View To The U: Office Of The V.p., Research (utm)

In honour of Canadian Multiculturalism Day, which comes around each year on June 27, on VIEW to the U, we are talking about identity that directly correlates to the language that we use. On this episode, featured guest, Professor Ai Taniguchi talks about her work as a linguist in UTM’s Department of Language Studies, as well as her art, which animates and illustrates much of her scholarly pursuits. Ai specializes in semantics and pragmatics – for those of us who need a primer, or a refresher, as the case may be - she explains both over the course of this interview. But she also goes into detail about the graphics-based project she spearheaded: L’IMAGE, which stands for Language, Identity, Multiculturalism and Global Empowerment. L’IMAGE is a project that brings the lived experiences of multilingual UofT students, both domestic and international, to life in the form of comics. In our chat, she is also very candid speaking about her recent diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – ADHD for s