Janis Nuckolls

Janis Nuckolls is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics within the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University. She is a full-time faculty member specializing in anthropological linguistics, with extensive fieldwork experience in Amazonian Ecuador, particularly in the Pastaza province. Her research focuses on Quichua verbal practices, ideophones, and evidentiality in the context of human-nature relationships.

• BA, University of Wisconsin, Madison (1981)
• MA, University of Chicago (1983)
• PhD, University of Chicago (1990)

Her research interests include ideophony, sound symbolism, evidentiality, discourse processes, and the cultural poetics of language. She explores how linguistic forms such as ideophones convey sensory experiences and attitudinal stances, particularly in relation to nonhuman nature. Her work bridges linguistic structure and cultural meaning, emphasizing embodied and expressive communication in indigenous contexts.

The analysis of her publications reveals a consistent focus on Quichua language and Amazonian expressive systems, especially the role of ideophones in narrative, cognition, and ecological knowledge. Her scholarly output spans linguistic theory, cognitive anthropology, and language documentation, with a strong emphasis on multimodal and sensory dimensions of speech.

She has been recognized with the Barker Lectureship (2013–2014) by the College of Humanities, highlighting her contributions to interdisciplinary scholarship.

• Barker Lectureship, College of Humanities (2013–2014)

Dr. Nuckolls advises students through her teaching and fieldwork leadership, notably in the Andes and Amazon Field School in Napo Province, Ecuador, where she offers Quichua Field Studies. While specific advisees are not listed, her mentorship is evident in her sustained field research and pedagogical engagement. She has secured grants supporting linguistic documentation and cultural preservation, though specific funding sources are not detailed in the text.

She leads research initiatives focused on Quichua grammar, including phonology and verbal morphology, and investigates how ideophony facilitates the transmission of unconventional or experiential knowledge. Her work contributes to broader efforts in language preservation and cognitive-linguistic theory.