Publications and Funding
Last Updated: November 2022
AWARDS AND FUNDING
2021
Summer research funding award to support 6 Chin students. IU Undergraduate Research Office of Engaged Learning. $15000.
2020
“RAPID: Collaborative Research: Providing useable COVID-19 health information to linguistically underserved people.” National Science Foundation. Kelly Berkson, PI $68,875. May 2020 -October 2021. (Collaborative award to UNT, PI Shobhana Chelliah and Co-PI Sara Champlin, $85,774.00., May 2020 and transferred to IU till August 2024).
Post-baccalaureate research assistant funding for the Chin Languages Research Project. IU Undergraduate Research Office of Engaged Learning. $3000
2019
“Chin Languages and Linguistics in the Indianapolis Burmese Refugee Community.” IU Social Science Research Commons Seed Grant. $8,430.
“Chin Languages Research Project Summer 2019 Research Internship Program.” IU Undergraduate Research Office of Engaged Learning. $4,060.
2018
“Building a Hakha Chin Corpus.” Ostrom Grant. Kelly Berkson PI, Sandra Kuebler co-PI. $7920.
PUBLICATIONS
(a list of papers in prep can be found at the end of this section)
Chapters in Edited Volumes
in press
Berkson, K, Wamsley, J.C., Lotven, S., Chelliah, S., Van Bik, K., Champlin, S., Sakhong, K., Par, S. H., Matthews, A., & Bohnert, A. (in press). “A developing community of collaboration in Indiana.” solicited for inclusion in Now What? Forced Migration and Higher Education. M. Höhn, B. Murray, & M. Brill-Carlat, (Eds.). Brill.
Articles
2022
Berkson, K., & Par, S. H. Hnaring Lutuv squibs: Situating the language and the volume. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 3(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2022.v3i1.34563
Berkson, K., Bohnert, A., & Par, S. H. Consonant sounds in Hnaring Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 3(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2022.v3i1.35442
Bohnert, A., Berkson, K., & Par, S. H. Vowel sounds in Hnaring Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 3(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2022.v3i1.3544
Robinson, A. Standard sentential negation in basic declarative utterances in Hnaring Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 3(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2022.v3i1.35446
Ziegler, G. Tenselessness in Hnaring Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 3(1), 1-3 https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2022.v3i1.35584
2020
Lotven, S., Berkson, K., Wamsley, J. C., Danaher, J., Van Bik, K., & Davis, S. The syllable in Kuki-Chin. Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 6(2), 281-308. https://doi.org/10.1515/jsall-2019-2014
Ngaihte, C. N., Holliday, J. J., & Berkson, K. H. Some temporal and spectral properties of Paite obstruents. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology, and Morphology, 26(2), 341-363. https://phonology.jams.or.kr/co/main/jmMain.kci
Haza, J., & Wagner, A. Adpositions in Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 2(1), 12-17. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2020.v2i1.31581
Lotven, S. Lexical correspondences between Proto-Kuki-Chin, Hakha Lai, and six Maraic varieties. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures, (IWPSALC), 2(1), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2020.v2i1.30891
Lotven, S. Some diachronic phonological changes from Proto-Kuki-Chin to Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 2(1), 18-30. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2020.v2i1.30890
Matthews, A., & Wamsley, J. A brief report on the demonstrative system of Hnaring Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 2(1), 1-11. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/iwpsalc/article/view/31104
Wamsley, J.C., Sakhong, K., & Lotven, S. Nuitah Zophei Swadesh list. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 2(1), 40-43. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2020.v2i1.31160
2019
Berkson, K., Lotven, S., Thang, P.H., Thawngza, T., Sung, Z. , Wamsley, J., Tyers, F., Van Bik, K., Kübler, S., Williamson, D., & Anderson, M. Building a Common Voice Corpus for Laiholh (Hakha Chin). Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages: Vol. 2, Article 2. Available at: https://scholar.colorado.edu/scil-cmel/vol2/iss1/2
Danaher, J. Verbal characteristics of Adjectives in Hakha Chin. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 1(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27457
Flego, S. Internally-headed relative clauses in Hakha Chin. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 1(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27450
Lotven, S., & Berkson, K. A vowel space comparison of Tlawngrang Zophei and Lawngtlang Zophei. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 1(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27462
Lotven, S., Par, S. H., Wamsley, J. C., & Berkson, K. Hnaring Lutuv Swadesh list. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 1(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27747
Lotven, S., Sung, Z., Wamsley, J. C., & Berkson, K. Lawngtlang Zophei Swadesh list. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 1(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27461
Lee, S. S., & Berkson, K. Speech-rate effects in a 3-category language: Evidence from Hakha Chin. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures, 1(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27453
Merritt, H. Embodied grammaticalizations of time in Hakha Chin: Ka hnu and hmai. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 1(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27463
Wamsley, J. C. Demonstratives and the noun phrase structure of Hakha Chin. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 1(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27454
Yandt, G. Variation and culture in Laiholh psycho-collocations. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC), 1(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.14434/iwpsalc2019.v1i1.27459
in prep
Berkson, K., Bohnert, A., Par, S. (To appear). Numeral Classifiers in Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC) 2(2).
Berkson, K., Bohnert, A., Par, S. (To appear). Segmental Inventory of Lutuv. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC) 2(2).
Wamsley, J. (To appear). Definite Expressions in Hakha Lai. Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages & Cultures (IWPSALC) 2(2).
Electronic Resources
2020
Berkson, K. H., and members of the Chin Languages Research Team (bios at https://www.chinlanguages.org/our-team) (2020). COVID-19 informational materials in Hakha Lai. Ongoing effort to translate COVID-19-related materials into Hakha Lai, the language spoken by approx. half of Indiana’s large Burmese refugee community. Local pastors and organizations pass requests for information on to our team. All materials are hosted online at https://www.chinlanguages.org/ and are disseminated via social media.
