Northwestern Tungus Language/Dialect Continuum

该项目旨在收集，组织和分析西北通古斯语的数据：鄂伦春语，鄂温克语，Negidal语和梭伦语。 这些语言分布在中国北方和俄罗斯西伯利亚，没有很好的文献记录，而且都处于严重濒危状态。 因此，该项目的一个主要目标是收集有关语言结构的信息，而这些语言仍然在使用。 这些信息将通过语言录音和与母语人士的启发式会议获得。 西北通古斯诸语言的地理分布阻碍了过去对它们的比较工作。 从事这些语言田野调查的俄罗斯语言学家和中国语言学家很少进行学术对话。 我们研究的一个重要方面是将我们的俄罗斯和中国同事的工作结合起来。 这四种语言之间的实际遗传关系及其与其他通古斯语言的关系尚不清楚。 根据我们收集的数据，我们可以提供一个更准确的评估语言家庭内的遗传联系。 我们还将使用叙事文本的录音进行相互理解性测试。西北通古斯语正在被俄语、汉语和雅库特语所取代，这些语言在遗传和类型上都是不同的。我们的目标是确定的结构变化的通古斯语言正在经历，因为它们变得过时，特别注意的三个接触语言的作用。

This project is designed to gather, organize and analyze data from the Northwestern Tungusic languages: Oroqen, Evenki, Negidal, and Solon. The languages, which are spoken in northern China and Siberian Russia, are not well- documented and all are seriously endangered. Therefore, a primary goal of the project is to collect information about the structure of the languages while they are still spoken. This information will be derived through recordings of the languages and elicitation sessions with native speakers. The geographic distribution of the Northwestern Tungusic languages has hampered comparative work on them in the past. Russian linguists and Chinese linguists who have engaged in fieldwork on these languages have had little scholarly dialogue. An important aspect of our research involves bringing together the work of our Russian and Chinese colleagues. The actual genetic relationships among these four languages and their relationships to other Tungusic languages are unclear. On the basis of the data we collect, we can provide a more accurate assessment of the genetic affiliations within the language family. We will also conduct tests of mutual intelligibility using recordings of narrative texts. The Northwestern Tungusic languages are being replaced by Russian, Chinese, and Yakut, all of which are genetically and typologically distinct. We aim at determining the kinds of structural changes the Tungusic languages are undergoing as they become obsolescent, with specific attention to the role of the three contact languages.