SBE-RCUK: Experimental and Descriptive Investigations of Welsh (cym) Consonant Mutation

SBE-RCUK：威尔士语 (cym) 辅音突变的实验和描述性研究

• 批准号: 1453724
• 负责人: Michael Hammond
• 金额: $ 36.24万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-15 至 2021-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1453724&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBE; RCUK; Experimental; Descriptive; Investigations

Most human languages are conveyed through the medium of sound, and thus understanding the way language sound works is central to understanding human language. This project addresses an unusual language sound phenomenon, initial consonant mutation: the initial consonant of a word varies to express grammatical information about that word, for example the possessives in Welsh, e.g. cath 'cat', fy nghath 'my cat', dy gath 'your cat', ei chath 'her cat'. In order to address big questions like "How do such systems evolve historically?", "How can children learn initial mutation?", and "Why does this not occur in a language like English?", it is important to first fully understand the properties of the mutating consonants for speakers of a language with initial consonant mutation. This is the research goal, with respect to Welsh, a language with a rich and productive system of initial consonant mutation. In addition, many Americans are of Welsh descent. The primary heritage language of this community is Welsh, a medium for a rich culture of literature, song, poetry, history, etc. It also provides an important window into the world-view and culture of the ancestors of the Welsh-American community. Sadly, the Welsh language is endangered. There are no monolingual speakers. In Wales, the number of speakers is now less than 20% of the population and there is a real danger that the language will decline below critical mass and no longer be viable. The potential loss to the understanding of the culture and background of so many Welsh and Welsh-Americans is tragic. The research to be conducted here will both help document extraordinary aspects of the grammatical system and provide resources for pedagogical materials essential in the revival of the language. The interdisciplinary and international team will apply a diversity of investigative tools: perceptual studies using masked priming, production studies using acoustic analysis and ultrasound for articulatory study, traditional field work involving elicitation, judgment tasks, statistical corpus work, and two acquisition studies (one with adults; one with children). These heterogeneous methodologies allow the team to approach the investigation of consonant mutation from a variety of directions, thus providing a uniquely comprehensive view of the phenomenon. The sub-projects are diverse, but focus on two central questions: i) whether mutations are best viewed as lexical or phonological phenomena; and ii) what the precise phonological properties of mutations are. These studies will also impact linguistic theory, including our understanding of lexical access in a language where a lot of morphological information is concentrated in the beginning of the word and in our understanding of the organization of phonological systems and alternations. The core of the team has done similar work on Scottish Gaelic and done logistical and descriptive advance work on Welsh, and so is uniquely positioned for this project. This award was made possible by the SBE-RCUK Lead Agency Agreement.

大多数人类语言都是通过声音媒介传达的，因此了解语言声音的工作方式对于理解人类语言至关重要。该项目解决了一种不寻常的语言声音现象，初始辅音突变：一个单词的初始辅音会变化以表达有关该单词的语法信息，例如威尔士的所有占有主义者，例如Cath“猫”，Fy nghath“我的猫”，dy gath'your cat'，ei chath“她的猫”。为了解决“这样的系统如何历史发展？”，“孩子如何学习最初的突变？”和“为什么不以英语的语言出现？”，首先完全了解具有初始辅音突变的语言的辅音的特性很重要。这是关于威尔士语的研究目标，威尔士是一种具有丰富而有效的辅音突变体系的语言。此外，许多美国人都是威尔士血统。这个社区的主要遗产语言是威尔士语，是文学，歌曲，诗歌，历史等丰富文化的一种媒介。它还为威尔士裔美国人社区祖先的世界观和文化提供了重要的窗口。可悲的是，威尔士语受到威胁。没有单语言的人。在威尔士，现在的发言人数量不到人口的20％，并且这种危险是该语言将下降到临界质量以下，并且不再可行。对许多威尔士和威尔士裔美国人的文化和背景的理解的潜在损失是悲惨的。这里要进行的研究都将有助于记录语法系统的特殊方面，并为语言复兴必不可少的教学材料提供资源。跨学科和国际团队将应用多种调查工具：使用掩盖的启动，使用声学分析的生产研究和超声进行关节研究，涉及启发，判断任务，统计语料库工作以及两项收购研究（一项与孩子一起;一个与孩子））的传统现场工作。这些异质方法使团队能够从各个方向对辅音突变进行研究，从而对该现象提供了独特的全面观点。子项目的多种多样，但重点是两个核心问题：i）突变是最好将突变视为词汇还是语音现象； ii）突变的精确语音特性是什么。这些研究还将影响语言理论，包括我们对一种语言中词汇访问的理解，其中许多形态学信息集中在单词的开头以及我们对语音系统和交流的组织的理解中。该团队的核心在苏格兰盖尔语上进行了类似的工作，并在威尔士进行了后勤和描述性的提前工作，因此该项目的位置是独特的。 SBE-RCUK领导机构协议使该奖项成为可能。