Collaborative Research: Descriptive Studies of Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal

这个项目有两个目标。首先也是最重要的是，目的是收集尼泊尔以前没有记录或记录不足的四种语言的数据。尼泊尔至少有130种语言，在这些语言中，只有大约25种有任何种类的语法描述，其中许多是初级的。由于5000多人说的尼泊尔语言不超过30多种，既然尼泊尔国语的双语现在对成年人来说几乎是普遍的，而且由于许多不发达国家的典型经济因素在尼泊尔起作用，导致越来越多的人迁移到城市，大多数尼泊尔语言似乎不太可能存活超过一到两代人。当务之急是现在进行语言实地调查，而尼泊尔的大多数语言仍然是整个社区使用的语言。该项目的第二个目标是为四名研究生提供实地考察和藏缅语言学方面的培训。

This project has two aims. First and foremost is the aim of collecting data on four previously undocumented or poorly documented languages of Nepal. There are at least 130 languages spoken in Nepal and, of these languages, only about 25 have grammatical descriptions of any sort and many of these are rudimentary. Since no more than about three dozen of Nepal's language are spoken by more than 5000 people, since bilingualism in the national language, Nepali, is now almost universal for adults, and since economic factors typical of many undeveloped countries are operative in Nepal resulting in increasing migration to the cities, it seems unlikely that the majority of Nepalese languages can survive for more than a generation or two. It is imperative that linguistic fieldwork be conducted now while the majority of Nepal's languages are still spoken by whole communities. The second aim of the project is to provide training in fieldwork and TibetoBurman linguistics for four graduate students.