Linguistics in the wild
Hello and welcome!
I am passionate about language and language learning, with a particular focus on Indigenous language revitalization and documentation. I have extensive expertise in applied and theoretical linguistics, as well as many years of community experience working on language documentation and revitalization projects.
I am available to talk about your language project.
(See this recent article about my work here)
Past and current projects have been drawing on my linguistics training and highly flexible style in a variety of settings, both academic and in community.
First Nations Languages
My work with and for First Nations communities on language documentation, reclamation, as well as language resource development is on the one hand informed by my training in linguistic fieldwork at the University of British Columbia. On the other hand, it is informed by working with individuals, whose generosity in sharing their knowledge has been teaching me much of what I am able to use in my work today. Working with community members, language teachers, and Elders, is my ‘happy place’.
I have been working with the Stó:lō Shxwelí Halq’eméylem Language program at Stó:lō Nation since 2017, doing transcription, analysis, developing language teaching materials & curriculum, as well as training community members in ‘user-friendly linguistics’. I recently co-developed a website for the program, making legacy, teaching, and dictionary materials accessible and useful to community members in an engaging way, all while ensuring community data sovereignty and ownership.
I also currently support several other Indigenous communities and First Nations schools with language reclamation, curriculum development, and language teaching. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to get references from individual communities I am working with, or for language website and database development for your community.
From 2019-2021, I worked for First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) as a language coach, supporting First Nations Language teachers in their classrooms. Support ranged from increasing the teachers’ own oral proficiency to helping them increase their students’ language use in the classroom, to lesson and language planning. If your Indigenous language program at school would like support, please get in touch.
I have been an affiliated member of the iLab team at the University of Calgary, working on a data visualization project for Canadian Open Energy Data. For this work, I have used my linguistics expertise to advise on textual data. I have also been involved in an interview project that aimed to get an understanding of the public’s information needs with respect to Open Energy Data.
Living with three dyslexics (two of my three children and their dad) piqued my interest about dyslexia research. I completed the intensive coursework for Orton-Gillingham tutors (via the Dyslexia Training Institute- DTI) while looking at dyslexia through a linguist’s lens. I have been invited by DTI to present webinars at their yearly online conference in 2019 and 2022, introducing basic linguistics terminology and principles to teachers. I also took an intensive seminar with Pete Bowers at Wordworks Kingston, to gain a deeper understanding of Structured Word Inquiry, a methodology that teaches spelling based on linguistics principles.
I was born in Bavaria, in a little mountain town in the south of Germany. In my twenties, I moved to Washington State, where I attended the University of Washington to complete a double BA in Spanish and Linguistics. I loved linguistics so much, that I went on to graduate school at the University of British Columbia in BC to pursue that passion and get a Ph.D. I now work as a linguistics and language consultant from my home in the Kootenay region in the interior of BC, where I am lucky enough to live, work, and play on the unceded and ancestral territories of the Sinixt.
My work is informed by a keen interest in continued growth, accountability, learning, and getting out of my comfort zone. Read here for a recent article about my work.
When I am not digging deep into language research, you can find me on the mats practicing Aikido, rollerskating, or hiking with my partner and kids. I love language, and love connecting with people!