DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Syntax of Passamaquoddy

东阿尔冈琴语是北美印第安人语言家族的成员，在文化、历史和语言上都占有重要地位。 它们是欧洲人最早接触到的语言之一，也是最早屈服于这片大陆上语言消失的不幸的普遍模式的语言之一（今天只有四种东阿尔冈琴语仍在使用）。 它们也属于目前在理论语言学中受到严格审查的“多合成”语言的类型学重要类别。 合成语言在构建复杂的动词和名词词干时广泛使用粘着形态学;同样广泛使用一致形态学和伴随的空代词;并且拥有相对自由的词序，包括不连续成分的使用。本项目将通过仔细探索帕萨马科迪的句法来研究这些特性，一种东阿尔冈昆语，目前在缅因州和新玩法大约有500人说。 本文将通过对《帕萨马科迪》中的双宾语结构和及物性转换的研究，试图阐明多义性现象所引发的理论问题，另外，本研究还有两个描述性的目标：系统地描述大量的句法结构，这是以往研究所没有涉及的;以及在项目期间以数字形式记录尽可能多的口语样本。 这项工作将直接有助于目前的努力，以文件和振兴语言，如基于网络的词典项目和正在进行的双语教育计划。

The Eastern Algonquian languages, members of a family of Native American languages spoken across North America, occupy a culturally, historically, and linguistically significant position. They were among the first languages to be encountered by the Europeans, and among the first to succumb to the unfortunately widespread subsequent pattern of language loss on this continent (only four Eastern Algonquian languages are still spoken today). They also fall into the typologically significant class of 'polysynthetic' languages currently under intense scrutiny in theoretical linguistics. Polysynthetic languages make extensive use of agglutinative morphology in the construction of complex verbal and nominal stems; exhibit a similarly extensive use of agreement morphology and accompanying null pronominals; and possess relatively free word order, including the use of discontinuous constituents.This project will investigate these properties by carefully exploring the syntax of Passamaquoddy, an Eastern Algonquian language currently spoken by approximately 500 people in Maine and New Brunswick. The dissertation will attempt to illuminate theoretical issues raised by polysynthetic phenomena through a study of double-object constructions and transitivity alternations in Passamaquoddy.In addition, the study will have two descriptive goals: the systematic description of a broad range of syntactic constructions, not touched on in previous studies; and the recording, in digital form, of as large a sample of the spoken language as possible over the term of the project. The work will directly contribute to current efforts to document and revitalize the language, such as a web-based dictionary project and ongoing bilingual education programs.