DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Verb in Chisukwa: Aspect, Tense and Time

班图语因其广泛的动词形态和复杂的时体系统而引起语言学家的兴趣。本项目的目标是对马拉维使用的一种濒临灭绝的班图语--奇苏克瓦语的动词系统进行详细的描述和分析。来自班图语的证据表明，不同的社会以不同的方式对事件进行概念化、组织和谈论。当观察时/体标记与不同动词类型的相互作用时，这一点最为明显。通过在马拉维的实地考察，学生将识别Chisukwa中的各种动词类型，定义动词类型的体/时属性，区分时态/体标记，并确定这些标记如何与不同的动词类型相互作用。项目工作将包括在马拉维进行长达18个月的学习，与母语顾问合作，使用直接和情境化的启发式课程收集奇苏瓦语的数据。其他的方法包括记录、转录和翻译口述的故事、个人历史和民间故事，以及记录日常对话。这些数据将被记录在一个计算机数据库中。在整个项目期间，分析工作将在实地进行，并与松巴马拉维大学语言研究中心的语言学家密切合作。本论文的研究将完成三个目标：（1）有助于对人类经验的概念组织中的时间关系的作用的理论理解，（2）记录和保存濒危和未记录的马拉维语言的各个方面，（3）有助于全面分析有关班图语时/体系统的知识库。这个项目不仅将使美国的学术界受益，而且也将使马拉维的学术界和Sukwa社区本身受益。制作的所有材料的副本将存放在马拉维语言研究中心和Sukwa社区内的机构。此外，这些材料将被用作最终为社区制作Chisukwagrammar和其他教学材料的基础。

Bantu languages are of interest to linguists because of their extensiveverbal morphology and their complex tense/aspect systems. The goal of thisproject is to produce a detailed description and analysis of the verbsystem of Chisukwa, an endangered Bantu language spoken in Malawi.Evidence from Bantu languages suggests that different societiesconceptualize, organize, and talk about events in different ways. This ismost clear when observing the interaction of tense/aspect markers withdifferent verb types. Through fieldwork in Malawi, the student willidentify the various verb types in Chisukwa, define the aspectual/temporalproperties of the verb types, differentiate tense/aspect markers, anddetermine how these markers interact with different verb types. Projectwork will involve up to eighteen months of study in Malawi, working withnative speaker consultants using both direct and contextualizedelicitation sessions to gather data in Chisukwa. Other methodsinclude the recording, transcribing and translating of oral narrativessuch as stories, personal histories, and folktales, as well as therecording of daily conversations. The data will be recorded both innotebooks and in a computer database. Analysis will be ongoing throughoutthe duration of the project both in the field and in close collaborationwith linguists at the Centre for Language Studies at the University ofMalawi in Zomba. The dissertation research will accomplish three goals:(1) contribute to the theoretical understanding of the role of temporalrelations in the conceptual organization of human experience, (2) documentand preserve aspects of an endangered and undocumented Malawian language,and (3) contribute a comprehensive analysis to the growing pool ofknowledge about Bantu tense/aspect systems. This project will benefit notonly the academic community of the United States, but also the academiccommunity in Malawi and the Sukwa community itself. Copies of allmaterials produced will be deposited at the Centre for Language Studies inMalawi and institutions within the Sukwa community. In addition, thematerials will be used as a basis for eventually producing a Chisukwagrammar and other pedagogical materials for the community.