Multidialectal Lexical Documentation of Yaminahua, Nahua, and Sharanahua

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide to for the linguistic documentation of endangered language and knowledge. Grantees create multimedia collection of endangered languages. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) housed at the library of SOAS University of London.

This project documents dialectal variation in Yaminahua, Nahua, and Sharanahua, three Panoan languages that form part of a large dialect complex extending across western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northeastern Bolivia. This project documents the four primary varieties spoken in Peru: Yaminahua of the Sepahua river, Yaminahua of the Yurúa river, Nahua (Yora), and Sharanahua. The total speaker population for all varieties is under 1400, and the speaker communities are geographically dispersed and largely shifting to Spanish. This project focuses on the documentation of migration and contact histories and linguistic attitudes toward variation, particularly lexical and phonological variation. Primary investigator: Kelsey Neely

Project Details


Location: Peru, South America, Peru, Peru, Americas, United States of America Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): University of Texas at Austin Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £124,699.00 Commencement Date: 01/2015 Project Status: Active
Project owner? Update this project



Related Projects

Archive Collage

Understanding Mandate Palestine through the publications and archive of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem

This project digitised 33000 pages of rare books (1619-1950) and archives (1919-1950) from the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, preserving endangered materials on M…

Explore project
EAP1402 Pub003

19th-century documents from the Peruvian asylum el Manicomio del Cercado

The Victor Larco Herrera Hospital in the centre of Lima, Peru, was closed in 1917. Its archives, dating back to 1859, consist of medical documentation as well as administrativ…

Explore project
EAP1306 Silk Museum

The Caucasian Silk Circle: Digitising Photo Collection of the State Silk Museum in Georgia

The State Silk Museum of Georgia holds the only documentary evidence of the practice of sericulture in the 19th century. Taken during expeditions of the Caucasian Sericulture …

Explore project