Mikio Kubota
Biographic Data
| ID | 1720127 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mikio Kubota |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mikio |
| FAMILY NAME | Kubota |
| SIGNATURE | KUBOTA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | UiT The Arctic University of Norway |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0580-1045 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
L1 phonetic reversal and L2 phonetic attrition in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: An acoustic study
Only a few studies have acoustically examined how first language (L1) and second language (L2) speech develops once bilingual speakers return to their L1 environment after a prolonged stay in an L2 context, and not much is known about the long-term effects of L1 re-immersion on both languages in phonetic terms. In this study, we analyzed acoustic data from 17 Japanese–English returnee bilingual speakers collected over the course of five years of …
Neurolinguistic signatures of microvariation and language change: Individual production variability predicts morphosyntactic processing differences
This study investigates the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of exposure to grammatical microvariation, focusing on the relationship between individual production patterns and on-line sentence processing. We examine a unique context of ongoing morphosyntactic change in Norwegian participial agreement, which gives rise to widespread, near-continuous variation in agreement marking across dialects and speakers. Event-related potentials (ERP…
Problematizing the notion of “stabilization”: From description to prediction in returnee research
Changes in referential production among Japanese-English bilingual returnee children: A five-year longitudinal study
This study tracked the referential production of 25 Japanese-English returnee children for 5 years upon their return to Japan from an English-dominant environment (Mean age = 9.72 at the time of return) and compared their referential strategies to 27 Japanese monolinguals and 27 English monolinguals, age-matched to the returnee’s age at time of return. Returnees used more redundant noun phrases (NPs) in both languages to maintain references compa…
Different variables hold varying significance from childhood to adolescence: Exploring individual differences in grammar development of Japanese heritage speakers
The current study examined the comprehension and production of classifiers, case marking, and morphological passive structures among 414 child Japanese heritage speakers (mean age = 10.01 years; range = 4.02 – 18.18). Focusing on individual differences, we extracted latent experiential factors via the Q-BEx questionnaire (De Cat, Kašćelan, Prévost, Serratrice, Tuller, Unsworth, & The Q.-Be Consortium, 2022), which were then used to predict knowle…
The acquisition of the semantics of Japanese numeral classifiers: The methodological value of nonsense
This study examined the acquisition of numeral classifiers in 120 monolingual Japanese children. Previous research has argued that the complex semantic system underlying classifiers is late acquired. Thus, we set out to determine the age at which Japanese children are able to extend the semantic properties of classifiers to novel items/situations. Participants completed a comprehension task with a mouse-tracking extension and a production task wi…
Grammatical restructuring in L3 development: A longitudinal study of Negative Concord in L3 Spanish by Japanese–English bilinguals
The present study aims to explore the extent to which linguistic experience in the transferred language modulates the rate of grammatical development in third language (L3) acquisition. To do so, we test a group of Japanese–English bilinguals ( n = 22) who were acquiring Spanish as their third language. Participants were tested at two different time points on their knowledge of negative concord items in L3 Spanish and first language (L1) Japanese…
Bidialectal language representation and processing: Evidence from Norwegian ERPs
This study investigates bilectal grammatical representation and processing using three ERP reading experiments in two Norwegian dialect regions. Northern Norwegian bilectals were tested in two separate sessions in two written varieties: the local written standard (Bokmål, n = 83) and Northern Norwegian dialect writing (n = 68). The study included both non-contrastive gender (control) and dialect-specific number (target) agreement conditions. In g…
Modeling individual differences in vocabulary development: A large-scale study on Japanese heritage speakers
This study examines when the vocabulary knowledge of Japanese heritage speakers (HSs; N = 427, M age = 9.96, female = 213) begins to diverge from monolingual counterparts (N = 136, M age = 6.69, female = 65) and what factors explain individual differences in HS development. Vocabulary of HSs began to diverge from 5.61 years and this difference lasted until they were young adults. We also administered a fit-for-purpose questionnaire in 2021–2023 a…
Language change in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: Evidence from accent-rating
Few studies have examined global foreign accent (GFA) in bilingual children, and little is known about how GFA changes over time and what factors determine change. Here, we examine GFA trajectories in Japanese–English bilingual returnees (Japanese children who returned to Japan after having lived in a majority English environment for several years). In two accent-rating tasks, first language (L1) speakers of English or Japanese rated returnee spe…
Schooling and language usage matter in heritage bilingual processing: Sortal classifiers in Mandarin
Mandarin sortal classifiers simultaneously encode semantic and grammatical form class cues. Building on a second language (L2) study of Grüter et al. we used the same visual world eye-tracking experiment, designed to examine the relative use of the two cues, testing Mandarin heritage speakers (HSs) living in an English-speaking environment. Given the importance of understanding individual differences, the present study also examined if/how indivi…
