In 2005, I obtained my Master's degree in General Linguistics from the University of Amsterdam, followed in 2007 by a Bachelor's degree in Spanish Language and Literature and a doctoraal  (equivalent to Masters') in Cultural Anthropology. During my studies I focused on South American languages and language contact with Spanish, which was an excellent preparation for my current work as a field linguist.  Since November 2008, I've been working as a researcher in the DoBeS project The Documentation of Baure: A Language of the Bolivian Amazonia , hosted at the Institute for Linguistics of the University of Leipzig. Apart from the data collection and processing of the data for the DoBeS archive, I am carrying out my PhD research about the expression of spatial relations in Baure. In my thesis I describe the grammatical resources that Baure has at its disposal for expressing spatial relations and I analyze the conceptual categories underlying these linguisticencodings. In May 2012, I joined the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication as an external PhD student, where I am supervised by Prof. Dr. P.C. (Kees) Hengeveld, and Dr. Swintha Danielsen (University of Leipzig).
I have a special interest in language preservation and the development of (digital) teaching materials for endangered languages. During several periods of fieldwork, I offered Baure language classes for children, and in 2010 I developed an online Baure vocabulary trainer. Over the past two years I coordinated the elaboration and publication of a full-fledged Baure language course book, Shi vikarow to vekori - Libro de enseñanza del idioma baure,  and a bilingual (Spanish-Baure) memory game, based on drawings made by the children in the language classes. Both were introduced to the local teachers in a workshop in April 2012, and are now used for teaching the Baure language in all primary schools in Baures and El Carmen.
For additional information on my training and experience, please select the link below to download my full CV.

• CV Femmy Admiraal

The Grammar of Space in Baure

 My study aims at a comprehensive analysis of the expression of spatial relations in Baure, and in particular the cognitive concepts underlying the linguistic encoding. Languages of the world show great variety in the way in which spatial relations are expressed.Thequestion arises whether, despite the variety in linguistic encoding, the cognitive concepts underlying such expressions show universal patterns or whether they are rather governed by culture-specific notions. Research on the expression of spatial relations has shown that, despite the variety in the encoding of spatial relations, patterns in the underlying conceptualization can be revealed. In order to discover those patterns, the linguistic encodings need to be studied in detail, and the comparison of spatial encodings in a variability of languages provides valuable insights on cultural variability in spatial thinking .

In my thesis, firstly the Baure grammatical resources for expressing spatial relations are described. These are the basic means that the language disposes of for encoding the widest variety of topological relations and motion events and the formal distinctions in the expression of spatial relations are studied in order to explore differences and similarities in semantic concepts. Secondly, in the main chapters, the conceptual categories underlying the linguistic encodings are examined. A closer look is taken at the different types locative noun stems that are used in locative noun phrases and special attention is paid to the frames of references which are employed for these static locative expressions. In the verbal domain, the various components of motion expressions are described in a formal descriptive way, and their semantic roles are identified and analyzed. Finally, the spatial components of articles, determiners and place adverbs are examined in detail.

The data on which this research is based were gathered during four periods of fieldwork, in 2008,2009,2010 and 2012. The collected data can be roughly divided into data elicited by means of stimuli, and natural speech. The majority of the stimuli used in this study were based on stimuli familiar to researchers working on language and space, such as the space games and questionnaires designed by the Language and Cognition Department of the MPI Nijmegen (http://fieldmanuals.mpi.nl/) and guided stories such as the wordless children's book Frog where are you? . The natural speech data include stories, personal histories, descriptions, and conversations. Although relatively little spatial language is used in these data, they form a good base for comparison of the use of spatial language in context.

