Project Description

The Mexican Indigenous Languages Promotion and Advocacy project (MILPA) is a multi-faceted academic and community collaboration between UCSB linguists and speakers of indigenous languages of Mexico that are also spoken in the California diaspora. Research activites include documenting and describing the structure and use of the languages, creating multilingual dictionaries and corpora of language in use, a community language survey, and creating language-related materials for community use and benefit.

Undergraduate Contribution

Undergraduate students work as a team with linguistics faculty and/or graduate students to organize and analyze linguistic data for creating dictionaries and print or web materials that support indigenous language use and maintenance, or to process language survey data.

Requirements/Application Instructions

Students of any level may participate. Requirements include basic computer software skills, ability to work as part of a team as well as independently, and transparent and timely communication skills. Spanish proficiency is preferred (but not required), and students who identify as indigenous are especially encouraged to get involved.