Bilectal Exposure Modulates Neural Signatures to Conflicting Grammatical Properties: Norway as a Natural Laboratory
The current study investigated gender (control) and number (target) agreement processing in Northern and non-Northern Norwegians living in Northern Norway. Participants varied in exposure to Northern Norwegian (NN) dialect(s), where number marking differs from most other Norwegian dialects. In a comprehension task involving reading NN dialect writing, P600 effects for number agreement were significantly affected by NN exposure. The more exposure …
Monolingual comparative normativity in bilingualism research is out of “ control ”: Arguments and alternatives
Herein, we contextualize, problematize, and offer some insights for moving beyond the problem of monolingual comparative normativity in (psycho) linguistic research on bilingualism. We argue that, in the vast majority of cases, juxtaposing (functional) monolinguals to bilinguals fails to offer what the comparison is supposedly intended to do: meet the standards of empirical control in line with the scientific method. Instead, the default nature o…
The effect of metacognitive executive function training on children’s executive function, proactive control, and academic skills
The current study investigated the effects of metacognitive and executive function (EF) training on childhood EF (inhibition, working memory [WM], cognitive flexibility, and proactive/reactive control) and academic skills (reading, reasoning, and math) among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Children ( N = 134, M age = 8.70 years) were assigned randomly to the three training groups: (a) metacognitive training of basic EF processes (meta-EF…
Linguistic consequences of toing and froing: Factors that modulate narrative development in bilingual returnee children
This longitudinal study examined the development of narrative micro- and macrostructure in Japanese-English bilingual returnee children. Returnees are children of immigrant families who move to a foreign country, spending a significant portion of their formative developmental years in the foreign majority language context before returning to their native language environment. The returnees did a narrative task in both their L1 (Japanese) and L2 (…
You Can’t Fix What Is Not Broken: Contextualizing the Imbalance of Perceptions About Heritage Language Bilingualism
In this article, we discuss the perceptions of researchers who work on heritage language bilingualism (HLB), educators who teach heritage speakers (HSs), and, crucially, HSs themselves regarding the nature of bilingualism in general as well as HLB specifically. Despite the fact that all groups are invested in HLB and that researchers and educators tend to have a similar basic understanding of HLB development and share common goals regarding herit…
Determinants of bilingualism predict dynamic changes in resting state EEG oscillations
This study uses resting state EEG data from 103 bilinguals to understand how determinants of bilingualism may reshape the mind/brain. Participants completed the LSBQ, which quantifies language use and crucially the division of labor of dual-language use in diverse activities and settings over the lifespan. We hypothesized correlations between the degree of active bilingualism with power of neural oscillations in specific frequency bands. Moreover…
Consistent use of proactive control and relation with academic achievement in childhood
As children become older, they better maintain task-relevant information in preparation of upcoming cognitive demands. This is referred to as proactive control, which is a key component of cognitive control development. However, it is still uncertain whether children engage in proactive control consistently across different contexts and how proactive control relates to academic abilities. This study used two common tasks-the AX Continuous Perform…
The creation of a new vowel category by adult learners after adaptive phonetic training
Post study abroad investigation of kanji knowledge in Japanese as a second language learners
The creation of a new vowel category by adult learners after adaptive phonetic training
Modeling individual differences in vocabulary development: A large-scale study on Japanese heritage speakers
This study examines when the vocabulary knowledge of Japanese heritage speakers (HSs; N = 427, M age = 9.96, female = 213) begins to diverge from monolingual counterparts (N = 136, M age = 6.69, female = 65) and what factors explain individual differences in HS development. Vocabulary of HSs began to diverge from 5.61 years and this difference lasted until they were young adults. We also administered a fit-for-purpose questionnaire in 2021–2023 a…
Schooling and language usage matter in heritage bilingual processing: Sortal classifiers in Mandarin
Mandarin sortal classifiers simultaneously encode semantic and grammatical form class cues. Building on a second language (L2) study of Grüter et al. we used the same visual world eye-tracking experiment, designed to examine the relative use of the two cues, testing Mandarin heritage speakers (HSs) living in an English-speaking environment. Given the importance of understanding individual differences, the present study also examined if/how indivi…
Bilectal Exposure Modulates Neural Signatures to Conflicting Grammatical Properties: Norway as a Natural Laboratory
The current study investigated gender (control) and number (target) agreement processing in Northern and non-Northern Norwegians living in Northern Norway. Participants varied in exposure to Northern Norwegian (NN) dialect(s), where number marking differs from most other Norwegian dialects. In a comprehension task involving reading NN dialect writing, P600 effects for number agreement were significantly affected by NN exposure. The more exposure …
The effect of metacognitive executive function training on children’s executive function, proactive control, and academic skills
