Andean Aymara

This book, published in 1999 by Werner Guttentag T. in La Paz and Cochabamaba proports to be more than a grammar:

Qullajaqin Arupa no es una gramatica en el sentido tradicional. Quiere ser un metodo sencillo y practico que permita el aprendizaje rapido de los elementos fundamentals de la lengua aymara, utilizando algunas tecnicas modernas de [...]

[Read more →]

There seems to be a lot of buzz about Na’vi, the artificial language in Avatar. While on the one hand I’m happy that linguists can get jobs in today’s economy, it seems pointless to devote resources and energy to this endeavor when so many of the world’s languages are on the verge of extinction and [...]

[Read more →]

The Economist has a special edition for the holidays which includes an article entitled “Tongue Twisters” which has to do with difficult languages (for English speakers) which makes mentions of interesting aspects of various languages of the world without using much jargon. They make mention of the phonology of !Xóõ, the agglutinative properties of Turkish, and [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve been invited to give a presentation at the Applewood Community in Amherst MA on 23 December 2009 at 19:30. The talk will cover the general aspects of the fieldwork, a brief introduction to the Aymara language, and aspects of the Muylaque culture. Feel free to come.

[Read more →]

A new study entitled “Assessing individual systemic stress through cortisol analysis of archaeological hair” published with researchers mainly from The University of Western Ontario may shed some light on life among ancient Peruvians by looking at systemic cortisol levels in archaeological hair. I am still in Peru and so cannot access ScienceDirect, but if you [...]

[Read more →]

The Center for Tribal Studies at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, announces its 3rd annual Oklahoma Workshop on Native American Languages on 17 and 18 April 2010.
The deadline for abstracts is January 30.
Also, FYI  Anggarroon reports that  PDFDownloads.com has a ton of articles relating to fieldwork methodology and similar topics. It may be an [...]

[Read more →]

Just returned from my final stay in Muylaque last night and in Moquegua now: one grilled chicken, a cold beer and a cool shower later.   This was by far the most productive fieldwork trip so far, not only because my methodology has improved, but also because I’ve become more well-known and trusted in the [...]

[Read more →]