Doctoral Dissertation Research: Alignment in the Grammar of Tupari, an Endangered Language of the Brazilian Amazon

博士论文研究：巴西亚马逊濒危语言图帕里语语法的对齐

• 批准号: 1563228
• 负责人: Lenore Grenoble
• 金额: $ 2.13万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1563228&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Alignment; Grammar

One reason that linguists seek to investigate a wide variety of languages is because even basic sentences can behave in radically different ways. So while English is often thought of as having subjects and objects that work with verbs to create sentences, linguists have shown a much larger range of ways that subjects behave, especially in terms of their relationships to the verb and the roles they play in sentences. For example, some subjects are the agent of the action, such as "She saw the cat," others are patients of the action, as in "The ball was thrown by the boy," and some subjects are empty placeholders, such as the "it" in "It is important that you study math." Languages show a wide variety of approaches for how these subject roles and object roles pattern, and some of these patterns are quite rare. Documenting and analyzing these kinds of patterns, which linguists call "alignment", is important for a larger understanding of the cross-linguistic variation in human grammar. This dissertation will add deeper insight to the less frequent type of patterns ("typology").In this dissertation project, doctoral student Adam Roth Singerman will document the grammar of Tupari, an endangered language spoken by perhaps 300 people in villages in the Rio Branco Indigenous Reserve, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Working closely with the community, Singerman will first document a wide variety of interesting grammatical phenomena in Tupari. This theory-neutral description of the language's morphosyntax will serve as the basis for the first complete reference grammar of the language. It will also create a foundation for more detailed, theoretical investigation into several key topics, focusing especially on the grammatical alignment patterns (both ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative) which Tupari shows. Alignment in Tupari behaves in ways that defy previous generalizations from the literature, so studying it in greater depth is important for typological research and for syntactic theory. In addition to creating a comprehensive, complete description of Tupari grammar, Singerman will also collaborate with the community to develop native literacy materials. The dissertation will also facilitate comparative analysis of the Tupian family, drawing from languages of Rondônia that are historically related to Tupari, including Gavião, Mekens, and Karitiâna.

语言学家寻求研究多种语言的原因之一是，即使是基本的句子也可以以截然不同的方式表现，因此，虽然英语通常被认为具有与动词一起创建句子的主语和宾语，但语言学家已经展示了一种方法。主体的行为方式范围更广，特别是在它们与动词的关系以及它们在句子中扮演的角色方面。例如，一些主体是动作的主体，例如“她看到了猫”，其他主体是患者。动作的意思，如“球被男孩扔了”，有些主题是空的占位符，例如“学习数学很重要”中的“it”。对于这些主体角色和客体角色的模式，语言显示了各种各样的方法，其中一些模式非常罕见，语言学家将其称为“对齐”，对于更深入地理解人类语法中的跨语言变异非常重要。模式类型（“类型学”）。在本论文项目中，博士生 Adam Roth Singerman 将记录图帕里语的语法，这是一种濒临灭绝的语言，在巴西朗多尼亚州里奥布兰科土著保护区的村庄中约有 300 人使用。辛格曼将首先与社区密切合作，记录该语言。图帕里语中各种各样有趣的语法现象，这种对语言形态句法的理论中立描述将作为该语言第一个完整的参考语法的基础。为对几个关键主题进行更详细的理论研究奠定了基础，特别关注图帕里的语法对齐模式（作格-绝对和主格-宾格），图帕里中的对齐方式违背了以前文献中的概括，因此对其进行研究。更深入的研究对于类型学研究和句法理论非常重要 除了对图帕里语法进行全面、完整的描述之外，辛格曼还将与社区合作开发母语读写能力。该论文还将利用历史上与图帕里相关的朗多尼亚语言，包括加维昂语、梅肯斯语和卡里蒂安纳语，促进对图皮安语系的比较分析。