Utako Minai

Conference presentations

• Minai, U., Nobuki, A., Özturhan, M., Wang, X., Williams, L., & Monteleone, A. (upcoming, May 2025). Probing discourse cues facilitating children’s quantifier comprehension: the effectiveness of the Question Under Discussion disambiguation, Poster accepted for presentation at the 2025 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, MN.
• Nobuki, A., Sugawara, A., & Minai, U. (upcoming, May 2025). Comprehension of implied meaning in Japanese-speaking pre-school children: Investigation of the role of contrastive -wa. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2025 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, MN.
• Nobuki, A., Sugawara, A., & Minai, U. (upcoming, April 2025). Comprehension of implied meaning in Japanese-speaking children: A case study examining sentences with contrastive -wa. Talk accepted for presentation at the 5th International Conference on East Asian Psycholinguistics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
• Özturhan, M., & Minai, U. (2024). "Pragmatic factors facilitating children’s universal quantification: Evidence from child Turkish." Talk at the 49th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, MA. 
• Wang, X., Gao, N., Shi, Y., & Minai, U. (2024). "The role of discourse in Mandarin-speaking children's comprehension of ambiguous wh-adjuncts." Poster presented at the 49th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, MA.
• Minai, U., Isobe, M., & Okabe, R. (2024). "Development of linguistic competence: Comprehension and grammaticality judgment in child Japanese." Poster presented at the 16th International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL2024), Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Nobuki, A., Ishikawa, M., & Minai, U. (2023) "The role of linguistic cues and visual information in the felicity judgment of negative sentences in child Japanese." Poster to be presented at the 48th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Nobuki, A., Ishikawa, M., & Minai, U. (2023) "Pragmatic judgement of negative sentences by children: A case of child Japanese." Poster presented at the 2023 SRCD Biennial Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT.
• Madden, A., & Minai, U. (2023) "Acquisition of Japanese negative polarity item licensing by English-speaking second language learners." Poster presented at the 30th Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference. Simon Fraser University, British Columbian, Canada.
• Wang, T., Minai, U., & Gabriele, A. (2022) "Evaluating referent salience in pronoun processing by native and non-native speakers." Poster presented at the 47th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Wang, T., Minai, U., & Gabriele, A. (2021) "Examining referent salience in native and non-native pronoun resolution: an online eye-tracking study." Poster presented at the 46th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Ishikawa, M., & Minai, U. (2021) "Children's comprehension of possessive and adversative passives in Japanese: examining alternating hypotheses." Poster presented at the 46th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Ito, K., Minai, U., & Royer, A. (2021) "Quantifier spreading and the role of prosody in children and adults: an eye tracking study." Poster presented at the 46th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Nobuki, A., & Minai, U. (2021) "The role of the contrastive topic -wa in the felicity judgment of negation in Japanese." Poster presented at the 29th Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference. Nagoya, Japan.
• Wang, T., Feroce, N., Briseno, J., Coughlin, C., & Minai, U. (2021) "Seeking the sources of children's comprehension errors involving the universal quantifier every. " Poster presented at the Ninth Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America.
• Nobuki, A., & Minai, U. (2021) "Pragmatic felicity of negation in Japanese." Poster presented at the 2021 SRCD Virtual Biennial Meeting.
• Wang, T., Feroce, N., Briseno, J., Coughlin, C., & Minai, U. (2020) "Examining the origins of errors in processing the quantifier every: an eye-tracking study." Poster presented at the 2020 CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA., USA.
• Yang, X., Poliltzer-Ahles, S., Minai, U., Gabriele, A., & Fiorentino, R. (2020) "Temporal mismatch guides the prediction of Mandarin relative clauses: Evidence from ERPs." Poster presented at the 2020 CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA., USA.
• Yang, X., Poliltzer-Ahles, S., Minai, U., Gabriele, A., & Fiorentino, R. (2019) "Temporal mismatches guide the prediction of Mandarin relative clauses: An ERP study." Poster presented at the International Brain and Syntax Think Tank, Northwestern University, IL., USA.
