Elwira Dexter-Sobkowiak
Has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Warsaw, an MA in Ethnolinguistics
from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and an MA in Language Documentation
and Description from SOAS, University of London. Her doctoral dissertation was on
Nahuatl and Tének, two indigenous languages of the Huasteca Potosina in Mexico, and
changes in their morphosyntax that have resulted from contact with Spanish. Her main
research interests are the Mesoamerican linguistic area, anthropological linguistics,
linguistic typology, and the history and culture of Native America and the Huasteca
region in particular. Since 2014, she has been engaged in documentation and
revitalization projects in Nahua and Tének communities to promote indigenous
language use, literacy in native languages, social justice, gender equity and sustainable
development. In 2015, she received a grant from the Foundation for Endangered
Languages to document the oral tradition of the Nahua people from the region of Xilitla.
Elwira has been involved in several projects at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” of the
University of Warsaw, including Europe and America in Contact, Engaged Humanities,
LCure – Language as a Cure and CoLing – Minority Languages, Major Opportunities.
She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC project Multilingual Worlds
– Neglected Histories.
elwira.sobkowiak[at]al.uw.edu.pl
