Michal Temkin Martinez

{{Short description|Linguist}}

Michal Temkin Martinez is a linguist who has worked on Somali, Chizigula, and Modern Hebrew. Temkin Martinez received her PhD from University of Southern California in 2010.{{cite web |title=May/June Member Spotlight: Michal Temkin Martinez |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/mayjune-member-spotlight-michal-temkin-martinez |website=Linguistic Society of America |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626110712/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/mayjune-member-spotlight-michal-temkin-martinez |archive-date=26 June 2021 |date=May 2016 |url-status=live |language=en-US}} She is currently a professor at Boise State University and is the founding director of the Mary Ellen Ryder Linguistics Lab. Her current research focuses on languages spoken in refugee communities and integrating experimental methodology with language documentation.{{cite web |title=Michal Temkin Martinez |url=https://www.boisestate.edu/english/faculty-and-staff/michal-temkin-martinez/ |website=Department of English |publisher=Boise State University |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626105152/https://www.boisestate.edu/english/faculty-and-staff/michal-temkin-martinez/ |archive-date=26 June 2021 |url-status=live |language=en-US}}

In spring 2010, Temkin Martinez worked with retired Boise State professor Jon Dayley to create the Boise Language Project (BLP). The project objective is "to document the languages spoken by those arriving to Boise as refugees while serving that community through outreach activities".{{cite web |title=Projects |url=https://www.boisestate.edu/linglab/home/projects/ |website=Mary Ellen Ryder Linguistics Lab |publisher=Boise State University |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626120902/https://www.boisestate.edu/linglab/home/projects/ |url-status=live |archive-date=26 June 2021 |language=en-US}} As an initiative of the Mary Ellen Ryder Linguistics Lab, the project also provides internship experience in language documentation for undergraduate students of linguistics at Boise State. As of 2021, Temkin Martinez is the director of the program. She also directs the Languages of Boise project, which seeks to develop a web application hosting resources and information about languages spoken by refugees in Boise, Idaho to improve communication between refugees and service providers in the area.{{cite web |last1=Rudin |first1=Mark |title=Idaho linguists aid communication, help preserve languages |url=https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/boise-state-university/article41563290.html |website=Idaho Statesman |publisher=Idaho Statesman |access-date=26 June 2021 |date=6 August 2015 |language=en-US}}{{cite web |last1=Russow |first1=Timothy |title=Linguistics lab documents refugee languages |url=https://arbiteronline.com/2012/09/04/linguistics-lab-documents-refugee-languages/ |website=The Arbiter Online |publisher=The Arbiter |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227231732/https://arbiteronline.com/2012/09/04/linguistics-lab-documents-refugee-languages/ |archive-date=27 February 2017 |date=4 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}

Since 2010, Temkin Martinez has worked with Jon Dayley and Mwaliko Mberwa to develop the first dictionary of Somali Chizigula (Swahili: Kizigua, also known as Mushungulu) and English.{{Cite web|date=2015-08-06|title=Idaho Linguists Help Preserve Somali Languages|url=http://www.african-ls.com/blog/new-languages/idaho-linguists-help-preserve-somali-languages/|access-date=2020-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626112804/http://www.african-ls.com/blog/new-languages/idaho-linguists-help-preserve-somali-languages/|archive-date=26 June 2021|website=African Language Solutions|url-status=live|language=en-GB}} In January 2020 the web edition of the dictionary, Chizigula of Somalia Dictionary, was formally published at Webonary, where it has been hosted since 2013.{{cite web |title=Chizigula of Somalia Dictionary |url=https://www.webonary.org/somali-chizigula/ |website=Webonary |publisher=SIL International |access-date=26 June 2021}}{{cite web |title=Chizigula of Somalia Dictionary |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/85297 |website=Language & Culture Archives |publisher=SIL International |access-date=26 June 2021 |date=22 January 2020 |language=en-US}}

Temkin Martinez is an Associate Editor of the Teaching Linguistics section of Language, the journal of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA).{{cite web |title=Teaching Linguistics |url=https://languagelsa.org/index.php/language/teaching_linguistics |website=Language |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626122357/https://languagelsa.org/index.php/language/teaching_linguistics |archive-date=26 June 2021 |language=en-US}} In 2018 Temkin Martinez served as the Senior Chair of the LSA's Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation (CELP).{{cite web |title=Previous Chairs of the Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/committee-endangered-languages-and-their-preservation-previous-chairs |website=Linguistic Society of America |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923195749/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/committee-endangered-languages-and-their-preservation-previous-chairs |archive-date=23 September 2020}}