Recovery of files related to Ken Hale's Misumalpan Grammar Project

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Elena Benedicto will conduct six months of linguistic research on Ken Hale's Misumalpan files. Hale - a linguist particularly productive in his work on indigenous languages - died recently. He had been working with Benedicto on these languages for several years. She and her consultants will complete Hale's contribution to this research by recovering and incorporating his notes. This project is significant for two main reasons: (1) It will complete the only systematic work on the Misumalpan languages, an isolate group with unique morpho-phonological and sytactico-semantic properties. (2) It will enhance the already-established collaboration between Benedicto and the Intercultural Bilingual Program in Nicaragua.