The current study investigated the effects of metacognitive and executive function (EF) training on childhood EF (inhibition, working memory [WM], cognitive flexibility, and proactive/reactive control) and academic skills (reading, reasoning, and math) among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Children ( N = 134, M age = 8.70 years) were assigned randomly to the three training groups: (a) metacognitive training of basic EF processes (meta-EF…
Post study abroad investigation of kanji knowledge in Japanese as a second language learners
Grammatical restructuring in L3 development: A longitudinal study of Negative Concord in L3 Spanish by Japanese–English bilinguals
The present study aims to explore the extent to which linguistic experience in the transferred language modulates the rate of grammatical development in third language (L3) acquisition. To do so, we test a group of Japanese–English bilinguals ( n = 22) who were acquiring Spanish as their third language. Participants were tested at two different time points on their knowledge of negative concord items in L3 Spanish and first language (L1) Japanese…
Bidialectal language representation and processing: Evidence from Norwegian ERPs
This study investigates bilectal grammatical representation and processing using three ERP reading experiments in two Norwegian dialect regions. Northern Norwegian bilectals were tested in two separate sessions in two written varieties: the local written standard (Bokmål, n = 83) and Northern Norwegian dialect writing (n = 68). The study included both non-contrastive gender (control) and dialect-specific number (target) agreement conditions. In g…
Language change in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: Evidence from accent-rating
Few studies have examined global foreign accent (GFA) in bilingual children, and little is known about how GFA changes over time and what factors determine change. Here, we examine GFA trajectories in Japanese–English bilingual returnees (Japanese children who returned to Japan after having lived in a majority English environment for several years). In two accent-rating tasks, first language (L1) speakers of English or Japanese rated returnee spe…
Post study abroad investigation of kanji knowledge in Japanese as a second language learners
The creation of a new vowel category by adult learners after adaptive phonetic training
Consistent use of proactive control and relation with academic achievement in childhood
As children become older, they better maintain task-relevant information in preparation of upcoming cognitive demands. This is referred to as proactive control, which is a key component of cognitive control development. However, it is still uncertain whether children engage in proactive control consistently across different contexts and how proactive control relates to academic abilities. This study used two common tasks-the AX Continuous Perform…
You Can’t Fix What Is Not Broken: Contextualizing the Imbalance of Perceptions About Heritage Language Bilingualism
In this article, we discuss the perceptions of researchers who work on heritage language bilingualism (HLB), educators who teach heritage speakers (HSs), and, crucially, HSs themselves regarding the nature of bilingualism in general as well as HLB specifically. Despite the fact that all groups are invested in HLB and that researchers and educators tend to have a similar basic understanding of HLB development and share common goals regarding herit…
Determinants of bilingualism predict dynamic changes in resting state EEG oscillations
This study uses resting state EEG data from 103 bilinguals to understand how determinants of bilingualism may reshape the mind/brain. Participants completed the LSBQ, which quantifies language use and crucially the division of labor of dual-language use in diverse activities and settings over the lifespan. We hypothesized correlations between the degree of active bilingualism with power of neural oscillations in specific frequency bands. Moreover…
Linguistic consequences of toing and froing: Factors that modulate narrative development in bilingual returnee children
This longitudinal study examined the development of narrative micro- and macrostructure in Japanese-English bilingual returnee children. Returnees are children of immigrant families who move to a foreign country, spending a significant portion of their formative developmental years in the foreign majority language context before returning to their native language environment. The returnees did a narrative task in both their L1 (Japanese) and L2 (…
Monolingual comparative normativity in bilingualism research is out of “ control ”: Arguments and alternatives
Herein, we contextualize, problematize, and offer some insights for moving beyond the problem of monolingual comparative normativity in (psycho) linguistic research on bilingualism. We argue that, in the vast majority of cases, juxtaposing (functional) monolinguals to bilinguals fails to offer what the comparison is supposedly intended to do: meet the standards of empirical control in line with the scientific method. Instead, the default nature o…
The effect of metacognitive executive function training on children’s executive function, proactive control, and academic skills
The current study investigated the effects of metacognitive and executive function (EF) training on childhood EF (inhibition, working memory [WM], cognitive flexibility, and proactive/reactive control) and academic skills (reading, reasoning, and math) among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Children ( N = 134, M age = 8.70 years) were assigned randomly to the three training groups: (a) metacognitive training of basic EF processes (meta-EF…
Language change in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: Evidence from accent-rating
Few studies have examined global foreign accent (GFA) in bilingual children, and little is known about how GFA changes over time and what factors determine change. Here, we examine GFA trajectories in Japanese–English bilingual returnees (Japanese children who returned to Japan after having lived in a majority English environment for several years). In two accent-rating tasks, first language (L1) speakers of English or Japanese rated returnee spe…
