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Sayako Uehara

(Sayako "Saya" Uehara)

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Hello. I'm Saya. I'm a linguist specializing in phonetics, phonology, and sociolinguistics.

I currently teach courses in Dokkyo University's Interdepartmental English Language Program (獨協大学), serving students across the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Economics, and Law. My teaching ranges from beginner to advanced EFL courses, and draws on extensive prior experience teaching Japanese as a foreign language in the United States.

I earned my PhD in Linguistics from Michigan State University in 2019 under the supervision of Yen-Hwei Lin and Karthik Durvasula.

Please contact me for my up-to-date CV.

research

Broadly, my research interests revolve around phonology, phonetics, and sociolinguistics. More specifically, I am interested in experimental phonology, artificial language acquisition, word segmentation, and sociophonetic investigations of sound change in progress.

Word segmentation
Most recently, I have been studying the possible cues to word segmentation for adult Japanese and English speakers, looking at both language-specific (experience based) and language-independent (experience independent) cues, by using an artificial learning paradigm.

Vocalic outliers
In recent years, I have also been studying the perception of vocalic outliers by local Michiganders and how it relates to their participation in sound change.

output

PUBLICATIONS/PROCEEDINGS

Uehara, S. (2025). The Phonology of Japanese. Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00830-9

Uehara, S. (2024). Speakers of institutionalized variety of English and perceptions of their accents. 東京成徳大学国際学部紀要, 2, 89–98.

Uehara, S. & Xu, C. (2023). English loanword gemination in Japanese: Does the length of consonants in the source language trigger gemination? 東京成徳大学国際学部紀要, 1, 15–28.

Uehara, S. & Wagner, S. E. (2018). Progressive outliers in listener perception of sound change. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Selected Papers from NWAV 46 24(2).

Durvasula, K., Huang, H.-H., Uehara, S., Luo, Q. & Lin, Y.-H. (2018). Phonology modulates the illusory vowels in perceptual illusions: evidence from Mandarin & English. Laboratory Phonology: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology.

Uehara, S., Durvasula, K. & Lin, Y.-H. (2016). Japanese and English speakers are not sensitive to the Sonority Sequencing Principle in word segmentation. Proceedings of The Japanese Society for Language Sciences (JSLS 2016), University of Tokyo, Japan.



CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS📃 and POSTERS📌

Uehara, S., Durvasula, K. & Lin, Y.-H. (2018). Word-learning with underrepresented geminates: An artificial language study. LabPhon 16, University of Lisbon, Portugal.📌

Uehara, S. & Wagner, S. E. (2018). Outlier perception accuracy for a vowel undergoing language change in progress. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.📃

Uehara, S. & Wagner, S. E. (2017). Progressive outliers in listener perception of sound change. New Ways of Analyzing Variation 46, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.📃

Uehara, S. (2017). The role of vocalic outliers in the perception of sound change. Methods in Dialectology 16. Tachikawa (NINJAL), Japan.📃

Uehara, S. (2017). Reexamining the role of the Sonority Sequencing Principle in word segmentation. Graduate Linguistics Expo at Michigan State. East Lansing, MI, USA.📃

Uehara, S., Durvasula, K. & Lin, Y.-H. (2016). Japanese and English speakers are not sensitive to the Sonority Sequencing Principle in word segmentation. Cognitive Science Program Poster Session, East Lansing, MI, USA.📌

Uehara, S., Durvasula, K. & Lin, Y.-H. (2016). There is no effect of the Sonority Sequencing Principle on word segmentation. 21st Mid-Continental Phonetics & Phonology Conference (MidPhon 21), East Lansing, MI, USA.📌

Durvasula, K., Huang, H.-H., Uehara, S., Luo, Q. & Lin, Y.-H. (2016). Phonology Modulates the Illusory Vowels in Perceptual Illusions. LabPhon 15, Cornell University, USA.📌

Uehara, S., Durvasula, K. & Lin, Y.-H. (2016). Japanese and English speakers are not sensitive to the Sonority Sequencing Principle in word segmentation. The Japanese Society for Language Sciences (JSLS 2016), University of Tokyo, Japan.📃

teaching

Online Language Exchange - voluntary

2021 – Present

  • Organize online language exchange connecting Japanese university students learning English with US university students learning Japanese.
  • Collaborate primarily with Dr. Tomoko Okuno (University of Michigan).
  • Most recently (AY2025), organized 4 exchange sessions connecting students at Dokkyo University and the University of Michigan.


  • University of Notre Dame, USA

    August 2018 - June 2021

  • All levels of Japanese: beginner to advanced
  •      courses offered in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures



    Michigan State University, USA

    August 2013 - December 2017; August 2023 - December 2024

  • First-Year Japanese (JPN 101 & 102)
  • Second-Year Japanese (JPN 201 & 202)
  • Fourth-Year Japanese (JPN 401 & 402)
  • Japanese Pragmatics and Linguistics (JPN 350)


  • Hokkaido International Foundation, Hakodate, Japan

    Summer program at HIF (2014, 2015, 2016)

  • Taught intensive summer Japanese language courses.


  • TESOL

    January-May 2011

  • Hold a master's degree in TESOL; interned at NYU's American Language Institute.


  • awards

    2018. The Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, Michigan State University

    2017. Summer Support Fellowship, The College of Arts and Letters, Michigan State University

    2012. Outstanding Achievement Award in Foreign Language Education/TESOL, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University

    ☻ ☺