Pilar Valenzuela

Dr. Pilar Valenzuela

Professor
Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Department of World Languages and Cultures
Office Location: DeMille Hall 120 B
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 4-5pm and by appointment
Phone: (714) 997-6516
Website: http://www.pilarvalenzuela.com/
Scholarly Works:
Digital Commons
Education:
Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Bachelor of Arts
University of Oregon, Master of Arts
University of Oregon, Ph.D.

Biography

Pilar Valenzuela received a B.A. in Hispanic Linguistics & Literature and a Diploma in Anthropology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, as well as a Master's and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Oregon. Her doctoral dissertation, Transitivity in Shipibo-Konibo Grammar, received the "Mary R. Haas Book Award" granted by the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas.

Dr. Valenzuela's publications comprise three books and various articles, especially on Panoan and Kawapanan languages; topics include synchronic & historical syntax, ethnobiological taxonomy, verb borrowing, and the bilingual testimony of an indigenous Amazonian woman. She has also worked as researcher, instructor and consultant in language development and intercultural bilingual education among the indigenous peoples of Peru and Bolivia. Professor Valenzuela has been awarded the prestigious Wang-Fradkin Professorship for Scholarly Excellence (2006-2008) as well as a National Science Foundation grant to document the languages of the Kawapanan family in Peruvian Amazonia (DEL BCS-0853285).

in 2012 Dr. Valenzuela received the first “Global Engagement” research award, granted by Chapman University Research and Sponsored Programs Administration.

Courses Taught at Chapman:

  • SPAN 102 - Elementary Spanish II
  • SPAN 345 - Advanced Spanish Conversation
  • SPAN 343 - Advanced Grammar & Composition
  • SPAN 396 - Intro to Hispanic Linguistics
  • SPAN 440 - A Multidisciplinary Approach to Spanish Bilingualism
  • SPAN 441 - Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
  • SPAN 499 - Documenting Shiwilu: A vanishing language from the Upper Amazon
  • IELP 201GC - Individual Experiential Learning Project (Jeberos, Peruvian Amazonia)

Chapman undergraduate students discussing their involvement with the Shiwilu Project, specifically in the elaboration of a trilingual (Shiwilu-Spanish-English) dictionary.


As part of the SPAN 396 course (Fall 2010), taught by  Dr. Pilar Valenzuela, Associate Professor of Department of Languages, students worked on Spanish and English versions and learned about linguistic diversity, differences in worldview and culture, and habitat. They also improved their knowledge of Spanish, which included learning vocabulary from the Spanish dialect spoken in the Peruvian Amazon.

