Luca Ciucci studied Linguistics at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, in Italy. Moved by a passion for learning new languages, in September 2007 he began his research on the Zamucoan languages (Ayoreo, Chamacoco and Old Zamuco) with a special focus on morphology and the genetic relationships between these languages spoken in southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay. In 2009 he discovered the earliest grammar of Ecuadorian Quechua. His doctoral dissertation, defended in April 2013, concerned the study of the morphology in Zamucoan and his recent book Inflectional morphology in the Zamucoan languages (published by CEADUC) is considered the most detailed morphological description of a South American language family. He is now working on a descriptive grammar of Chamacoco (Ebitoso), an endangered and undescribed language spoken in Paraguay by approximately 1,800 speakers. He aims at preserving a part of our cultural heritage through language documentation. He is also working on the reconstruction of Proto-Zamuco and on an up-dated grammar of Old Zamuco, now extinct, based on the data collected by the Jesuit missioner Ignace Chomé in the 18th century. In May 2017 he began the documentation of Chiquitano (aka Bésɨro), with a particular focus on language contact between Chiquitano and the surrounding languages, and the evolution of Chiquitano through the comparison between different Chiquitano varieties spoken nowadays and the historical documents available on this language.

For more information: http://www.cairnsinstitute.jcu.edu.au/luca-ciucci/

Research Disciplines

• Linguistics (4704)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding knowledge (2801)
• Communication (1302)

Awards

• 2005 - Winner of a full-time scholarship at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa), Economic Sciences.
• 2015 to 2016 - Young Researcher Grant from Scuola Normale Superiore for the project "Critical edition and linguistic comment of Chomé’s Vocabulario de la lengua zamuca" (Principal Investigator).
• 2014 to 2015 - Young Researcher Grant from Scuola Normale Superiore for the project "Language contact in the Chaco linguistic area: morphological borrowing in and from the Zamucoan family" (Principal Investigator).
• 2014 - Prize for the best presentation by young scholars (category Post-docs) at "Chronos, 11th th International Conference on Actionality, Tense, Aspect, Modality/Evidentiality". Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa. June 16-18, 2014.
• 2013 to 2014 - Young Researcher Grant from Scuola Normale Superiore for the project "Lexicographical and Morphological Studies on Ancient Zamuco and its Dialects" (Principal Investigator).
• 2008 to 2012 - Winner of a Ph.D. position with full-time scholarship at Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa).
• 2005 to 2008 - Winner of a full-time scholarship at Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa), Litterary Studies (Classe di Lettere).

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Ciucci L (2021) Zamucoan ethnonymy in the 18th century and the etymology of Ayoreo. Journal de la Société des américanistes, 107 (2). pp. 77-114
• Ciucci L (2021) How to restructure a grammatical category: the innovative person system of Chamacoco (Zamucoan, northern Paraguay). Folia Linguistica Historica, 55 (s42-s1). pp. 111-154
• Ciucci L (2021) How historical data complement fieldwork: new diachronic perspectives on Zamucoan verb inflection. Studia Linguistica, 75 (2). pp. 289-327
• Ciucci L (2021) From fieldwork to reconstruction: historical issues in hotspots of linguistic diversity. Studia Linguistica, 75 (2). pp. 165-174
• Ciucci L (2021) The hispanization of Chamacoco syntax. Italian Journal of Linguistics/Rivista di Linguistica, 33 (1). pp. 111-134
• Ciucci L (2020) Matter borrowing, pattern borrowing and typological rarities in the Gran Chaco of South America. Morphology, 30. pp. 283-310
• Bertinetto P, Ciucci L and Farina M (2019) Two types of morphologically expressed non-verbal predication. Studies in Language, 43 (1). pp. 120-197

Book Chapters

• Ciucci L (2022) The healing words of the Ayoreo. In: The Art of Language. Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, 32. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 251-267
• Ciucci L (2021) How grammar and culture interact in Zamucoan. In: The Integration of Language and Society: a cross-linguistic typology. Explorations in Linguistic Typology. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, pp. 235-287
• Ciucci L (2020) Wordhood in Chamacoco. In: Phonological word and grammatical word: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K., pp. 78-120
• Ciucci L and Bertinetto P (2019) Possessive classifiers in Zamucoan. In: Genders and Classifiers: A Cross-Linguistic Typology. Explorations in Linguistic Typology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 144-175

Conference Papers

• Ciucci L and Bertinetto P (2019) Reconstructing Proto-Zamucoan. Evidence (mostly) from Verb inflection. Tra semantica e sintassi: il ruolo della linguistica storica. Atti del Convegno congiunto Società Italiana di Glottologia - Indogermanische Gesellschaft. In: XLII Convegno Annuale, congiunto con la Indogermanische Gesellschaft: TRA SEMANTICA E SINTASSI: IL RUOLO DELLA LINGUISTICA STORICA / Zwischen Semantik und Syntax: Die Rolle der Historischen Sprachwissenschaft, 11-14 October 2017, Verona, Italy

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 35+ research outputs authored by Dr Luca Ciucci from 2008 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

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These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Completed

• A grammar of Doromu-Koki: a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea (2022, PhD , Secondary Advisor)