Doctoral Dissertation Research: Syntactic Description of a Language with Unique Patterns of Symmetrical Voice Alternations

博士论文研究：具有独特的对称语音交替模式的语言的句法描述

• 批准号: 1926376
• 负责人: Gary Holton
• 金额: $ 1.86万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-15 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1926376&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Syntactic; Description

The distinction between "Mary kicked the ball" (active voice) and "The ball was kicked by Mary" (passive voice) is an important one for both speakers and linguistic theory. In the active voice the focus is on Mary as the instigator of the kicking. In the passive voice the focus is on the ball, and reference to Mary can even be omitted, as in "The ball was kicked. " A key feature of the active-passive distinction is its asymmetry: the active is the typical way of saying something, while the passive stands out as different, moving the focus away from the person initiating the action and adding "was" and "by" in the passive sentence. Active-passive distinctions have been documented in hundreds of the world's languages, leading many to assume the universality of this construction. However, recently scholars have begun to challenge this assumption, pointing to new data from previously undocumented languages suggesting that symmetrical voice distinctions exist. In other words, neither the active nor passive form is more basic. This project will investigate symmetrical voice in an underdocumented language, Western Subanon (ISO 639-3 suc), which makes even finer distinctions between types of active voice. Such distinctions are different from English in both the symmetry and the gradation of types of active voice. Broader impacts include a public repository of recordings and transcriptions, materials for use by community members and promotion of linguistic sustainability and modern language documentation techniques in the region. Other outcomes include the training of a doctoral student.The CoPI, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawaii, will document and analyze Western Subanon, an endangered and understudied indigenous minority Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines. While Philippine languages are often taken as prototype examples of symmetrical voice languages, most research has focused on just of a few of the larger languages, such as Tagalog, ignoring the diversity which exists within Greater Central Philippines, a family of nearly one hundred languages. Subanon is unique in distinguishing multiple forms of active voice, the marking of which interacts in complex ways with number, tense, and mood. In order to better understand the factors motivating choice of voice the CoPI will compile a comprehensive collection of recordings of natural language use. These recordings will form the basis for a grammatical description of voice, while also serving the needs of researchers working on related grammatical topics. Given the lack of existing documentation of Subanon, the description of symmetrical voice will be embedded within a reference grammar, thus ensuring that this work is maximally accessible to other researchers. Moreover, in order to better understand the factors motivating choice of voice forms this research will compile a corpus of annotated recordings of natural language, which will be archived and accessible for both researchers and community members. The outcomes of this project will thus provide new data on a little-studied Philippine language while also informing ongoing debates about the nature of symmetrical voice.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

“玛丽踢了球”（主动语态）和“球被玛丽踢了”（被动语态）之间的区别对于说话者和语言理论来说都是一个重要的问题。在主动语态中，重点是玛丽作为踢腿的煽动者。在被动语态中，重点是球，甚至可以省略对玛丽的提及，如“球被踢了”。主动-被动区别的一个关键特征是它的不对称性：主动是典型的表达方式某事，而被动语态则显得不同，将焦点从发起动作的人身上移开，并在被动句中添加“was”和“by”。世界上数百种语言都记录了主动与被动的区别，这使得许多人认为这种结构具有普遍性。然而，最近学者们开始挑战这一假设，指出来自以前未记录的语言的新数据表明存在对称的语音区别。换句话说，主动形式和被动形式都不是更基本的。该项目将研究一种记录不足的语言 Western Subanon (ISO 639-3 suc) 中的对称语音，该语言对主动语音类型进行了更精细的区分。这种区别在对称性和主动语态类型的层次上都不同于英语。更广泛的影响包括录音和转录的公共存储库、供社区成员使用的材料以及促进该地区的语言可持续性和现代语言文献技术。其他成果包括培训一名博士生。夏威夷大学的博士生 CoPI 将记录和分析西苏巴农语（Western Subanon），这是一种在菲律宾南部使用的濒临灭绝且尚未得到充分研究的土著少数民族南岛语。虽然菲律宾语言经常被视为对称语音语言的原型示例，但大多数研究只集中于少数较大的语言，例如他加禄语，而忽略了大菲律宾中部地区这个拥有近百种语言的语言家族中存在的多样性。 Subanon 在区分多种形式的主动语态方面是独一无二的，其标记以复杂的方式与数字、时态和语气相互作用。为了更好地了解促进语音选择的因素，CoPI 将汇编自然语言使用录音的综合集合。这些录音将构成语音语法描述的基础，同时也满足研究相关语法主题的研究人员的需求。 鉴于缺乏 Subanon 的现有文档，对称语音的描述将嵌入参考语法中，从而确保其他研究人员能够最大程度地理解这项工作。此外，为了更好地理解促进语音形式选择的因素，本研究将编译一个带注释的自然语言录音语料库，该语料库将被存档并可供研究人员和社区成员访问。因此，该项目的成果将提供有关很少被研究的菲律宾语言的新数据，同时也为有关对称语音本质的持续辩论提供信息。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和知识进行评估，被认为值得支持。更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Symmetrical Voice in Western Subanon

西苏巴农语的对称声音

• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: The Archive
• 作者: O'Grady, William;Bulalang
• 通讯作者: Bulalang

Two Patterns of /a/ and /o/ Alternation in Subanon

Subanon 中 /a/ 和 /o/ 交替的两种模式

• DOI: 10.1353/ol.2018.0013
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Oceanic Linguistics
• 影响因子: 0.9
• 作者: Bulalang, Sharon

The Role of Input in Language Revitalization: The Case of Lexical Development

输入在语言复兴中的作用：词汇发展的案例

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Language documentation and conservation
• 影响因子: 1.8
• 作者: O'Grady, William;Heaton, Raina;Bulalang, Sharon;King, Jeanette
• 通讯作者: King, Jeanette