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Exploring the Deep History of Southern Uto-Aztecan Languages and Peoples: A Mixed Methods Approach

Objective

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 puts the speakers of Southern Uto-Aztecan (SUA) languages at the centre, seeking to achieve two objectives:
1. To recover aspects of ancient SUA people's language and world-view
2. To map cultural and linguistic flows moving through the SUA-sphere in the millennia before European colonization.

The project brings to bear the full scope of methods of contemporary historical linguistics: 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 works with indigenous scholars and communities to contribute to ongoing efforts of indigenous language maintenance.

The project will achieve its two objectives, by undertaking research in three workpackages: WP1 Language Documentation documents the lexicon of two underdocumented SUA languages (Náayeri and Wixárika) creating two new dictionaries. WP2 Qualitative Historical Linguistics uses the dictionaries to build an etymological database of SUA languages and an online database of glossed and annotated mythological texts. It also applies historical comparative analyses to both mythical and lexical data to reconstruct aspects of ancient SUA language and culture. WP3 Quantitative Phylogenetics uses the etymological and mythical databases for phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses. It pioneers the use of an innovative method for reconciliation of 'word-trees' to produce new phylogenies.

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG

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Host institution

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 500 000,00
Address
NORREGADE 10
1165 KOBENHAVN
Denmark

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Region
Danmark Hovedstaden Byen København
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 500 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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