2018
Berkson, K.H., Thang P. H., Thawngza, T., Sung, Z., Tyers, F., and additional graduate and undergraduate students. (2018). “Laiholh component of Mozilla’s Common Voice Project.” Available at https://voice.mozilla.org/cnh. Data collection platform being used to develop a spoken Laiholh corpus which will eventually contribute to the development of voice recognition technology for Laiholh/Hakha Chin.
PRESENTATIONS
(2020-2021 activity severely constrained by COVID-19 pandemic)
2022
Zathang, R., Iang, D., Em Em, Par, S.T., Sung, B., Tial, A., Bawi, P., Vang, R., Gray, R., Berkson, K., Kay, J., Bohnert, A., Par, S.H., Smith, D., Wamsley, J., and Ziegler, G. (2022). The Chin Folklife Survey (Stage 1) [Poster presentation]. Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
Wamsley, J. C. (2022, May 19). An investigation of polyfunctional discourse particle cu in Hakha Lai [Conference presentation]. 31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS). University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Manoa, HI [Zoom].
Berkson, K. & Lotven, S. (2022, Jan. 7). The Chin Languages Research Project: Collaborative research and documentation in Indiana [Special session]. 2022 Annual Meeting of the LSA, Washington, D. C.
Berkson, K., Lotven, S., Wamsley, J., Smith, D., Flego, S., & Bohnert, A. (2022, Feb. 4). The Chin Languages Research Project: Working with underdocumented languages in Indiana [Colloquium presentation]. Indiana University Linguistics Department Colloquium Series, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
2021
Wamsley, J. (2021, Dec. 3). Conducting semantic fieldwork on Hakha Lai [Colloquium talk]. California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA.
Matthews, A. (2021). Language, literacy, and cultural transmission in a Lutuv community [Poster presentation]. Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. [link]
Sakhong, K., Sung, B. H. , Tha, B., Zathang, A., Iang, D., Sung, B., Tha Par, B., Berkson, K., & Wamsley, J. C. (2021). Linguistically underserved communities and health [Poster presentation]. Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
2020
Berkson, K., Chelliah, S. & S. Lotven. “The Chin Languages Research Project and LUCAH: Being of service and investigating typologically rare phenomena in Kuki-Chin languages in Indiana.” Centre for Research on Language Diversity, La Trobe University. Melbourne, Australia. November 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rocXrKHZPUg
Berkson, K. “The Chin Languages Research Project: Investigating typologically rare phenomena in Kuki-Chin languages in Indiana.” Colloquium, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo). October 23, 2020.
Invited panelist (with Shobhana Chelliah). “Language and Health: Linguistic Documentation as a Tool for Social Good in a Pandemic.” ICSTLL 53 (International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics.) Hosted via Zoom, University of North Texas, October 2, 2020.
Wamsley, J. Definite Expressions in Hakha Lai. Talk presented at ICSTLL 53 (International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics). Hosted via Zoom, University of North Texas, October 2, 2020.
2019
Berkson, K. “Opportunities are everywhere: Investigating typologically unusual undocumented languages in…Indiana?” Invited Keynote Address, IU Undergraduate Research Conference (IUURC). IU Bloomington. November 2019.
Berkson, K., Lotven, S., & Flego, S. Typologically rare phonetic and phonological phenomena in undocumented languages in…Indiana? Oral presentation at the 24th Annual Mid-continental Phonetics and Phonology Conference. October 4, 2019. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Par, S., Berkson, K., & Lotven, S. Literacy efforts in Lutuv. Poster presented at IU’s Summer 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium, IU Bloomington. [link]
Thwangza, T., Wamsley, J., & Berkson, K. Hakha Lai acquisition and attitudes. Poster presented at IU’s Summer 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium, IU Bloomington. [link]
Sung, Z., Lotven, S., & Berkson, K. The verbal complex in Zophei. Poster presented at IU’s Summer 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium, IU Bloomington. [link]
Haley, R., Lotven, S. A., Wamsley, J., & Berkson, K. Quantity, quality, both or neither? Vowel contrasts in Hakha Chin monophthongs. 177th Meeting of the ASA. Louisville, KY. May 2019. (published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 145(3), 1928-1928.)
Berkson, K., S. Lotven, P.H. Thang, T. Thawngza, Z. Sung, J. Wamsley, F. Tyers, K. Van Bik, S. Kübler, D. Williamson, and M. Anderson. Building a Common Voice Corpus for Laiholh (Hakha Chin). 3rd Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages. Honolulu, Hawai’i. February 2019.
2018
Berkson, K., Lotven, S. A., Wamsley, J., Sung, Z., Thang, P. H., Thawngza, T., de Jong, K., Kuebler, S., & Lulich, S. M. Kuki-Chin languages in Indiana: Investigating typologically rare sounds in a developing community of collaboration. 176th Meeting of the ASA. Victoria, BC. November 2018. (published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(3), 1937-1937.)
Lotven, S. A. and K. Berkson. A vowel space comparison of Tlawngrang Zophei and Lawngtlang Zophei. 176th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Victoria, BC. November 2018. (published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(3), 1940-1940.)
Smith, J., Flego, S., and K. Berkson. Articulatory and acoustic investigation of coronals in Hakha Chin. 175th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Minneapolis, MN. May 2018. (Published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143.3:1755-1755.)
Keynotes, Colloquia, and Invited Talks
2019
Berkson, K. “Opportunities are everywhere: Investigating typologically unusual undocumented languages in…Indiana?” Invited keynote address, IU Undergraduate Research Conference (IUURC). IU Bloomington. November 2019.