School of Interdisciplinary Studies Indigenous and Endangered Languages LabCollege of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the IELLAB

We invite you to explore our website to find out more about what we do. Our researchers have a wide range of experience and interests which span several languages and fields of research.

Contact: 
Phone: (765) 494-8118
Fax: (765) 494-3780

Our office is located in Heavilon Hall, Room 124 ( Campus map) 
For more information about the IELLab, email Prof. Elena Benedicto

Mission Statement

The IELLab strives to intersect the goals of formal theoretical linguistics with the needs of communities speaking indigenous, minority and endangered languages.

The best way to study an endangered, minority, indigenous, un- or under-described language is if a speaker of the language is also the linguist working on it. One of the main goals of the IELLab is to train speakers of the languages so that they can become the linguists of those languages.

Undergraduate / Graduate Internship Opportunities

The IELLab offers regular opportunities to intern in the projects it conducts. Both undergrad and graduate students are welcome. Students are trained in research techniques and are able to 'taste' what research is about or which kind of research project they would prefer to work on. A good opportunity for undergrads with a little bit of intellectual curiosity or thinking about graduate school. Graduate students still thinking about potential research projects can use the internships to explore possible topics for future research. 

The following projects are open for internships. If interested, contact Prof. Benedicto at ebenedi@purdue.edu. Undergraduates can also participate under the Margo Katherine Wilke Undergraduate Research Internship Program.

Current Projects

  • Motion PredicatesEarly Acquisition of Multiple Grammars (Bi- and Multi-lingualism)

    • Sign Languages (ASL, HKSL, LIS)

    • Cabécar, Mayangna, Miskitu

  • Tati

  • Ghanaian Student Pidgin

  • Linguistic Ideologies

  • The Mayangna Language Project

  • Meronymy in Mayangna

 Past Projects

  • SwaTawWe

  • The Tigrinya Language Project

  • Kedjom

  • LSA, LSC (Argentinean Sign Language, Catalan Sign Language)

  • Hokkien

  • Jordanian Arabic

  • Euskera

  • Antiguan Creole

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (765) 494-4600

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