Engaged Graduate Student Grants
Preserving the Ch’ol Language Through Collaboration with Communities
Documenting the syntax and semantics of the Ch'ol language by working with community partners to ensure its preservation
Chiapas, Mexico is home to many Mayan languages still spoken today. However, there is an increasing risk that these languages, along with their cultures and linguistic puzzles will not be passed on to future generations. For her dissertation, Carol-Rose Little is working with speakers of the Mayan language Ch’ol to document and analyze its understudied linguistic features. Specifically, Little is collaborating with members from two Ch’ol communities to record, transcribe and translate the language. Little’s research focuses on the structure of Ch’ol grammar and how context affects the interpretation of sentences. The success of this project will advance current knowledge on linguistic theories, support diversity in academia and contribute to achieving communities’ much-desired goals of language preservation.
Topics: Culture, Language and History
The Team
- Graduate student: Carol-Rose Little, linguistics
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Special committee chair:
Miloje Despić, Department of Linguistics
College of Arts and Sciences
- Community partner: Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Macuspana
- Community partner: Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Tabasco
- Community partner: Centro Estatal de Lenguas Arte y Literatura Indígenas
- Community partner: EcoSur/National Geographic
- Community partner: Community of Saltillo
In the News
DECEMBER 3, 2018
Linguistics grad student partners with Mayan speaker for preservation research
– College of Arts & Sciences website
Video: Ch’ol in the technological era