This is a database schema and a Web frontend to a catalogue of grammatical and lexical data from languages spoken by hunter-gatherers and their neighbors. This database is designed to facilitate the exploration of these data and to aid in phylogenetic research regarding the languages under investigation. This is a working database and information on some of the languages included is not yet complete.
Research
This database draws on work supported by BCS-0902114 "Dynamics of Hunter-Gatherer Language Change", a grant awarded to Yale University by the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
The principal investigators are Dr. Claire Bowern (Linguistics, Yale University; lead PI), Dr. Patience Epps (Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin), Dr. Jane Hill (Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Arizona), and Dr. Keith Hunley (Anthropology, University of New Mexico).
Affiliated persons include: Dr. Russell Gray (Psychology, University of Auckland and Max Planck Institute for History and the Sciences, Jena), Dr. Jack Ives (Archaeology, University of Alberta), and Dr. Patrick McConvell (Linguistics, Australian National University), with contributions from other researchers as attributed.
The South American component of this database draws additionally on work supported by an ACLS fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, awarded to Patience Epps, the University of Texas at Austin.
We gratefully acknowledge assistance with data collection and entry from the following people:
Australia: Barry Alpher, David Nash, Catherine Sheard, Stef Spronck.
South America: Karina Baeza, Tanja Bauerlein, John Blaha, Katherine Bolaños, Ana Paula Brandão, Zachary Burnett, Emily Buell, Anissa Cappucino, Rebekah Evans, Jaqueline Fox, Paulina Franco, Lauren Franklin, Bettie Gonzalez, Cynthia Hansen, Dhananjay Jagannathan, Sarah Kuntz, Aimee Lawrence, Addison Martinez, Joyce McCormick, Amanda Meeks, Kelsey Neely, Amanda Novak, Jonathan Quintanilla, Melody Ann Ross-Nathaniel, Leslie Smith, Wikaliler Daniel Smith, Jenna Tipton, Daniel Valle, Becky Walker.