Mixe-Zoquean and Zapotecan Documentation and Comparative Linguistics

这个为期三年的项目旨在推进米塞佐昆语（MZ）和萨波特坎语（Zn）的比较研究。没有一种MZ语言有超过基本的句法描述，而且对大多数语言来说，甚至形态描述都是不完整的。在上一季提供的基础上，我们的目标是Ayapa、Oluta、Oaxaca Zoque、soteasan和texisstepec在这些地区开展工作。该项目还将为前几季未研究的MZ语言建立词汇和文本基础：高地米斯语、低地米斯语和恰帕斯佐克语（条件允许）。这些语言有相当大的词汇集，但一些语音特征不清楚或不明确，语素分类不充分，缺乏文本集。Zn语言大多没有完整的文档，并且存在与MZ相同的需求。三种萨波特克语（Isthmus、Guelavi*a和Oaxaca环境）和一种查特诺语（Zenzontepec）是1993年和1994年完成的类型的初始文档的目标。拟议的工作在几个领域具有重要意义。MZ和Zn语言都具有当前语言学理论所关注的结构特性，尽管它们在结构上非常不同。值得注意的是，MZ具有作格性和OV形态句法，而Zn具有音调，动词的前缀和倾向性往往不透明。该项目有可能对早期中美洲文化和语言历史做出重大贡献：MZ语言是奥尔梅克人说的，在奥尔梅克时代具有影响力，随后影响了该地区的许多其他语言。它有助于持续破译epi-Olmec文字；对其文本的解释在很大程度上依赖于MZ比较研究，这在原始解读中至关重要。Zn比较研究虽然落后于MZ研究，但已经在推进对瓦哈卡文字的解读。最后，它还包括一项重大的语言拯救行动，帮助保护美洲语言遗产的重要组成部分。

This three-year project is designed to advance the comparative study of MixeZoquean (MZ) and Zapotecan (Zn) languages. No MZ language has more than a rudimentary syntactic description, and for most even morphological description is incomplete. We are targeting Ayapa, Oluta, Oaxaca Zoque, Soteapan, and Texistepec for work in these areas, building on the foundation provided last season. The project will also build a lexical and textual foundation for those MZ languages that were not investigated in previous seasons: Highland Mixe, Lowland Mixe, and (conditions permitting) Chiapas Zoque. There are fairly large vocabulary collections for these languages, but some phonological features are unclear or underspecified, morpheme classification is not adequate, and text collections are lacking. Zn languages are mostly not fully documented, and the same needs exist as for MZ. Three Zapotec languages (Isthmus, Guelavi*a, and Oaxaca environs) and one Chatino language (Zenzontepec)are targeted for initial documentation of the type done in 1993 and 1994. The proposed work is significant in several areas. Both MZ and Zn languages have structural properties of interest to current linguistic theory, although they are structurally highly dissimilar. Notably, MZ has ergativity and OV morphosyntax,and Zn has tones and an often opaque system of prefixes and proclitics on verbs. The project has the potential to make a major contribution to early Mesoamerican cultural and linguistic history: MZ languages were spoken by Olmecs,and were influential at the Olmec era and subsequently in affecting many other languages in the area. It contributes to the ongoing decipherment of epi-Olmec writing; the interpretation of its texts depends heavily upon MZ comparative studies, which were crucial in the original decipherment. Zn comparative studies, though lagging behind MZ studies, are already advancing the decipherment of Oaxacan writing. Finally, it includes a major language salvag e operation, helping to preserve an important part of the linguistic heritage of the Americas.