UNM Department of Linguistics receive $494,659 NSF grant for advanced study on bilingual communities

The University of New Mexico Department of Linguistics recently received a $494,659 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for their project titled, "Addressee effects in demonstrative systems across bilingual communities." This three-year project, funded by NSF, will be housed in UNM's Department of Linguistics and led by Professors Naomi Shin and Rosa Vallejos-Yopán in collaboration with Amalia Skilton from University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The project spans three bilingual communities: Secoya-Spanish and Ticuna-Spanish bilinguals in the Amazon, and Spanish-English bilinguals in New Mexico. Ticuna and Secoya are endangered Indigenous languages.

"Receiving this NSF grant highlights the importance and benefits of collaborative work, which is something that we cherish and prioritize in our academic community of linguists at UNM," said Naomi Shin. "Through this NSF grant we are able to expand the scope of our work and, as such, we learn more about languages and bilingualism across communities and we engage in more community-outreach efforts, all while strengthening and building our academic community here at UNM."

One of the most striking facts about the languages of the world is that they are both similar and unique at the same time. This project aims to uncover specific ways in which languages differ and to understand why such differences arise. Demonstratives like this/that in English and este/ese/aquel in Spanish provide an excellent tool for advancing these aims because these types of words exist in all languages to manage attention, which is a general function of language. The four languages in the study vary in their demonstrative systems. Ticuna has four demonstratives, Secoya has three, and English has two. Some Spanish varieties have three demonstratives, others two.

"This grant brings two endangered Amazonian languages into the linguistic debate, which improves our ability to theorize about how human languages work in general. However, to successfully work with endangered languages, it is imperative that we build long-term, collaborative relationships with the communities where we conduct our research. What makes me particularly happy is that this grant creates more opportunities to train students with a community-centered approach," added Rosa Vallejos-Yopán.

Does the number of demonstratives available in a given language impact the selection of one word or another? And what happens when bilinguals speak languages with different demonstrative systems? The three selected communities offer a unique testing ground to address these questions. In New Mexico, Spanish-dominant and English-dominant bilinguals abound. In the Ticuna region, Ticuna-Spanish bilingualism is widespread, but most speakers remain Ticuna-dominant. In the Secoya region, bilingualism is emerging: most elders are monolingual in Secoya, while younger people vary in Spanish proficiency. Comparing these communities advances our understanding of how language dominance predicts the transfer of linguistic features from one language to another.

The project also contributes to methodologies for studying bilingualism worldwide and serves as an intensive research training experience for students at The University of New Mexico. Additionally, the project benefits communities by building capacity via workshops, language materials designed for educators, and by disseminating articles in newsletters that make the team's research findings accessible and useful for the community at large.

The project is the culmination of decades of work. Shin has 25 years of experience researching Spanish-English bilingualism in the United States. As co-director of the Lobo Language Acquisition Lab at UNM, Shin has overseen numerous research and community-outreach teams comprised of graduate and undergraduate students. Vallejos-Yopán has 26 years of experience working with Amazonian communities. She has studied and documented Kukama (Tupian language), Secoya (Tukanoan language), and Amazonian Spanish. She started to work with the Secoyas in 2006 and her research has generated resources for the speech community, including two reading books for children, a writing system, and a guide to implement the writing system. Skilton has conducted fieldwork in Amazonia for 11 years, working with speakers of Máíhɨ̃ki (a Tukanoan language) and Ticuna (an isolate language). Shin, Vallejos-Yopán, and Skilton have all published extensively on their respective topics. In addition, Vallejos-Yopán and Skilton have contributed to the documentation of endangered languages and created various types of archival collections.

Over the years, the team has received funding from different agencies that helped them secure this NSF grant. They are grateful for support from ADVANCE at UNM, UNM's Latin American and Iberian Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the McCune Charitable Foundation.

Shin and Vallejos-Yopán are especially excited to host this project in UNM's Department of Linguistics, which is renowned for its scholarship in usage-based linguistics. They hope the grant advances their goal of continuing to attract outstanding students from across the globe as well as from right here in New Mexico. Both are especially committed to mentoring students from different minority groups. Given that New Mexico is home to many languages and many bilinguals, it is the perfect location for bilingualism research and for engaging students.