Yasuhiro Shirai

Department of Linguistics
2806 Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: 412-624-5933
Fax: 412-624-6130 Linguistics Department

email: yshirai at pitt.edu

Research Interests

• Crosslinguistic study of the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology, particularly the acquisition of Japanese. Typological study of tense-aspect systems. Cognitive models of L2 acquisition and use, particularly the connectionist model.

Publications, presentations, etc.

• Publications and Presentations
• Service to the field

Academic Positions Held

Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.  2006-present.

Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.  1999-2006.  

Professor, Department of Japanese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2004-2005.

Visiting Professor, Department of Japanese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong.   2003-2004.

Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.   1997-1999.

Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.   1995-1996. 

Associate Professor, Department of English, Daito Bunka University, Tokyo, Japan.  1994-1997. 

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Daito Bunka University, Tokyo, Japan.  1991-1994. 

Teaching

• Current courses

1. Applications of Linguistics (Ling 1930, Spring 2007)
2. Second Language Acquisition (Ling 2146, Spring 2007)
3. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics (Ling 2144, Fall 2006)
4. Current Issues in Second Language Learning: Rules, Associative Memory, and Language Learning Aptitude (Ling 2147, Fall 2006).

• Other courses taught

1. Crosslinguistic Topics in Language Acquisition: Verb Learning (Ling 700/Asian 701, graduate seminar, Spring 2003)
2. Aspect: Typology, Grammaticization, and Acquisition (Ling 700/Asian 701, graduate seminar, Fall 2000)
3. Second Language Acquisition and Asian Languages: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives (Ling 609/Asian 610, Fall 1999)
4. Cognition and Second Language Acquisition  (Lang 700, graduate seminar, Spring 1999)
5. Second Language Acquisition I: Introduction to Second Language Acquisition (Lang 414,  Fall 1998)
6. Second Language Acquisition II: Second Language Acquisition Research and Foreign  Language Teaching (Ling 415, Spring 1998; Ling 415/Asian 417, Spring 2003)
7. Teaching Second Languages (Lang 501, Fall 1997) co-taught with H. Diffloth, R.  Feldman, K. Golkowska, G. Lischke and M. Redmond
8. Crosslinguistic Topics in Language Acquisition: Tense and Aspect (Ling 700, graduate seminar, Spring 1997)
9. Beginning Japanese at a Moderate Pace (JPN 141-142, Fall 1997-Fall 1999, Fall 2000, Fall 2002)

Graduate Fields

• Linguistics

Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Volume 2, Japanese (co-edited by Yasuhiro Shirai)

The State of the Art in Second Language Acquisition and Instruction Research (in Japanese)

Talk at Sophia University, Tokyo (Jan 14, 1999)

Last updated: October 4, 2006