Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica (PDLMA)[]
The Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica (PDLMA) or, El Proyecto para la Documentación de las Lenguas de Mesoamérica, is a project began in 1993 by Terrence Kaufman, John Justeson, and Roberto Zavala Maldonado to document the lexicon, phonology, and morphosyntax of selected Mixe-Zoquean (also, Mije-Sokean) languages, which by 1995 was extended to all living Mixe-Zoquean languages. Besides the value of the work for its own sake, this documentation was undertaken in order to facilitate a reconstruction of the proto-Mixe-Zoquean proto-language. This reconstruction, and the documentation of the individual Mixe-Zoquean languages, was to serve as a resource for revising and extending the decipherment of Epi-Olmec writing.
Linguistic diversity in Meso-America, the target of PDLMA's efforts.
In 1995 the Project began research on 5 of a projected 11 Zapotecan languages. These were to be documented, the ancestral proto-Zapotecan language was to be reconstructed, and the reconstruction, along with the documentation of the individual Sapotekan languages, was to help in the decipherment of Zapoteco hieroglyphic writing, which had been under way since 1992. In 1996 research on 4 more Zapotecan languages was started. In 1997 work began on Matlatzinka (Oto-Pamean) and Mecayapan Gulf Nahua (Uto-Aztecan); in 1998 on Tlawika (Oto-Pamean); in 1999 on Zongolica Nahua (Uto-Aztecan), Huehuetla Tepehua (Totonakan), and Otlaltepec Popoloca (Oto-Manguean); in 2000 on Zapotitlán Totonaco (Totonakan) and Yatzachi-Zoogocho Northern Zapoteco (Zapotecan).
The preparation of a dictionary for each language was undertaken by a different linguist; some of these linguists were advanced graduate students, others post-PhD professionals; one was a beginning graduate student. A major feature of the Project is that a set of specialists in each language family is trained in the context of regular and long-term interaction, helping to generate a body of lore that is tested through discussion and comparison of the results of individual investigation.
PDLMA is supported by major grants from The National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation, with occasional funds coming from the University of Pittsburgh and SUNY-Albany.