SGER: Database Design for Endangered Languages Data

Grimes（1992）估计，目前世界上大约有6000种语言。LaPolla（1998）和Grimes根据人口普查和人口估计数字进行了统计分析，结果显示这些物种中有惊人的数量，可能多达50%，处于真实的灭绝危险之中。世界上52%的语言的使用者少于10，000人，28%的语言使用者少于1，000人，10%的语言使用者少于100人（LaPolla 1998）。相比之下，世界上有49%的人口以10种主要语言（汉语、英语、西班牙语、印地语、葡萄牙语、孟加拉语、俄语、日语、法语、德语）中的一种作为母语。语言学家有双重理由担心这种语言快速流失的趋势。首先，也是最重要的，一种语言或方言的消亡代表着文化的重大损失。语言作为文化保存和跨代文化传播的主要手段，具有独特的目的。一种文化语言的消亡严重阻碍了该社区的生存。其次，一种语言或方言的消亡代表着严重的学术损失（黑尔1996，Woodbuty 1993）。对语言多样性和跨语言比较的研究推动了语言学理论的发展。许多（如果不是大多数）濒危语言没有得到很好的研究或记录。当这样一种语言消失时，有两种损失：一种是有价值的语言数据的损失，另一种是它所代表的文化的损失。作为世界上最大的电子语言学出版物（www.linguistlist.org），《语言名录》希望在一个广泛可用的电子知识库中保存少数民族和濒危语言的数据。存储库是一个长期项目，需要大量资金和与其他机构的伙伴关系。但为了给这个企业打下基础，必须立即对数据库体系结构进行初步研究。这项探索性研究的小额赠款将资助一个创新的，可扩展的数据库的设计，并支持一个试点项目，使用来自两种不同语言的数据来测试设计：Biao Min，一种具有复杂音韵的苗族语言，和Mocovi，一种具有复杂形态的Waikurean语言。

Grimes (1992) estimates that there are approximately 6000 languages spoken in the world today. LaPolla (1998) and Grimes have run statistical analyses based upon census and population estimate figures that show an alarming number of these, perhaps as many as 50%, are in real danger of extinction. Fifty-two percent of the world's languages are spoken regularly by less than 10,000 people, 28% are spoken by less than 1,000 and 10% by less than 100 (LaPolla 1998). By contrast, 49% of the world's population speaks one of 10 major languages (Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, French, German) as their mother tongue.Linguists have a twofold reason to be concerned about this trend in rapid language loss. First, and most importantly, the death of a language or dialect represents a significant loss in culture. Language serves a unique purpose as the primary means of cultural preservation and cross-generational cultural transmission. The death of a culture's language represents a serious impediment to the survival of that community. Second, the death of a language or dialect represents a serious academic loss (Hale 1996, Woodbuty 1993). Studies of linguistic diversity and cross linguistic comparisons drive much of linguistic theory. Many (if not most) of the endangered languages have not been well studied or documented. When such a language disappears, then, there are two losses: a loss of valuable linguistic data, and the loss of the culture it represents.As the largest electronic linguistics publication in the world (http://www.linguistlist.org), the LINGUIST List would like to preserve data on minority and endangered languages in a widely-available electronic repository. The repository is a long-term project, which will require substantial funding and partnership with other institutions. But in order to lay the groundwork for this enterprise, preliminary research on database architecture must be done immediately. This Small Grant for Exploratory research will fund the design of an innovative, extensible database and support a pilot project to test the design using data from two disparate languages: Biao Min, a Hmong-Mien language with a complex phonology, and Mocovi, a Waikurean language with a complex morphology.