Schooling and language usage matter in heritage bilingual processing: Sortal classifiers in Mandarin
Mandarin sortal classifiers simultaneously encode semantic and grammatical form class cues. Building on a second language (L2) study of Grüter et al. we used the same visual world eye-tracking experiment, designed to examine the relative use of the two cues, testing Mandarin heritage speakers (HSs) living in an English-speaking environment. Given the importance of understanding individual differences, the present study also examined if/how indivi…
Bilectal Exposure Modulates Neural Signatures to Conflicting Grammatical Properties: Norway as a Natural Laboratory
The current study investigated gender (control) and number (target) agreement processing in Northern and non-Northern Norwegians living in Northern Norway. Participants varied in exposure to Northern Norwegian (NN) dialect(s), where number marking differs from most other Norwegian dialects. In a comprehension task involving reading NN dialect writing, P600 effects for number agreement were significantly affected by NN exposure. The more exposure …
Different variables hold varying significance from childhood to adolescence: Exploring individual differences in grammar development of Japanese heritage speakers
The current study examined the comprehension and production of classifiers, case marking, and morphological passive structures among 414 child Japanese heritage speakers (mean age = 10.01 years; range = 4.02 – 18.18). Focusing on individual differences, we extracted latent experiential factors via the Q-BEx questionnaire (De Cat, Kašćelan, Prévost, Serratrice, Tuller, Unsworth, & The Q.-Be Consortium, 2022), which were then used to predict knowle…
The acquisition of the semantics of Japanese numeral classifiers: The methodological value of nonsense
This study examined the acquisition of numeral classifiers in 120 monolingual Japanese children. Previous research has argued that the complex semantic system underlying classifiers is late acquired. Thus, we set out to determine the age at which Japanese children are able to extend the semantic properties of classifiers to novel items/situations. Participants completed a comprehension task with a mouse-tracking extension and a production task wi…
Grammatical restructuring in L3 development: A longitudinal study of Negative Concord in L3 Spanish by Japanese–English bilinguals
The present study aims to explore the extent to which linguistic experience in the transferred language modulates the rate of grammatical development in third language (L3) acquisition. To do so, we test a group of Japanese–English bilinguals ( n = 22) who were acquiring Spanish as their third language. Participants were tested at two different time points on their knowledge of negative concord items in L3 Spanish and first language (L1) Japanese…
Bidialectal language representation and processing: Evidence from Norwegian ERPs
This study investigates bilectal grammatical representation and processing using three ERP reading experiments in two Norwegian dialect regions. Northern Norwegian bilectals were tested in two separate sessions in two written varieties: the local written standard (Bokmål, n = 83) and Northern Norwegian dialect writing (n = 68). The study included both non-contrastive gender (control) and dialect-specific number (target) agreement conditions. In g…
Modeling individual differences in vocabulary development: A large-scale study on Japanese heritage speakers
This study examines when the vocabulary knowledge of Japanese heritage speakers (HSs; N = 427, M age = 9.96, female = 213) begins to diverge from monolingual counterparts (N = 136, M age = 6.69, female = 65) and what factors explain individual differences in HS development. Vocabulary of HSs began to diverge from 5.61 years and this difference lasted until they were young adults. We also administered a fit-for-purpose questionnaire in 2021–2023 a…
L1 phonetic reversal and L2 phonetic attrition in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: An acoustic study
Only a few studies have acoustically examined how first language (L1) and second language (L2) speech develops once bilingual speakers return to their L1 environment after a prolonged stay in an L2 context, and not much is known about the long-term effects of L1 re-immersion on both languages in phonetic terms. In this study, we analyzed acoustic data from 17 Japanese–English returnee bilingual speakers collected over the course of five years of …
Neurolinguistic signatures of microvariation and language change: Individual production variability predicts morphosyntactic processing differences
This study investigates the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of exposure to grammatical microvariation, focusing on the relationship between individual production patterns and on-line sentence processing. We examine a unique context of ongoing morphosyntactic change in Norwegian participial agreement, which gives rise to widespread, near-continuous variation in agreement marking across dialects and speakers. Event-related potentials (ERP…
Problematizing the notion of “stabilization”: From description to prediction in returnee research
Changes in referential production among Japanese-English bilingual returnee children: A five-year longitudinal study
This study tracked the referential production of 25 Japanese-English returnee children for 5 years upon their return to Japan from an English-dominant environment (Mean age = 9.72 at the time of return) and compared their referential strategies to 27 Japanese monolinguals and 27 English monolinguals, age-matched to the returnee’s age at time of return. Returnees used more redundant noun phrases (NPs) in both languages to maintain references compa…
Psychology (17 works) · Linguistics (13 works) · Language Development and Disorders (8 works) · Neuroscience of multilingualism (8 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Mathematics education (5 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works)