Uta Itakura

Prof. Dr. Uta Itakura is a faculty member at the Institute of German Studies, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS) in Mannheim, Germany, where she presented her research on March 27, 2024, as part of the International Guest Forum. Her academic work bridges German linguistics, corpus-based analysis, and digital methods.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of lexical semantics, corpus linguistics, and discourse analysis. She investigates collocations, polysemy, and sentiment patterns in language, particularly in German. Her recent work applies digital methods to analyze media discourse, such as the Ukraine discourse surrounding the 2014 annexation of Crimea. She emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, combining linguistic analysis with social and historical contexts.

The available publications indicate a strong focus on adjective semantics and collocational patterns in German, often analyzed through corpus data. Her work spans both theoretical and applied dimensions, including societal language change and multilingual interactions. The integration of digital tools in linguistic research is a recurring theme across her recent articles.

She is an editorial and committee member of the Linguists' Seminar of the Japanese Society for German Studies and serves on the board of the Ohmon Society for German Studies. These roles reflect her active engagement in the academic community.

Prof. Itakura earned her doctorate from the University of Mannheim in 2002, following studies in German and Japanese as foreign languages at Keio University and Saarland University. Her academic journey reflects a deep commitment to cross-cultural and comparative linguistic research.

There is no public information on her advisees, grants, or awards in the provided text. She is not listed as retired or former staff at any institution, and there is no indication of part-time status. Her current visiting position at IDS suggests ongoing collaborative research activity.