The Research project SUAHIST which has received a Starting Grant by the European Research Council from 2024-2029. I will be the PI, working together with a team of specialists in the Náayeri and Wixárika languages. https://ufm.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/2023/fem-danske-forskere-far-en-af-eus-fineste-forskningsbevillinger


Summary: “A thousand years before Europeans arrived in the Americas, a vast region, covering what is now North-western Mexico and the US Southwest, was inhabited by speakers of languages belonging to the Uto-Aztecan language family. Often described as nomads in a hostile periphery between the cultures of Mesoamerica and the Puebloan cultures of the US Southwest, this project instead puts the speakers of Southern (SUA) Uto-Aztecan languages at the centre, seeking to recover aspects of their language and world-view, and their historical interactions with other regions. The project brings to bear the full scope of methods of contemporary comparative historical linguistics to investigate the history of SUA peoples: It combines qualitative methods of historical linguistics and narratology with quantitative lexicostatistical and phylogeographic methods to analyse the historical relations between SUA languages, and to analyse developments of SUA mythological traditions. Integrating a component of language documentation, the project also works with indigenous scholars and communities to contribute to ongoing efforts of indigenous language maintenance.”