Introductions - let's greet each other!

If you’re new here, welcome! We’re so glad you have come to the ELP community. Please introduce yourself in this thread, so we can all get to know each other a bit more! You can share things like:

  • Your name
  • Where you’re from
  • What language(s) you speak, are learning, identify with, or work with
  • What kind of language work you do, or are interested in
  • Anything else you would like to share!
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Hello, Hola, Mari Mari! My name is Daniela and I am originally from Mexico, but I live in Calgary on Treaty 7 territory, the traditional lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Piikani, Kainai and Siksika Nations, The Tsuu t’ina Nation, and the Métis nation of Alberta region 3.

I speak English, Spanish, and I’m a beginner in Mapudungun, which is the Indigenous language of Chile and Argentina spoken by the Mapuche peoples. I am also learning to speak Nahuatl, the Indigenous language of Mexico in the area where I was born, and I am also hoping to learn a little bit of Blackfoot for my current job at Heritage Park Historical Village here in Calgary because I get to work with a number of Indigenous people within the park! I identify with both English and Spanish, and I was able to reclaim my fluency in Spanish about 10 years ago.

I have a degree in Anthropology and Cultural Studies, and I am interested in pursuing a path in Linguistic Anthropology working in language revitalization with Indigenous communities in Canada, Scotland where my dad is from and Latin America, hopefully in Mexico and in Chile where my mother is from. I am very passionate about Indigenous languages, I am currently learning Mapuche from Chile and Nahuatl from Mexico. All my life, I’ve always had this innate talent for learning languages, especially when I love learning numerous Indigenous languages. I am especially fascinated by the links between Nahuatl and many Indigenous languages in Canada; Nahuatl and many Dene languages here in Canada are related, with the Aztecs being part of the Dene nation. I hope to get my Master’s in a few years to study the influences and links between Nahuatl and the Indigenous communities up in the Coastal BC area!

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Welcome, Daniela! It’s really exciting to see folks working on the similarities and shared lessons between different language contexts like Nahuatl and Dene languages. Looking forward to learning more about your work (and if you have any questions about applying to master’s programs, there are lots of folks here who could give advice!) :slight_smile:

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Awesome, I’m really excited!

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Hello! My name is Olivia, I’m a PhD student in Linguistics living in Manhattan going into my 3rd year at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Other than English, I have academic proficiency in Japanese, French (though this is definitely rusty), basic knowledge of Italian and am currently trying to learn Persian independently! I’ve had an interest in endangered languages since college and have followed the work of the ELP for a few years. I don’t speak an endangered language myself but I have been doing a large part of my own research on Ainu, an indigenous language of Hokkaido. I just turned in my QP1 which was on glottal stop epenthesis in Ainu and involved acoustic analysis using an online corpus of Ainu folklore. Very relieved to have submitted it on time! :sweat_smile:

Looking forward to getting to know people here!

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