Studies in Khoisan Syntax

科伊桑语语法研究

• 批准号: 9808256
• 负责人: Christopher Collins
• 金额: $ 10.32万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-07-15 至 2002-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9808256&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Studies; Khoisan; Syntax

This research will address several interrelated issues in the syntax of Khoisan languages, with special attention being given to Hoa. Khoisan is a family of languages spoken in southern Africa. Many of the languages are in danger of dying out in the near future. For example, there are now only around 200 speakers of Hoa and most of these speakers are over 60. There are no children who speak Hoa. This study will attempt to deepen our knowledge of this unique language family by studying several syntactic issues. Since the Khoisan languages have had very little syntactic work done on them (either theoretical or descriptive), the proposed work must of necessity be very descriptive and exploratory. It is to be expected that the results of this research would be of value to researchers in any syntactic framework. The objectives of the research are as follows. First using data that the PI has already collected from Hoa, the PI will do fieldwork with Ju/'hoan in order to give a detailed comparison between the two languages with respect to several syntactic constructions. The syntactic aspects to be compared are the syntax of complements and adjuncts and the syntax of verbal compounds. Second, the PI will extend his syntactic work on Hoa by comparing it to the mutually intelligible dialect called Sasi, and collecting oral texts from Sasi and Hoa. Third, the PI will investigate the interaction of tone and syntax in Hoa, using pitch tracking software. The project is part of a larger project by the PI to write an accurate grammar of Hoa and to explore the syntactic relations between the various Khoisan languages. On a more theoretical level, the results of the project should eventually inform studies of the syntactic position of objects, the classification of languages into symmetrical versus asymmetrical object languages, complex predicates, the relation of compounding to verb serialization, and tone/syntax interactions. The PI is also interested in incorporating his research on African languages into graduate and undergraduate courses on a continuing basis.

这项研究将解决几个相互关联的问题，在科伊桑语的语法，特别注意被给予Hoa。 科伊桑语（Khoisan）是非洲南部的一种语言。 许多语言在不久的将来都有消亡的危险。 例如，现在只有大约200人说Hoa语，而且大多数人都超过60岁。 没有孩子会说Hoa语。 本研究试图通过对几个句法问题的研究来加深我们对这一独特语系的认识。 由于科伊桑语的句法研究很少（无论是理论上的还是描述性的），因此所提出的工作必须是非常描述性和探索性的。 本文的研究结果对任何句法框架的研究都有一定的参考价值。 研究的目的如下。 首先使用PI已经从Hoa收集的数据，PI将与Ju/'hoan进行实地考察，以便在几个句法结构方面对两种语言进行详细的比较。 要比较的句法方面是补语和非补语的句法以及动词复合词的句法。 其次，PI将通过将Hoa与相互理解的方言Sasi进行比较，并收集Sasi和Hoa的口头文本，来扩展他对Hoa的句法工作。 第三，PI将使用音高跟踪软件调查Hoa中音调和句法的相互作用。 该项目是PI一个更大项目的一部分，该项目旨在编写Hoa的准确语法，并探索各种科伊桑语言之间的句法关系。 在更理论的层面上，该项目的结果最终将为研究对象的句法位置、语言的对称与非对称对象语言的分类、复杂谓词、复合与动词序列化的关系以及语气/句法相互作用提供信息。 PI也有兴趣将他对非洲语言的研究纳入持续的研究生和本科课程。