Lecture
Starting at the root: P'urhepecha and the early history of American lexicography
- Date
- Thursday 9 July 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 0.11
Abstract
As the subject of the first printed grammar and the first printed bidirectional dictionary, P’urhepecha, a language isolate still spoken in the state of Michoacán (Mexico), plays a pivotal role in the history of descriptive linguistics in the Americas. In this talk, I will discuss how the three dictionaries that were produced for the language during the 16th century not only provide invaluable data for historical linguistic research, but also demonstrate an evolution of understanding of the language, thereby taking us back to the root.
This lecture is part of the Summer School in Languages and Linguistics, but is open to anyone who is interested.