• Covey, L., Girolamo, T., Siew, C., Weyers, I., Yang, X., Vogt-Woodin, A., Coughlin, C., & Minai, U. (2017) "Examining the role of pragmatics during children's comprehension of only: An eye-tracking study" Poster presented at the 42nd Boston University Conference on Language Development, MA.
• Yang, X., Fiorentino, R., & Minai, U. (2017) "The role of individual differences in the context-dependent interpretation of some" Poster presented at the 30th CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, MIT, MA.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2016) "Semantics facilitates children's pragmatic processing: Chinese-speaking children's use of semantics" Poster presented at XPRAG Workshop on the Role of Pragmatic Factors in Child Language Processing, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany.
• Vogt-Woodin, A., Johnson, A. & Minai, U. (2015) “Preschool children's sensitivity to non-local structural dependencies between logical words.” Paper presented at the 40th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Krueger, B., Storkel, H. & Minai, U. (2015) “A comparative analysis of two tools for measuring children's word processing: mouse tracker & eye-tracking.” Poster presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) 2015 Annual Convention, Denver, CO.
• Minai, U., Gustafson, K., Fiorentino, R., Jongman, A. & Sereno, J. (2015) “Assessing pre-natal rhythm-based discrimination of language by fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG).” Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience of Language 2015 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2015) “The interplay between demonstrative comprehension and cognitive development: a cross-linguistic investigation.” Oral presentation, Symposium on Syntactic, Semantic and Communicative Development, accepted for 2015 International Conference on Applied Linguistics, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
• Minai, U. & Chan, Y.-C. (2015) “Universal quantifier comprehension, visual information and the development of executive function.” Poster presented at 2015 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
• Minai, U. (2015) “The acquisition of semantics: what children know, and why they don’t always use it.” Invited Talk at Cognition Seminar, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2014) “The role of Theory of Mind in the acquisition of demonstratives: Evidence from child Chinese.” Poster presented at the 39th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Minai, U., Gustafson, K., Fiorentino, R., Jongman, A. & Sereno, J. (2014) “Pre-natal assessment of language ability: a fetal MEG study.” Frontiers Scientific Session, KUMC.
• Johnson, A. & Minai, U. (2014) “Children’s knowledge of structural dependency in the semantic interaction of logical words.” Poster presented at the 13th International Association for the Study of Child Language, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2014) “Comprehension of the demonstratives by Chinese-speaking preschool children.” Paper presented at the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14), Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
• Ito, K., Minai, U. & Royer, A. (2014) “Is every child different until they turn 15?: Not so quick development of universal quantifier comprehension.” Poster presented at the 2014 CUNY Conference on Human Language Processing, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2014) “Comprehension of demonstrative phrases in Mandarin Chinese.” Poster presented at the Second East Asian Psycholinguistics Colloquium, University of Chicago, IL.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2013) “Examining the role of theory of mind and executive function in the first language acquisition of demonstratives.” Poster presented at the 38th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Chu, C.-Y. & Minai, U. (2013) “Comprehension of demonstratives by English-speaking preschool children.” Poster presented at the 5th Biennial Conference of Experimental Pragmatics, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
• Minai, U. (2013) “Experimental approaches to ‘meaning’ in child language … and more.” Invited talk, the Laboratory for Language Development, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan.
• Minai, U., Brown, R., Chu, C.-Y. & Hess, G. (2013) “Probing morpho-semantic representations of compounds.” Poster presented at the 8th International Morphological Processing Conference, University of Cambridge, UK.
• Minai, U., Chan, Y.-C., Chu, C.-Y., & Brown, R. (2013) “Visual information and child universal quantification: seeking a causal association between language and cognition in development.” Poster presented at 2013 Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Seattle, WA.
• Minai, U., Isobe, M. & Okabe, R. (2012) “Word order in child Japanese: an experimental study on relative clauses.” Poster presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA) 5, University of Kansas, KS.
• Chu, C.-Y., Gabriele, A. & Minai, U. (2012) “Acquisition of quantifier scope interpretation by Chinese-speaking learners of English.” Poster presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA) 5, University of Kansas, KS.
