Brook Danielle Lillehaugen

Brook Danielle Lillehaugen is a Professor of Linguistics in the Tri-College Consortium (Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore Colleges), based at Haverford College. Her research specializes in documentary linguistics, Zapotec and Mesoamerican languages, digital humanities, and syntactic analysis. She acknowledges working on Lenape land and emphasizes community collaboration in language reclamation.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2006
• M.A. in Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2002
• B.A. in Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, 1998

Research Focus:

Her interdisciplinary work bridges:

• Documentation/description of endangered Zapotec languages using archival texts and modern technology
• Digital tool development for linguistic accessibility and community engagement
• Analysis of spatial grammar, morphology, and historical language change

Publications Focus:

Her scholarly output centers on Colonial Valley Zapotec grammar (verbs, negation, locatives), digital humanities applications in language preservation, and educational tools for linguistic accessibility. Publications demonstrate consistent focus on community-centered documentation methodologies.

Digital Initiatives:

• Ticha: Colonial Zapotec text explorer (featured in OMNIA 2016)
• Zapotec Talking Dictionaries: Audio resources (covered by National Geographic, Swarthmore Bulletin)
• Tactile IPA magnet board: Phonetics teaching aid for visually impaired students

Collaborations:

Regularly mentors students in co-authored research projects and partners with Zapotec communities in Oaxaca for language reclamation initiatives.