Kazuko Yatsushiro

Kazuko Yatsushiro is a Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Centre for General Linguistics (ZAS) in Berlin, specializing in Language Development & Multilingualism. Her work focuses on theoretical investigations of language acquisition, particularly syntax (relative clauses, Wh-questions), semantics, and pragmatics interfaces. She explores how children process alternative expressions and constructions in language production and comprehension.

Education:

• Doctorate in Linguistics, University of Connecticut, USA

Key Research Themes:

Her research examines cross-linguistic patterns in child language, including quantifier scope, negative concord, disjunction interpretation, and intonation effects. She investigates how pragmatic principles like Gricean maxims influence children’s language use, often showing children exhibit heightened pragmatic sensitivity compared to adults.

Recent Work Trends:

Publications analyze German-speaking children’s handling of negative indefinites, dual concepts’ phonological realization, and intonation-driven scope resolution. She collaborates internationally on projects like the DFG-ANR 'Boolean Connectors' and studies multilingual acquisition in Italian and Japanese.

Grants & Collaborations:

• Principal investigator on DFG-ANR projects
• Marie-Curie Scholarship recipient (2004–2005)
• Lead in EU Cost Action A33 language acquisition studies

Labs & Teams:

Conducts research within ZAS’s Language Development team, collaborating with institutions like Humboldt University, University of Padua, and Nanzan University on experimental semantics/pragmatics and syntax-semantics interfaces.