carol rose little

main • research • teaching • cv • ch'ol poetry translations • email • en español

I am an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, and currently a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in the department of linguistics from January 2025 until May 2025.

I am interested in syntax and its connections to the semantics and morphology interfaces. The empirical basis for my work comes from my original fieldwork with under-studied languages, primarily Ch'ol (Mayan, Mexico). I have a PhD in linguistics from Cornell University with graduate minors in American Indian and Indigenous Studies and Cognitive Science.

Working with poet and author Charlotte Friedman, we have translated two collections of Juana Peñate's from Ch'ol to English and have published poems from them in literary journals such as World Literature Today, The Arkansas International and Exchanges. For a list and links to our Ch'ol poetry translations click here.

I am a professionally qualified Ch'ol intepreter (sometimes spelled Chol) and have worked in US state superior courts and federal courts. In the summer of 2024, I interpreted a five-week-long criminal jury trial into Ch'ol. For inquiries about Ch'ol interpreting and translation email me here.

recent and upcoming

• April 27. Adjunct control in Ch'ol comitatives. West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 43. University of Washington, Seattle.
• April 22. The Syntax of Comitatives in Ch'ol. Syntax/Sematics Babble UC, San Diego.
• April 18. The syntax of Accompanying in Ch'ol. Indigenous Languages of Latin America Through Formal Lenses at the Ohio State University.
• February. Dependent case, first person plural and impersonal morphosyntax in Finnish. Berkeley SS Circle Talk.
• February. The Syntax of Accompanying in Ch'ol. Berkeley Linguisics Colloquium Talk.
• Published! Translating Ch'ol Poetry into English: An Abecedarian Essay. Accepted at Anthropology and Humanism with Charlotte Friedman [link]
• November 22. From Poetry to the Courtroom: Perspectives on Translating Ch'ol, a Mayan language. Talk to be given at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
• November 2024. Mirco-variation in the grammar of comparison and measurement in Ch’ol (Mayan). Accepted at International Journal of American Linguistics With Luis Miguel Toquero Perez. [pre-pub link]
• June 2024. Op-Ed in the Tulsa World ''Human creativity and empathy come from an embrace of a multi-linguistic cultures'' [link] (ask me for a pdf if this is behind a paywall!)