Taika Nagano’s personal website
Hello, there! I am a PhD student of linguistics at the University of Osaka (Div. of Language and Culture, Graduate School of Humanities). My research interests lie in syntax, morphology, and their interface.
My research investigates how theories of syntax and morphology account for language variation. I am primarily interested in phenomena related to argument structure, such as passive, causative, and applicative constructions, as well as their alternations and cross-linguistic morphological patterns. Additionally, I examine root-conditioned allomorphy in the verbal domain, with particular emphasis on change-of-state verbs, including those that participate in the causative–inchoative alternation. I am also interested in how the Japanese conjugation system can be analyzed within antilexical morphological frameworks such as Distributed Morphology and Nanosyntax. My recent research topics include voice (verbal) syncretism in Japanese, deverbal compounds in Japanese, applicative expressions in Japanese (joint work with Akitaka Yamada), and negative prefixes in English and Japanese (joint work with Kanta Tateno).
Alongside my research, I teach English to Japanese teenagers. I am currently a part-time lecturer at Setsunan University, where I teach several courses for first-year students.
In my spare time, I enjoy playing classic Pokémon games such as FRLG, going on drives with friends, and shopping at outlet malls.
News
Selected as a JSPS Research Fellow
Published:
I have been selected as a JSPS Research Fellow.
Presented at SICOGG 27
Published:
I gave a poster presentation at SICOGG 27 on “Decomposing Causative/Passive Morphemes in Japanese”.
Presented at ConSOLE 33
Published:
I gave an oral presentation at ConSOLE 33 with my colleague Kanta Tateno.
Recent Publications
Proceeding of ConSOLE 33
Nagano, Taika and Kanta Tateno (2025) "Morpho-semantic notes on unhappier", in Proceedings of the 33rd Edition of the Conference of the Student Organisation of Linguistics in Europe (ConSOLE 33), Federica Longo, Leonardo Russo Cardona, Tommaso Sgrizzi, and Hadis Tamleh Eds., Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL), pp. 248-257.
Proceeding of SICOGG 27
Nagano, Taika (2025) "Decomposing causative/passive morphemes in Japanese," in Proceedings of the 27th Seoul International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG 27), A. Kang, Ed., The Korean Generative Grammar Circle, pp. 182--191.
Proceeding of WAFL 17
Yamada, Akitaka and Taika Nagano (2024) "Not always introducing arguments: The syntax of high-applicative constructions in Japanese," in Proceedings of Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics 17 (WAFL 17), E.-O. Tumen-Ochir, J. Sinitsyna, and S. Miyagawa, Eds., MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, pp. 299--306.
Recent Presentations
SICOGG 27
Poster at Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
ConSOLE 33 (w/ Kanta Tateno)
Oral presentation at University of Gottingen, Gottingen, Germany
LSJ 169
Poster at Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan