Collaborative Language Documentation in Mexico: Working with Speakers Online

The Language Sciences Initiative, in collaboration with the Departments of Linguistics and Anthropology, the First Nations & Endangered Languages Program, and the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, welcomes Dr. Anuschka van ‘t Hooft to UBC to present Collaborative Language Documentation in Mexico: Working with Speakers Online, a lecture discussing her work on Mexico’s indigenous languages and their documentation. All are welcome to attend.

Anuschka van ‘t Hooft is a research professor at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. As a cultural anthropologist, she specializes in Mexican indigenous languages and cultures. Her research interests lie in the areas of oral traditions, language documentation and revitalization, and collaborative research.

Collaborative Language Documentation in Mexico: Working with Speakers Online

Wednesday, April 4, 2018
12:30pm-2:00pm
Lillooet Room
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre

Abstract

Mexico is rich in indigenous languages. Over ten million people speak one or more of the 364 existing language variants, which belong to 11 distinct language families. Although all are minority languages, they are at various degrees of vitality and endangerment.

This lecture provides an overview of Mexico’s indigenous languages and efforts to document them. In addition, I will present on an Internet-based strategy developed for a collaborative language documentation project of the Huastec language and discuss how this strategy can be productive.