Melissa Axelrod

Professor and Regents Lecturer

Department of Linguistics

Humanities Bldg., Rm.556 Albuquerque, NM 87131-1196 Phone:  505/277-6353 Fax:505/277-6355

My primary research areas are 1) morphosyntax and semantics in polysynthetic languages, and 2) language preservation and recovery in Native American language communities. I have been working on language revitalization efforts in the Southwest since coming to UNM in 1995, and have consulted on projects with the Plains and Jicarilla Apache communities, and with the Sandia Tiwa, Nanbé Tewa, and Tesuque Tewa Pueblos. I have been involved in projects with the Jicarilla Apache community since 1996, in particular, as PI of the NSF-funded Dictionary of Jicarilla Apache project. The Dictionary will be available from UNM Press in October of 2006. I am currently working with language program leaders at Nanbé Pueblo on an NSF-funded electronic archive of Nanbé Tewa narratives, conversations, and history, as well as a curriculum and materials project. I am also working with Dr. Jule Gómez de García, of the California State University, San Marcos, and Maria Luz García, from the University of Texas at Austin, on a documentation project for Ixil Mayan, also funded by the NSF.