The Baure language group  

Baure is a critically endangered language spoken in the Bolivian lowlands in the department Beni, close to the border with Brazil. It belongs to the southern branch of the Arawakan languages, together with the closely related Mojo languages (Ignaciano and Trinitario), and Paunaka. The Baure language group consists of three varieties, which are all named after the town where they used to be spoken; Baure, Carmelito and Joaquiniano. The Baure dialect is mainly spoken in Baures and its surrounding communities, which are situated at the river banks of the Río Negro in the Iténez province. The small town of El Carmen is the main place where the Carmelito dialect is spoken. It lies at the Río Blanco, approximately 80 kilometers south of Baures. The Joaquiniano dialect used to be spoken in the town of San Joaquín, which was originally founded close to Baures but was relocated in the early 19th century,and is now situated near the Río Machupo, in the province Mamoré. 
The Baure speakers are all elderly people who are fully bilingual in Spanish, the dominant language in the region. According to a census carried out by the Baure documentation project in 2009, there are 16 fully competent speakers of Baure left in and around the town of Baures. At the beginning of the project there were still six fluent speakers of the Carmelito dialect, but by now the number of speakers is down to four. In San Joaquín there are only a few semi-speakers left. Transmission of the language from one generation to the other has been interrupted for several decades. A clear break can be noticed in the 1950sand 60s, when people stopped speaking the language at home, in a political climate that strongly discouraged the use of indigenous languages in schools and other public domains. As a result, Baure was no longer learned as a first language by anyone of younger generations. However, over the past few years, the negative connotations associated with the language are diminishing and the people are realizing that a central element of their cultural heritage is about to be lost forever.

Publications

Danielsen, Swintha and Femmy Admiraal. 2014. Productive compounding in Baure (Arawakan). In: Danielsen, Swintha, Katja Hannß and Fernando Zúñiga, Word formation in South American languages (Studies in Language Companion Series), Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Admiraal, Femmy.  2013. Baure motion events: exploring the grammatical resources. Proceedings of he Coloquio Internacional Amazonicas III: Fonología y Sintaxis. Bogotá, Colombia. 

Admiraal, Femmy. 2012. Elaborating teaching materials for Baure: When teachers are learners. Proceedings of the Symposium on Teaching and Learning Indigenous Languages of Latin America. Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame.  http://kellogg.nd.edu/STLILLA/proceedings/Admiraal_Femmy.pdf.  

• Admiraal, Femmy. 2012. Elaborating teaching materials for Baure: When teachers are learners.

Presentations  

Taking the lead: The role of speakers, indigenous movements, school teachers and the local government in the revitalization of Baure. 36th International LAUD Symposium: Endangerment of Languages across the Planet: The Dynamics of Linguistic Diversity and Globalization, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany.

Hacía materiales educativos interdisciplinarios: Historia, cultura y lengua de los Baure (with Franziska Riedel).  VII BSA International Congress, Bolivian Studies Association. Sucre, 29 July - 1 August 2013.  

Die Baure und das Baure: Revitalisierung einer Minderheitensprache. 6. Treffen deutschsprachiger Südamerika-, Mesoamerika- und KaribikforscherInnen, Las Américas: Tendiendo puentes entre las Américas de hoy y ayer, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. Bonn, 23-25 May 2013.   

From theory to praxis: Lessons learned from the elaboration of Baure teaching materials. 3rd International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation. University of Hawai’i. Honolulu, 28 February - 3 March 2013.   

Baure: the first steps towards teaching materials (when teachers are learners).  Symposium on Teaching and Learning Indigenous Languages of Latin America. Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame, 30 October - 2 November 2011.  

Baure locative compounds.  Americanists Meeting on Word formation in South American languages. Institute for Linguistics, University of Leipzig. Leipzig, 24 June 2011.

The Baure language group : cultural and linguistic diversity  (with Swintha Danielsen and Franziska Riedel). LSA/SSILA Winter Meeting. Pittsburgh, 6-9 January 2011.

Spatial reference in Baure: answering the question 'where isX?'.  Intitutskolloquium, Institute for Ethnology, University of Leipzig. Leipzig, 1 July 2010.

