure to it.