Department of Linguistics University of Hawai'i at Manoa 1890 East-West Road Honolulu, HI 96822 Office: Moore 582 Office phone: (808)956-5985 Department fax:(808)956-9166 e-mail: yotsuka@hawaii.edu Yuko Otsuka Associate Professor of Lingusitics Affiliate Faculty, Center for Pacific Islands Studies Book Review Editor, Language Documentation and Conservation Research My main research interests are syntactic theory (the Minimalist Program) and Austronesian languages, especially Polynesian. The focus of my work has been ergativity and other syntactic phenomena in Tongan. I am also interested in language maintenance, especially in Polynesia and in Polyneisan diasporic communities. Download my D.Phil. Thesis: Ergativity in Tongan. Recent Courses Spring 2009 Issues in Austronesian syntax Linguistics 750X Grammar Linguistics 622 Spring 2008 Case and Voice Linguistics 750X Morphology Linguistics 420 Fall 2007 Introduction to the Minimalist Program Linguitsitcs 750X Polynesian language family Linguistics 445/640G Spring 2007 Issues in Polynesian syntax Linguistics 750X Morphology Linguistics 420 Fall 2006 Introduction to the Minimalist Program Linguistics 750X Polynesian language family Linguistics 445/640G Spring 2006 Issues in Austronesian syntax Linguistics 750X Grammar Linguistics 622 Fall 2005 Introduction to the Minimalist Program Linguistics 750X Polynesian language family Linguistics 345 Spring 2005 Minimalist approaches to clitic phenomena Linguistics 750X Morphology Linguistics 420 Recent Publications Journal articles 2007a        Fostering the growth of budding community initiatives: The role of linguists in Tokelauan maintenance in Hawai‘i. Language Documentation and Conservation 1(2): 240-256. (With Andrew Wong.) 2007b Making a case for Tongan as an endangered language. The Contemporary Pacific 19(2): 446-73. 2006a Niuean and Eastern Polynesian: A view from syntax. Oceanic Linguistics.45: 429-56. 2006b The phonetics and phonology of “definitive accent” in Tongan. Oceanic Linguistics 45: 33-53. (With Victoria Anderson.) 2001 Empty Categories in Tuvaluan: NP-trace, PRO, pro, or variable? A review of Tuvaluan, by Niko Besnier. Oceanic Linguistics 40: 342-365.   Book chapters          To appear Neither accusative nor ergative: An alternative analysis of case in Eastern Polynesian. In Claire Moyse-Faurie and Joachim Sabel (eds.), Morphosyntactic aspects of Oceanic languages.  To appear Genitive Relative Constructions and Agentless Transitives in Tongan. In Raph Mercado, Eric Potsdam, Joey Sabbagh, and Lisa Travis (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association.  Amsterdam: John Benjamins. To appear Re-examining the Eastern Polynesian “direct object” marker i. In Sander Adelaar and Andrew Pawley (eds.) 2006          Syntactic ergativity in Tongan: Resumptive pronouns revisited. In, Alana Johns, Diane Massam, and Juvenal Ndayiragije (eds.), Ergativity: Emerging issues, pp. 79-107. Dordrecht: Springer 2005a Two passive-like constructions in Tongan. In I Wayan Arca and Malcolm Ross (eds.), The many faces in Austronesian voice system, pp.119-35. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 2005b Scrambling and Information Focus: VSO-VOS Alternation in Tongan. In Joachim Sabel and Mamoru Saito (eds.), The free word order phenomenon: Its syntactic sources and diversity, pp. 243-279. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 2005c Two derivations of VSO: A comparative study of Niuean and Tongan. In Andrew Carnie, Sheila Dooley-Collberg, and Heidi Harley (eds.), Verb first: On the syntax of verb initial languages, pp.65-90. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Conference Proceedings 2005             Syntax and/or pragmatics: PP-scrambling in Tongan and the thematic hierarchy. In Jeffrey Heinz and Dimitrios Ntelitheos (eds.), Proceedings of AFLA 12, UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics, pp.343-357. 2004 Consequential ‘o-clauses and licensing of a null anaphor. In Hans-MartinGärtner, Paul Law, and Joachim Sabel (eds.), Proceedings of AFLA 11, pp.203-217. Berlin: ZAS 2003a VOS in Tongan: Passive or scrambling? In Anastasia Riehl and Thess Savella (eds.), Proceedings of AFLA9, Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics 19, pp.122-136. Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications. 2003b Phonetic correlates of length, stress and definitive accent in Tongan. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, pp. 2047–2050. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with Victoria Anderson) 2002 Syntactic ergativity and the nature of pronouns in Tongan. In Andrea Rackowski and Norvin Richards (eds.), Proceedings of AFLA8, MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 44, pp.197-210. Cambridge, Mass.: MITWPL. Students Ph.D. Valerie Guerin (2008). Discovering Mavea: Grammar, texts, and lexicon. Fumiko Yamada, in progress. Christopher Baker, in progress. Dorinda Tsai-hsiu Liu, in progress. MA Maihan Nguyen (2003) Phrase structure and empty categories in Vietnamese. Madonna Castro-Perez, Pacific Islands Studies, in progress.