• Naito-Billen, Y., Minai, U. & Fiorentino, R. (2011) “Detection and utilization of prosody in sentence processing: an EEG study of L1 and L2 Japanese.” Poster presented at the Neurobiology of Language Conference 2011, Annapolis, MD.
• Hunt III, L., Politzer-Ahles, S., Minai, U. & Fiorentino, R. (2011) “N400 is elicited by pragmatic as well as semantic anomalies: a visual-world study of scalar implicatures.” Poster presented at the Neurobiology of Language Conference 2011, Annapolis, MD.
• Minai, U. & Takami, N. (2011) “Semantic and Pragmatic Meaning of the Existential Quantifier Some in Second Language Acquisition.” Paper presented at BUCLD 36: The Thirty-sixth Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Goro, T. & Minai, U. (2011) “Conjunction, Disjunction and Negation in Second Language Acquisition: A Study of L2 English and Japanese.” Poster presented at BUCLD 36: The Thirty-sixth Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Minai, U., Isobe, M. & Okabe, R. (2011) “Acquisition and Deployment of the Knowledge of Scrambling in Child Japanese.” Paper presented at GALA 2011: Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Naito-Billen, Y., Fiorentino, R. & Minai, U. (2011) “Effects of Prosody in the Processing of Temporarily Ambiguous Japanese Sentences.” Paper presented at the Seventh International Conference on Practical Linguistics of Japanese, San Francisco State University, CA.
• Fiorentino, R., Naito-Billen, Y. & Minai, U. (2010) “Masked Priming and Morphological Productivity: Evidence from Japanese De-Adjectival Nominalization.” Poster presented at AMLAP 2010: Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing, University of York, UK.
• Minai, U. (2010) “The Acquisition and Use of Semantic Knowledge in Children: Studies on Child Universal Quantification.” Invited talk, Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
• Ito, K., Jincho, N., Minai, U., Yamane, N. & Mazuka, R. (2009) “Use of Emphatic Pitch Prominence for Contrast Resolution: An Eye-tracking study with 6-year-old and Adult Japanese Listeners.” Paper presented at BUCLD 34: The Thirty-fourth Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
• Minai, U., Jincho, N., Yamane, N. & Mazuka, R. (2008) “Development of Cognitive Flexibility and Semantic Computation.” Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing 2008, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
• Ito, K., Jincho, N., Minai, U., Yamane, N., & Mazuka, R. (2008) “Use of Emphatic Intonation for Contrast Resolution in Japanese: Adults vs. 6-yr-Olds.” Poster presented at theCUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing 2008, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
• Jincho, N., Ito, K., Yamane, N., Minai, U. & Mazuka, R. (2008) “Effects of Visual Contrast in Pre-nominal Modifier Phrase Comprehension in Japanese: An Eye Tracking Experiment with Children and Adults.” Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing 2008, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
• Goro, T., Fujii, T., Minai, U. & Koizumi, M. (2007) “The Acquisition of Anti-reconstruction and Grammar Variation in Adult Japanese.” Paper presented at GLOW in Asia IV, Parametric Syntax and Language Acquisition, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.
• Ito, K., Jincho, N., Mazuka, R., Yamane, N., & Minai, U. (2007) “Effect of Contrastive Intonation in Discourse Comprehension in Japanese: An Eye Tracking Study with Adults and 6-yr Olds.” Poster presented at the 20th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of California, San Diego, USA.
• Minai, U. (2007) “A New Methodological Approach for Probing Logical Aspects of Language Development: Inference, Universal Quantifier and Negation.” Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development 2007 Biennial Meeting, Boston, USA.
• Minai, U. (2006) “Logico-semantic Aspects of Children’s Knowledge about the Universal Quantifier: New Empirical Evidence.” Poster presented at the Second Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
• Minai, U. (2005) “Direct Approach to Inference in Child Language: A Case Study of Every.” Oral presentation, The Eleventh Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, University of Siena, Italy.
• Minai, U. (2005) “Toward Children’s Logical Inferences: A Preliminary Report.” Poster presented at The Second International Workshop on Evolutionary Cognitive Sciences--In Pursuit of Language-Brain Interactions: Language Acquisition, Sentence Processing, and Neurolinguistics, 21st Century COE Program, University of Tokyo, Japan.
• Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2005) “The Interaction of Quantificational Expressions in Child Semantics.” Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America 2005 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, USA.
• Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2004) “Semantic Interactions of Quantificational Expressions in Child Language.” Paper presented at the First Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, USA.
• Minai, U., Goro, T. & Crain, S. (2004) “Covert Downward Entailment in Child English and Japanese.” Paper presented at the First Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, USA.
• Goro, T., Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2004) “Boolean Conjunction in Child Japanese.” Poster presented at the First Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, USA.
• Goro, T., Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2004) “Two Disjunctions for the Price of ONLY One.” Paper presented at the Twenty-ninth Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston University, Boston, USA.
• Crain, S., Goro, T. & Minai, U. (2004) “Bringing Out the Logic in Child Language.” Poster presented at the Thirty-fifth North Eastern Linguistic Society, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA.
• Minai, U. & Meroni, L. (2004) “Children’s Knowledge of the Entailments at a Distance.” Paper presented at the Fifth Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
• Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2004) “Entailments at a Distance in Child Language.” Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America 2004 Annual Meeting, Boston, USA.
• Meroni, L., Minai, U., Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2003) “If Everybody Knows, Then Every Child Knows.” Paper presented at the Tenth Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
• Minai, U. (1999) “The Acquisition of Japanese Passives.” Paper presented at the Ninth Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.

Invited talks/symposia

• Minai, U. (2024). 幼児による「難しい表現」を含む文の意味解釈 [How do children comprehend sentences with a ‘hard word’?]. Colloquium at the Institute for Research in Language and Culture, Tsuda University, Tokyo, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2023). 幼児言語における否定文の意味解釈 [Comprehension of negative sentences in child language]. Invited lecture at the Ochanomizu University First Language Acquisition Seminar, Tokyo, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2018) "Examining the interactions between children's meaning comprehension and their cognitive development." Invited talk at the 8th International Workshop on Comparative Syntax and Language Acquisition, Nanzan University, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2018) "The role of cognitive abilities in children's meaning comprehension." Talk at the Invited Symposium: Syntax and Semantics in Child Language Acquisition, The Japanese Society for Language Sciences 20th Annual International Conference (JSLS2018), Bunkyo Gakuin University, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2009) “Dai’ichi gengo kakutoku ni okeru gakushuu: huhen-bumpoo-kiban apuroochi to yoohoo-kiban apuroochi [Learning in the First Language Acquisition: UG-based Approach and Usage-based Approach].” Invited lecture at the Colloquium Series, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2007) “Yooji gengo ni okeru ronri setsuzokushi to focus enzanshi: nichi-eigo hikaku kenkyuu [Logical Connectives and the Focus Operator in Child Language: A Comparative Study with English- and Japanese-acquiring Children].” Lecture at Symposium on Japanese L1 Acquisition and Universal Grammar at the Twenty-fifth Conference of The English Linguistic Society of Japan, Nagoya University, Japan.
• Minai, U. (2006) “Everything Children Know about Every: An Investigation of Logical Words in Child Language.” Invited talk at The First UMD – UFRJ Meeting on Syntax and Neuroscience of Language, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Minai, U. (2006) “Evidence for Children’s Knowledge about the Focus Operator Only.” Invited talk at The First UMD – UFRJ Meeting on Syntax and Neuroscience of Language, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Outreach presentations

• Minai, U., Naito Billen, Y., Wang, T., Nobuki, A., Madden, A., & Kitada, A. (2022). "Discovering linguistics features in Japanese." Lecture at the Third World Languages Fair, University of Kansas.
• Minai, U., & Naito Billen, Y., (2020). "Discovering linguistics features in Japanese." Lecture at the Second World Languages Fair, University of Kansas.
• Minai, U.(2018). "Discovering linguistics features in Japanese." Lecture at the First World Languages Fair, University of Kansas.
• Minai, U. (2012). "Compare & Cotrast: Grammars in Japanese and English." K-12 Outreach lectures, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas. (Lectures delivered at local middle and high schools)