Acknowledgments
The present work is a revised version of my PhD dissertation, completed at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my dissertation committee – Ryan Bennett, Haruo Kubozono, Junko Ito, and Jaye Padgett – without whose mentorship, input, guidance, support, patience, and encouragement, this work would not have been possible. I am truly grateful.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to Haruo Kubozono, Shin Fukuda, and Yuki Takubo, for taking an interest in this work, and considering it for publication in Brill’s Endangered and Lesser-Studied Languages and Dialects series.
A big thank you to my consultants, as this work would also not have been possible without them. Thank you for teaching me about your Kansai Japanese dialects and Standard Japanese.
Thanks to all of my colleagues and friends in Santa Cruz and back home for engaging conversations and discussion, support, inspiration, and much more. Your friendship has helped make the journey easier, brighter, and enlightening.
Last but not least, thanks to my parents, Alessandra and Juan, for your loving, generous, and tireless support of me throughout all of my endeavors.