Sara Petrollino is an University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.

More information about Sara Petrollino

Fields of interest

Anthropological Linguistics, African Linguistics

Research

I am a linguist specialised in anthropological linguistics and African languages. I am fascinated by questions related to linguistic relativity and the role played by language and culture in shaping worldviews and affecting cognition. My research takes place at the intersection of linguistics and anthropology, and as such it is based on traditional ethnographic methods and long-term fieldwork among communities in East Africa. In the last decade I have carried out most of my research among the Hamar pastoralists of South-West Ethiopia, and I have been studying their language (a previously under-described and unwritten language) and their linguistic and cultural practices.

Grants and awards

NWO Veni (Cattle talk: the language of colour among East African pastoralists)

The Sebeok-Love Award for the Best Article in Language Science 2022 

Publications