DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Aspects of Northern Paiute Grammar

这项由美国国家科学基金会资助的研究将对北派(Numic，Uto-Aztecan)的语法进行研究。这篇名为《北方语法面面观》的论文将围绕指称追踪和话题性来探讨构词过程、句法和与语篇相关的话题，并将包括大量分析的语篇。本论文的选题是为了达到两个相互关联的目的：1)全面描述北派尤语语法的主要方面；2)为语言学界提供关于这种语言的理论和比较方面的信息。该项目包括文本收集和分析，作为研究北派尤特语法各个方面的基础。各种体裁的文本--传统的、民族历史的和自传的叙述，以及用这种语言叙述日常经历和对话--将被记录、分析并输入计算机数据库；这将确保为这次和未来的研究提供各种语法形式和风格，并为社区提供这种语言的文件，以便保存。伯恩斯·派尤特社区的成员将在这一项目中发挥顾问的作用，并通过培训在转录和翻译过程中提供协助。这将有助于确保部落成员能够继续参与记录和保存工作。除了使用录音带记录文本外，还将进行视频记录。从文本分析的角度来看，视频以音频无法提供的方式提供了对文本的洞察--最明显的是通过包含手势内容。从社区的角度来看，视频往往更容易获得，特别是年轻一代，也更容易在语言教学中使用。该项目是专门为两个社区设计的：1)通过提供关于很少有文献记载和濒危的人类语言的重要数据，在语言学领域的科学界；2)希望获得更多关于其传统语言的信息的北方派尤特社区。

The NSF-supported research will be on the grammar of NorthernPaiute (Numic, Uto-Aztecan). The dissertation, Aspects of Northern PaiuteGrammar, will be an exploration of word-formation processes, syntax, anddiscourse-related topics surrounding referent-tracking and topicality andwill include a body of analyzed texts. The dissertation topic was chosento accomplish two interconnected aims: 1) present a thorough descriptionof the major aspects of Northern Paiute grammar and 2) provide thelinguistics community with information for theoretical and comparativepurposes on a language about which very little has ever been published.The project includes text collection and analysis as the basis forexploring various aspects of Northern Paiute grammar. Texts of variousgenres -- traditional, ethno-historical, and autobiographical narrative aswell as the recounting of daily experiences and conversation in thelanguage -- will be recorded, analyzed, and entered into a computerdatabase; this will ensure a variety of grammatical forms and styles incontext for this and future studies as well as provide the community withdocumentation of the language for the purpose of preservation. Members ofthe Burns Paiute community will assist in this project both in the role ofconsultants and, through training, in the process of transcription andtranslation. This will help to ensure that tribal members will be able tocontinue their involvement in documentation and preservation efforts.Besides using audio tape to record texts, video recordings willalso be made. From the point of view of text analysis, video providesinsight into the text in ways that audio cannot--most notably by includinggestural content. From the perspective of the community, video is oftenmore accessible, particularly to younger generations, and can be moreeasily utilized in language teaching situations. This project isspecifically designed to benefit two communities: 1) the scientificcommunity in linguistics, by providing important data on alittle-documented and endangered human language, and 2) the NorthernPaiute communities who wish to have more informationon their language of heritage.