Shared knowledge in the expression of spatial relations.  Workshop Movima-Baure, Institute for Ethnology, University of Leipzig. Leipzig, 4 February 2010. The documentation of Baure.  Intitutskolloquium, Institute for Ethnology, University of Leipzig. Leipzig, 24 June 2009.

Nominalizations in Baure.  Typologisches Forschungskolloquium, Institute for Linguistics, Universityof Leipzig. Leipzig, 18 June 2009.

Serial verbs inPapiamentu: a comparison of analyses.  Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 13 September 2005.

Language competence and language attitudes in Isoso,  Bolivia.  Conference Amerindian Languages in Contact with Spanish: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Issues, University of Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 24-25 June 2004.

Academic teaching

Guest lecture: Lenguas indígenas y política lingüística de Bolivia MA course, Institute for Spanish Language and Culture, University of Amsterdam.

Culture and language of the Isoseño-Guaraní.  MA course, Institute for Ethnology, University of Leipzig. Leipzig, April-August 2009.   

Baure teaching

Shi vikarow to vekori (Let's learn the language). Language course for children (6-14 years). Baures, October-December 2014

Shi vikarow to vekori  (Let's learn the language ). Language course for children (6-14 years). Baures, February-April 2012.

Shi vikarow to vekori (Let's learn the language). Language course for children (6-14 years). Baures, September-November 2010.

Aprender el idioma Baure (Learning the Baure language). Language course for children (6-14 years). Baures, September-November 2009.    

Aprender elidioma Baure (Learning the Baure language). Language course for children (6-14 years). Baures, December 2008-February 2009.

(Teaching) materials for indigenous language communities  

Tiow te nowoyikwon to nen anenev - Historia y cultura de los Baure . Course book for primary school children on Baure history and culture (with Franziska Riedel). Funded by National Geographic - Genographic Legacy Fund. November 2011 - December 2014. 

Shi vikarow to vekori - Libro de enseñanza del idioma baure . Santa Cruz: APCOB.   Baure language course book for primary school children (with Katja Leichsnering). Funded by the  Foundation for Endangered Languages.  February 2011 - April 2012.

Reviving voices of the past: Baure audio teaching materials. Audio CD accompanying the Baure course book. Funded by the Alice Cozzi Heritage Language Foundation. March - April 2012

Baure-Spanish memory game: play to learn.  Bilingual memory game with matching cards in Baure and Spanish, based on children's drawings. Funded by the Endangered Language Fund. May-June 2011. 

Rajmer to karowon.  Baure-Spanish version of the school report used in primary schools in Baures and El Carmen (with Swintha Danielsen).  October 2010-February 2011.

Vocabulario de la Lengua Takana.  Digital vocabulary trainer Spanish-Takana, based on Manualde Enseñanza de la Lengua Takana (EIBAMAZ-UNICEF, Rurrenabaque, 2008). In collaboration with ONG Ayni Bolivia. December 2010. 

Shi vikarow to vekori.  Digital vocabulary trainer Spanish-Baure, available online. August 2010.

• Shi vikarow to vekori

Research projects

• The Documentation of Baure (project website)

• The Documentation of Baure (DoBeS website)

• L&C Field Manuals and Stimulus Materials

• Paunaka Documentation Project

Funding institutions

• Alice Cozzi Heritage Language Foundation

• DoBeS

• Endangered Language Fund

• Foundation for Endangered Languages

• Genographic Legacy Fund

• HRELP

• Universität Leipzig - Institut für Linguistik

• Volkswagen Stiftung

Publicity

• Baure pictures used in National Geographic's Genographic Project 2.0 video

• Radio interview with members of the Baure documentation team: Die Stimmen der Menschen

• Riedel, Franziska. 2009. Leipziger Team erforscht Bedrohte Sprache in Amazonien. Journal Universität Leipzig, Vol. 3, p.23

Collaborating Bolivian organizations

• APCOB (Apoyo para el Campesino-Indígena del Oriente Boliviano)

• Centro Cultural Ambiental "Baures" (Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza)

• ONG Ayni Bolivia

No known ancillary activities