Dissertation Research: A Linguistic Analysis of Tzeltal Maya Ethnosymptomatology

本研究项目涉及一个 语言人类学的研究生， 玛雅印第安人社区的疾病语言语义学 墨西哥南部。 该项目基于结构化面试 和词典编纂技术，代表了第一个 试图集中于整体语义特征 一个群体的语言符号和症状。 研究人员将 选择50种健康状况进行症状深入研究 (how”（《易经》卷一）：“人之所欲也，其所欲也，其所欲也。 观察员）。 研究人员将分析语义 模式，并将其放置在其他 分析（植物学和民族药理学语义领域） 这个社区的语义，以及比较它与其他 附近社区的说话模式 这项研究很重要，因为了解医学 文化背景中的问题是一个关键因素， 解决任何社会的健康问题。 深入了解 这一案例将有助于建立语义学的一般理论 疾 记录和保存土著民族医学 知识是保护全球生物多样性的重要组成部分。

This research project involves the dissertation research of a graduate student in linguistic anthropology who will study the semantics of illness speech in a Mayan Indian community in southern Mexico. The project, based on structured interviewing and lexicographic techniques, represents one of the first attempts to concentrate on the overall semantic characteristics of language signs and symptoms of a group. The researcher will select 50 health conditions for in-depth study about symptoms (how it feels to the afflicted person) and signs (how it appears to observers). The researcher will analyze the semantic patternsin this data and place it in the context of other analyses (of botanical and ethnopharmacological semantic domains) of this community's semantics, as well as comparing it to other near-by community speech patterns. This research is important because understanding of medical problems in their cultural context is a crucial factor in addressing health issues in any society. In-depth understanding of this one case will help build general theory on the semantics of illness. Recording and preserving indigenous ethnomedical knowledge is an important part of preserving global biodiversity.