My name is Dr. Ai Taniguchi (谷口愛). I am a linguist and an Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) in the Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I got my PhD in linguistics at Michigan State University in 2017. On this website, you will find where my expertise in linguistics and my passion for the visual arts intersect.

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As an educator, I am a big advocate for public outreach in linguistics. I am someone who really, really cares about making linguistics accessible and relevant for everyone. My ability to explain complex topics to lay audiences has received high recognition at the 5-Minute Linguist competition at the 2019 Linguistic Society of America annual meeting. I enjoy thinking about how to efficiently, effectively, and aesthetically disseminate information, and this is where my artistic inclination is an asset for me as a teacher. I have no formal training in art or design (although I've done paid art commissions), but art has always been a part of my life, as long as I can remember. 

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I'm a formal semanticist by trade, which means that I research mathematical models of how the meaning of words combine to form the meaning of sentences. I also study pragmatics, which means I'm also interested in how meaning is affected by context (and how context is affected by meaning). Fellow linguists: you can learn more about my research on my other website. Non-linguists: check out Chapter 7 (Semantics) and Chapter 8 (Pragmatics) of Essentials of Linguistics (2nd edition), which I am a co-author of!

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Here's my CV.

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