LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS

The Americas are home to a vast array of languages exhibiting tremendous genetic and typological diversity. At least 2,000 mutually unintelligible languages were once spoken in this hemisphere, comprising nearly 200 genetically distinct families and isolates. Numerous structures occur here that are rare or only weakly developed elsewhere in the world. Many of the languages are still undocumented or underdocumented, but nearly all of those still spoken are endangered. Work with indigenous languages of North America, Middle America, and South America is an especially lively area of research at UCSB. A number of faculty and students are involved in ongoing projects documenting languages and exploring their unusual features and interrelationships, as well as assisting in community preservation and revitalization projects, lending technical support to literacy programs, preparing language curricula, and training native language teachers and researchers. In addition to the general courses in linguistic analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse), which typically include substantial illustrative material from American languages, the year-long intensive course in field methods, and courses in typology, the department offers more specialized courses in grammar writing and seminars in American Indian languages. The NAIL (Native American Indigenous Languages) Group is an active, student-run group that meets informally on a regular basis in which members share field experiences, discuss issues of current interest, and host visiting speakers. Every spring the same group puts on WAIL (Workshop on American Indigenous Languages), a small international conference aimed particularly at younger scholars engaged in field research.

Core Faculty: Wallace Chafe, John W. Du Bois, Matthew Gordon, Charles N. Li, Marianne Mithun, Sandra A. Thompson

Native American Indigenous Languages Group (NAIL)

Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas