Projects

1. Projects where I am a PI or a co-PI

1.1. Documentation and analysis of Otomanguean languages [2014 - present]

2024 - 2027, Documentation of Tlapanec varieties, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

• This study focuses on the Tlapanec (Mè'phàà) varieties of the Otomanguean language group, particularly Huehuetepec, Ayutla, and the endangered Azoyú varieties, which are mainly spoken in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, and examines (i) the phonology of each dialect, and (ii) analyze the phylogenetic relationships of each dialect, especially the position of the Azoyú dialect, to make a major review of the systematic overall picture of this dialect group.

2022 - 2024, A cross-dialectal study of Tlapanec verb morphology, Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

• The verb morphology of Otomanguean languages ​​exhibits a highly complex structure, which is extremely rare among the world's languages. How can we understand this complexity? In other words, do native speakers memorize the conjugation form of each lexeme? Or is there some sort of productive synchronic regularity there? If so, what is its nature? This question is an essential issue in the field of morphology. This research addresses this academic question using the case of Tlapanec, through cross-dialectal structural comparison.

2019 - 2021, Complejidad paradigmática y tonal en las lenguas otomangues, Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica (PAPIIT), UNAM  (IN404019). 

• The Otomanguean languages, mostly spoken in Mexico, have attracted attention for their tonal and paradigmatic complexity (cf. Palancar & Léonard, eds. 2016; Palancar, Baerman & Feist eds. 2019 ), provoking questions such as what level of complexity natural languages can manage. In addition, this complexity challenges the traditional, morpheme-based approaches to morphology, which assumes the one-to-one form and function correspondence. This project aims at discovering  the systematicity and regularity that are hidden behind the complexity that we observe in Otomanguean languages and contribute to the typological and theoretical discussions of phonology and morphology.  

1.2. Documentation and analysis of Oklahoma Cherokee  [2011 - 2013; 2020 - present]

The rationale for this project lies in the critical importance of documenting the Cherokee language (ISO 639-3: [chr]) in its full complexity while we still have the opportunity. 

2022 - present, Dictionary and digital archive project, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (with Christian Koops)

• This project aims at analyzing interviews and old documents written in Cherokee syllabary, and single out previously undocumented stems (especially verbs) and elicit their inflected forms to  record unpredictable lexical information of each stem to compile a more comprehensive dictionary of Oklahoma Cherokee. 

2020 - 2021, Cherokee Discourse Transcription, Jacobs Research Funds (University of Washington, with Christian Koops); Phillips Fund (American Philosophical Society, with Christian Koops at the University of New Mexico). 

• The aim of this project is to draw on a legacy corpus of Cherokee recordings that has been created independently by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma since the 1990's, called today Cherokee Voices, Cherokee Sounds (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎧᏃᎬ ᎠᎴ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏚᏃᏴᎬᎢ). Episodes air on local radio stations and are available for download (https://www.cherokee.org/cherokee-voices-cherokee-sounds). As part of the show, the host conducts interviews with Cherokee speaking community members. These interviews will be the focus of our project. In collaboration with the Cherokee Nation, we will begin to transcribe, translate, and linguistically analyze this collection. 

2011 - 2013. A Study of Cherokee Tones, Phillips Fund (American Philosophical Society); Mark Diamond Research Fund (University of Buffalo) 

• The goal of this project is to investigate the tonal system of Oklahoma Cherokee, which has a unique property not only within Iroquoian and the languages of North America, but also among the languages of the world

2. Projects where I am a participant

2.1. Constituency in cross-linguistic perspective (Adam Tallman, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, PI) [2019 - present]

2.2. Digital Archive of American Indian Languages Preservation and Perseverance (Ellen Cushman, Northeastern University, PI) [2021 - present]

2.3. Phonetic typology from cross-linguistic perspectives: phase 1 (2021-2024), phase 2 (2024-2026) (Seunghun J. LEE, International Christian University, PI) [2021 - present]

2.4. Documenting Ethnobiology in Mexico and Central America (DEMCA)  (Jonathan Amith, Smithonian Institute & Gettysburg College, PI) [2022 - present]