Research
August 01, 2008
As a Southern Ute learner and teacher, all areas of Ute language are of interest. For my dissertation, I conducted the first instrumental phonetic analysis of Ute with the advice of Dr. Jane Hill, Dr. Heidi Harley and Dr. Dick Demers. I have researched the syntactic structure of Southern Ute using the pronominal argument theory posited by Dr. Jelinek. Currently, I am investigating ways of teaching and documenting Ute verbal morphology which would be community-friendly. I have also developed Ute language pedagogical material for students of all ages including audio recordings and assisted in editing a Ute language computer game developed by Robert Baker based on curriculum I and Georgia McKinley developed for the Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy.
As a member of a Native community and American Indian Language Development instructor, I am interested in exploring the best methods for teaching, documenting and revitalizing Native languages.