Learn more about the Kawapanan Languages

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

Zariquiey, Roberto and Pilar Valenzuela (eds.). The grammar of body part expressions: A view from the Americas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roberto Zariquiey and Pilar M. Valenzuela. Introduction. In Roberto Zariquiey and Pilar Valenzuela (eds.), The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions: A view from the Americas, 1-13. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Valenzuela, Pilar M. Plant and animal body-part terms in Shiwilu grammar: Classification, nominalization, and incorporation. In Roberto Zariquiey and Pilar Valenzuela (eds.), The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions: A view from the Americas, 373-400. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roberto Zariquiey and Pilar M. Valenzuela. Body-part nouns, prefixation, incorporation, and compounding in Pano and Takana: Evidence in favor of the Pano-Takana Hypothesis. In Roberto Zariquiey and Pilar Valenzuela (eds.), The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions: A view from the Americas, 441-466. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Valenzuela, Pilar M. Nominal incorporation in Shiwilu (Kawapanan): Nouns, classifiers and the deceased marker =ku’. In Anne Storch and R.M.W. Dixon (eds.), Linguistics as Art, Language as Joy, 397–422. Leiden: Brill.
Valenzuela, Pilar and Sanderson Castro Soares de Oliveira. Degrees of Temporal Remoteness in Pano: Contribution to the cross-linguistic study of tense. LIAMES, Campinas, SP, vol 22: 1-44.
Roberto Zariquiey, Javier Vera, Simon J. Greenhill, Pilar Valenzuela, Russell J. Gray and Johann-Mattis List. 2023.Untangling the evolution of body-part terminology in Pano: conservative versus innovative traits in body-part lexicalization. Interface Focus. 132022005320220053
Valenzuela Bismarck, Pilar, Luis Márquez Pinedo, Javier Ramírez Bardales, and Evaristo López Magín. Non Joi Kano Wishá. Gramática Pedagógica Shipibo-Konibo. Lima: Ministerio de Educación del Perú, 2017.
Valenzuela, Pilar M. and Antoine Guillaume. 2017. “Estudios sincrónicos y diacrónicos sobre lenguas Pano y Takana: una introducción, Estudios Pano y Takana: Fonología, Morfología y Sintaxis, Amerindia 39:1-48.
Guillaume, Antoine and Pilar M. Valenzuela (eds.). 2017. Estudios Pano y Takana: Fonología, Morfología y Sintaxis, special issue of Amerindia, n. 39, two volumes.
Valenzuela, Pilar M. 2016. “Simple” and “Double” Applicatives in Shiwilu (Kawapanan).” Studies in Language 40, 3:513-550.
Valenzuela, Pilar, Meneleo Careajano, Emérita Guerra, Julia Inuma and Fernando Lachuma. Kirka’ Llawer’lla’la’ Ñak: Diccionario Shiwilu-Castellano y Castellano-Shiwilu. Lima: Federación de Comunidades Nativas de Jeberos (FECONAJE).
“Argument Encoding and Pragmatic Marking of the Transitive Subject in Shiwilu (Kawapanan).” International Journal of American Linguistics, 77: 91-120.
“Contribuciones para la reconstrucción del proto-cahuapana: Comparación léxica y gramatical de las lenguas jebero y chayahuita.” In W.F.H. Adelaar, P. Valenzuela Bismarck & R. Zariquiey Biondi (eds.), Estudios en lenguas andinas y amazónicas. Homenaje a Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino. Lima: Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, pp. 271-304.
W.F.H. Adelaar, P. Valenzuela Bismarck & R. Zariquiey Biondi (eds.), Estudios en lenguas andinas y amazónicas. Homenaje a Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino. Lima: Fondo Editorial Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
“Argument Encoding and Pragmatic Marking of the ‘Ergative’ in Shiwilu (Kawapanan).” International Journal of American Linguistics, 77: 91-120.
“Multi-verb predicates and transitivity harmony in Shipibo-Konibo.” In P. C. Muysken & A. Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), Multi-verb Constructions: A view from the Americas. Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, pp. 185-212. Amsterdam: Brill.
“Applicative constructions in Shipibo-Konibo (Panoan).” International Journal of American Linguistics, 76: 101-144.
“Ethnic-racial reclassification and language revitalization among the Shiwilu from Peruvian Amazonia.” International Journal for the Sociology of Language, vol. 2010, 202: 117-130.
“Ergativity in Shipibo-Konibo.” In S. Gildea & F. Queixalós (eds.) Ergativity in Amazonia, Typological Studies in Language 89, pp. 63-94. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Aspectos de la Morfología Shipibo-Konibo. In R. Arzápalo & Z. Estrada (eds.) Estudios de lenguas amerindias 2: contribuciones al estudio de las lenguas originarias de América, pp. 257-280. Hermosillo, Mexico: Universidad de Sonora. (peer-reviewed)
“Acusatividad y marcacion "opcional" del ergativo en shiwilu (Kawapana).” La structure des langues amazoniennes I. Amerindia 32: 205-221. Paris: A.E.A.
“Pano ethnonyms and linguistic human rights.” UniverSOS, Revista de Lenguas Indígenas y Universos Culturales, n. 5, 57-63.
“El testimonio de una mujer shipiba: una experiencia de colaboración intercultural” (keynote speech). In Luis Miranda (ed.), Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Investigaciones Lingüístico-Filológicas. Lima: UNESCO, Academia Peruana de la Lengua, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos y Universidad Ricardo Palma, pp. 111-134.

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