Luca Ciucci (James Cook University) 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.
