Dissertation Research: A Linguistic Analysis of Tzeltal Maya Ethnosymptomatology

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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.