DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Syntax of Passamaquoddy

东部阿尔冈琴语系是北美使用的美洲原住民语言家族的成员，在文化、历史和语言上都占有重要地位。他们是欧洲人遇到的最早的语言之一，也是最早屈服于不幸的随后在欧洲大陆普遍存在的语言丧失模式的语言之一(今天只有四种东阿尔冈昆语仍在使用)。它们也属于目前在理论语言学中受到密切关注的一类具有重要类型学意义的“多元合成”语言。多合成语言在构建复杂的动词和名词性词干时广泛使用粘合词法；同样广泛地使用一致词法和伴随的零代词；拥有相对自由的词序，包括使用不连续成分。本项目将通过仔细探索帕萨马夸迪的句法来研究这些性质，帕萨马夸迪是一种东部阿尔冈昆语，目前在缅因州和新不伦瑞克约有500人使用。本论文试图通过对双宾语结构和及物性变化的研究来阐明综合现象所引发的理论问题。此外，这项研究将有两个描述性目标：系统地描述先前研究中没有触及的广泛的句法结构；以及在项目期间以数字形式记录尽可能多的口语样本。这项工作将直接促进目前记录和振兴这种语言的努力，例如一个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.