My primary research agenda focuses on endangered languages, primarily Native American languages of the United States and Mesoamerica. I am interested in the issues of integrating language description and documentation with contemporary work in linguistic theory. I am also committed to working with Native American communities to provide dictionaries, texts, and other materials that are useful in language revitalization and maintenance.
My long-term descriptive commitments have been to grammatical and lexical descriptions of Choctaw, contemporary Zapotec (San Dionisio Ocotepec, Macuiltianguis, and Sierra Juarez varieties), Colonial Valley Zapotec, Copala Triqui, and Timucua. I have also worked on grammatical issues in a number of other languages around the world (Mon, Kaqchikel, Kiche, Yucatec,Turkish, Crow, Muskogee).