No.098 - Dr. SHIBATANI Masayoshi Wins the Fifth NIHU International Prize in Japanese Studies
Dr. SHIBATANI Masayoshi Wins
the Fifth NIHU International Prize in Japanese Studies
The National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) is pleased to announce Dr. SHIBATANI Masayoshi, Deedee McMurtry Chair Professor of Humanities and Professor of Linguistics Emeritus at Rice University, U.S. and Professor Emeritus at Kobe University. Dr. SHIBATANI has an excellent research track record as an expert in Japanese and general linguistics, linguistic theory, and Asian linguistics. Moreover, he is a driver of the internationalization of Japanese-language research and the various languages of the Japanese islands, fostering the next generation of linguists and Japanese studies researchers in Japan and abroad as well as making major contributions to the international development of Japanese studies. (for details, see “Achievements and Reasons for Awarding,” compiled by screening committee chair SANO Midori).
NIHU is looking forward to engaging with Dr. SHIBATANI at the award ceremony and commemorative lecture to be held at Ueno Seiyoken, Tokyo on January 19, 2024.
This is the fifth award offered since NIHU established the prize in 2019 with the support of the Kuraray Foundation. We have been fortunate to receive plenty of recommendations from outstanding scholars both from within Japan and abroad, allowing for satisfactory screening of candidates. NIHU is deeply grateful to those who understand and cooperate with our goal in awarding the prize. The screening does, however, hope to see nominations of and grants of the award cover a diverse range of scholars in terms of gender, region, and other factors. We sincerely appreciate your kind consideration.
Text: WAKAO Masaki, Executive Director, NIHU
Achievements and Reasons for Awarding
Dr. SHIBATANI Masayoshi has made marvelous contributions to Japanese and general linguistics, linguistic theory, and Asian linguistics over the course of more than five decades. The results of that have borne fruit in various Japanese- and English-language writings and edited volumes, making especially significant international contributions to the academic development of the Japanese language and the various languages of the Japanese islands, so that he is regarded as one of the most prominent researchers in Japanese and overseas linguistic circles.
Dr. SHIBATANI’s research has been diverse, but he was especially influential in Japanese-language and syntax research through the creativity and universality of his detailed analysis that reframed causative syntax, indirect passive syntax, and other phenomena previously thought to be uniquely Japanese within the framework of general linguistic universality.
Also noteworthy is that Dr. SHIBATANI has written about interesting phenomena in the Japanese language in a large number of English-language works, edited volumes, and anthologies, working hard to broaden the debate internationally. As a result of these persistent academic efforts, an international research group that drives Japanese-language research was formed.
In addition to these persistent academic efforts by Dr. SHIBATANI for the internationalization of Japanese-language studies, we should also note that he has gone beyond the narrow framework of the Japanese language to also cover the various other languages of the Japanese islands (The Languages of Japan, 1990). For example, his detailed and comprehensive discussion of the Ainu language through analysis from a theoretical perspective stimulated international interest and led to the creation of an international joint research group. The results of that can be found in the Handbook of the Ainu Language published in November 2022, for which Dr. SHIBATANI was the editor-in-chief.
In addition to engaging in such research and academic activities, the educator Dr. SHIBATANI has taught at the University of Southern California, Kobe University, Rice University, and Osaka University, thus training the next generation of linguistics and Japanese-language scholars. At present, he is the editor-in-chief of the international academic journal Handbooks of Japanese Language and Linguistics, remaining a key figure in researcher networks in Japan and abroad.
With the above in mind, the impact of Dr. SHIBATANI Masayoshi’s excellent research findings, his contributions to the internationalization of relevant fields, and the training of next-generation researchers, which all show him to be a prominent figure in terms of research accomplishments and academic activities, it is my pleasure to announce that the selection committee has chosen him as winner of the International Prize in Japanese Studies 2023.