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Here you will find information about my professional activities and some of my personal interests.

Since 1986 I have been involved in linguistic research and vernacular literature production in Ancash Department in central Peru. My mother tongue is English, and I am proficient in Spanish and South Conchucos Quechua (level S-4). Fieldwork is essential for community-based language development and I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to “live in the field.”

Currently, I am focused on two endangered languages: Corongo Quechua and Sihuas Quechua. Native speakers refer to these languages by the name Llaqwash (the name of this website). Just ten years ago Corongo had 4,000 speakers and Sihuas 6,500 speakers, but those numbers have dwindled steadily. Together with local partners in public schools, municipalities, churches, and NGOs, we are working to reinvigorate use of the native languages, reinforcing a positive sense of self-worth and cultural identity.

This work is sponsored by the Ministry of Education of Peru and by SIL International, an organization which serves language communities worldwide, building their capacity for sustainable language development, by means of research, translation, training and materials development.

I have a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Members of my doctoral committee: Marianne Mithun (chair), Sandra Thompson, Bernard Comrie, and W. Randall Garr. My dissertation research was sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation and fellowships from UCSB and SIL.

I hope you enjoy my recent book Crossing Aspectual Frontiers, published by University of California Press. For a description, reviews, and audio samples, click on the link at left. From the UC Press website, click “Read Online at eScholarship” for the Open Access Edition which is free to read online or to download as a PDF.