I am an
Anthropologist and a Linguist interested in Language broadly
understood. My
geographical area of focus has been Indigenous languages of
Venezuela, having worked on
Mapoyo (Carib family) and Kurripako (Arawak family). I am now
beginning a new research project on Salivan languages,
encompassing Piaroa, Maco and Hoti.
My topics of interest are varied and encompass both
anthropological and linguistics themes. I am interested in
endangered languages, language documentation and description,
language revitalization, language shift and maintenance,
language ideologies, language policy, discourse, storytelling,
verbal art, linguistic typology, writing systems, phonology,
morphosyntax, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, language
and culture, metaphors, bi/multilingualism, language
acquisition, ethnoclassification and many other topics!
I also incorporate into my work many socio-cultural topics such
as kinship, political economy, religion, landscape, and others
as necessary to understand the complex world of indigenous
people and their languages.