I'm a third-year Ph.D. student in linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with focus on semantics, fieldwork, and more recently, experimental methods.

I primarily work on Gitksan (Tsimshianic) and Japanese, and I am part of the UBC Gitksan Research Lab. I have also worked on and continue to be interested in American Sign Language (ASL).

I am especially interested in tense, aspect, modality, and degrees.

I have a B.A. and an M.A. from University of British Columbia. My M.A. thesis was on tense semantics in Gitksan, Japanese, and English. My B.A. Honours thesis was on adjective intensification in ASL.

Please see "research" and "CV" for my work.

Please feel free to email me at: aonuki_y@mit.edu

Journal articles

Bertrand, Anne, Yurika Aonuki, Sihwei Chen, Henry Davis, Joash Gambarage, Laura Griffin, Marianne Huijsmans, Lisa Matthewson, Daniel Reisinger, Hotze Rullmann, Raiane Salles, Michael David Schwan, Neda Todorović, Bailey Trotter, and Jozina Vander Klok (2022). “Nobody’s perfect” Languages 7.2, pp. 1–28.

Tkachman, Oksana, Kathleen Currie Hall, Robert Fuhrman, and Yurika Aonuki (2019). “Visible amplitude: Towards quantifying prominence in sign language”. Journal of Phonetics 77, pp. 1–23. [Editor’s choice].

Conference proceedings

Aonuki, Yurika (forthcoming). “‘Irrealis’ ji in Gitksan”. Proceedings of West Coast Conference in Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 43. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Aonuki, Yurika (forthcoming). “Decomposing ‘minimum-standard gradable adjectives’ in Japanese as verbal -tei- predicates”. Proceedings of West Coast Conference in Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 42. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). “Covert relative non-future tense in Gitksan”. Proceedings of West Coast Conference in Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 39. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). “Differential measure phrases with implicit comparatives in Gitksan”. Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 34. University of Rochester.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). “Inherently context-sensitive gradable adjectives”. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 28. Ed. by Geraldine Baumann, Daniel Gutzmann, Jonas Koopman, Kristina Liefke, Agata Renans, and Tatjana Scheffler. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, pp. 58–76.

Aonuki, Yurika (2022). “Free relatives in Gitksan”. Proceedings of Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA) 11. University of Massachusetts Amherst GLSA.

Aonuki, Yurika (2022). “Morphological tenselessness and SOT: Evidence for a covert relative pronominal tense in Gitksan”. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 26. Universität zu Köln, pp. 55–73.

Hall, Kathleen Currie, Oksana Tkachman, and Yurika Aonuki (2022). “Perceived Magnitudes of Movement in American Sign Language”. Proceedings of Chicago Linguistics Society (CLS) 57. IL: University of Chicago.

Aonuki, Yurika (2020). “Unifying the ‘still’ and ‘just’ readings of ḵ’ay in Gitksan”. Proceedings of West Coast Conference in Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 37. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Aonuki, Yurika (2019). “Adjective Intensification in American Sign Language”. Proceedings of Canadian Linguistics Association (CLA) 2019. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.

Conference presentations (reviewed by abstract)

Aonuki, Yurika (2025). ‘Irrealis’ particle ji in Gitksan. West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 43, University of Washington, 25-27 April.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). Comparatives and differential measure phrases without -er in Gitksan. Semantics and Linguistics Theory (SALT) 34, University of Rochester, 28-30 May.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). Inherent context sensitivity in two unrelated degreeful languages. Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS) 60, 26-28 April.

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). Minimum-standard predicates as resultatives and measure phrase interpretations.West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 42, University of California Berkeley, 12-14, April.

Aonuki, Yurika (2023). Evaluativity in Japanese degree constructions. Sinn und Bedeutung 28, Ruhr University Bochum, 5-8, September.

Aonuki, Yurika (2021a). Covert relative pronominal tense in Gitksan. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in Languages of the Americas (WSCLA) 25, Sogang University, 28-30 May.

Aonuki, Yurika (2021). Decomposing the covert non-future tense in Gitksan. West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 39, University of Arizona, 8 - 11, April.

Aonuki, Yurika (2021). Revisiting pronominal vs. existential past tense denotations in English and Japanese. Canadian Linguistics Association (CLA) 2021, virtual, 4-7 June.

Kathleen Currie Hall Oksana Tkachman, Yurika Aonuki (2021). Perceived Magnitudes of Movement in American Sign Language. Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS) 57, 6-8, May.

Aonuki, Yurika (2020). Free relatives in Gitksan. Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA) 11, El Colegio de México and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 28-3, May.

Aonuki, Yurika (2020). Unifying the ‘still’ and ‘just’ readings of k’ay in Gitksan. West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 37, Univeristy of British Columbia, March 6-8, 2020.

Aonuki, Yurika (2019). Adjective Intensification in American Sign Language. Canadian Linguistics Association, University of British Columbia, 1-3 June, 2019.

Aonuki, Yurika (2019). Phonology of adjective intensification in American Sign Language. Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC) 2019, University of British Columbia, 8-9 February. [Best presentationaward].

Hall, Kathleen Currie, Oksana Tkachman, and Yurika Aonuki (2019). Lexical competition and articulatory enhancement in American Sign Language. Canadian Linguistics Association (CLA) 2019, University of British Columbia, 1-3 June.

Hall, Kathleen Currie, Oksana Tkachman, and Yurika Aonuki (2019). Lexical competition correlates with articulatory enhancement in ASL. Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 13, Universität Hamburg, 26-28 September.

Tkachman, Oksana, Robert Fuhrman, Kathleen Currie Hall, Yurika Aonuki, and Bryan Gick (2018). Visible Energy in signed languages: Explaining a trade-off between sign location and sign handedness. Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon) 16, Universidade de Lisboa, 19-22 June.

Special issues

Aonuki, Yurika (2024). “Degree constructions in Gitksan”. The title of this volume is shorter than its contributions are allowed to be: Papers in honour of Hotze Rullmann. Ed. by M. Ryan Bochnak, Eva Csipak, Lisa Matthewson, Marcin Morzycki, and Daniel K. E. Reisinger. Vancouver, BC: UBCOPL, pp. 1–18.

Yurika Aonuki, Kathleen Currie Hall (2024). “Incorporating sign language phonetics and phonology exercises into the Linguistics classroom”. The title of this volume is shorter than its contributions are allowed to be: Papers in honour of Hotze Rullmann. Ed. by M. Ryan Bochnak, Eva Csipak, Lisa Matthewson, Marcin Morzycki, and Daniel K. E. Reisinger. Vancouver, BC: UBCOPL, pp. 19–38.

Invited talks

Aonuki, Yurika (2025). Differential measure phrases and comparatives in Gitksan. Invited talk at Aoyama Gakuin University, 5 August.

Aonuki, Yurika (2023). Degree semantics in Gitksan and Japanese. Invited talk at University of British Columbia Linguistics Outside the Classroom, 11 August.

Aonuki, Yurika (2022). Relative pronominal tense in Gitksan and Japanese. Invited talk at UC Berkeley Syntax and Semantics Circle, 18 February.

Aonuki, Yurika (2019). Adjective intensification in American Sign Language. Invited talk at The 50th Anniversary of the UBC Linguistics Department, 15-18 May.

Hall, Kathleen Currie, Yurika Aonuki, Oksana Tkachman, Li Ze Choo, Terrance Gatchalian, Cristina Lee, Elizabeth Tiamzon, and Mai Tran (2019). Integrating sign languages into the linguistics classroom. Invited talk at UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund Showcase, 2 May.