About my name

/ˈsɐŋkɐlp ˈɐnɐn̪t̪ɐˌnɑrɑjɐn/

Alternative for surname's first two syllables: ɐˈnɐ or ˈɑnɐ. Check out the recording below to hear me say it: first for the normal pronunciation, then adapted for my variety of English feel free to rephonologize if you need to, but I'd love it if you actually tried! If you feel weird because you think you're putting on an Indian accent...it's because you are and that's how it's pronounced! Not a bad thing! That's the point! :)

Also you can call me Sunny if you'd like, most people do!

My first name means "resolution" (like a New Year's Resolution, not like that of a photo), and would actually be written as sankalp when using IAST. Because of my surname (which is Tamil, but with an extra -an at the end it would be a name in Malayalam, and with that many -ans it's hard to count), some people think that my first name is from Malayalam sankalpam, meaning "dream, imagination". Malayalam has a large portion of vocabulary derived from Sanskrit despite being a Dravidian language, and this is one such word, but the meaning has shifted, and in my case, the name is simply directly from Sanskrit.

Contrary to this site's URL, my last name is Ananthanarayan, not Ananth. Some in my family shorten it to just that. I prefer using the full last name, and of course use it on publications. I didn't want to get a URL that massive though.

Pronouns

English: any pronouns (they/them, he/him, she/her; in no particular order). Español: elle/le/-e o, si es más fácil, él/lo/-o. Português: ele/o/-o. You can read more about pronouns here.
Gender happens in other ways in other languages, which is why I give "-e" and "-o" above--those are endings in Spanish and Portuguese used for gender agreement. In Indian languages, I tend to use agreement with masculine genders, because of convenience (and what my gender needs to be when in India).

Hi there!

I'm a doctoral student at the University of Washington (in Seattle--not to be confused with University of Wisconsin (which is also written as UW but pronounced U-double-U, while University of Washington is U-Dub), George Washington University (GWU, pronounced G-Double-U), Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL, WashU), Western Washington University, or Seattle University). I study linguistics, with a special focus in language documentation. I'm interested in how sociolinguistics can inform our understanding of languages as we document them, as well as workflows in language work aimed at reclamation (especially how technology fits into these workflows). For more information about my interests, see my interests page to get a better idea of what I'm interested in broadly and what I have done in the past, beyond just my current work.
I am currently based out of Dallas, Texas, on the unceded territory of the Wichita people. I honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between their nation and this land.

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