About me

I am an Assistant Professor in Linguistics at the University of Toronto and a native speaker of Q’anjob’al, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. My research focuses on the acquisition of Mayan languages, including topics such as the ergative system in Q’anjob’al and Chuj, the role of prosody in the acquisition of status suffixes in Q’anjob’al and Chuj, causatives, and numeral classifiers in Q’anjob’al. I am currently working on the acquisition of motion verbs and directionals in Q’anjob’al.

In addition to my research, I work on the documentation and revitalization of Mayan languages in collaboration with Mayan communities and local organizations in Guatemala. I have documented the acquisition of the Mayan languages Q’anjob’al , Ch’ol, Mam, Chuj, K’iche’, and Awakateko. I also work in the training of Mayan speakers on Mayan linguistics, language documentation, and creating teaching materials in Mayan languages.

I am currently working on the revitalization of Itzaj, a Mayan language of Guatemala, in collaboration with the Comunidad Lingüística Itzaj of the Academia de las Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala.