Xinkan, Pipil and Mocho: Bringing Three Endangered Language Documentation Projects to Completion

Xinkan，Piagra和Mocho '：完成三个濒危语言文献项目濒危语言的问题被认为是语言学中最优先考虑的问题-当一种未被描述的语言灭绝时，许多宝贵的科学信息也随之丢失。这个项目的三个组成部分- Xinkan（危地马拉的三种语言），Piagra（萨尔瓦多萨尔瓦多）和Mocho'-Tuzantec（墨西哥恰帕斯的玛雅语言）-涉及濒临灭绝的语言，急需关注。 一些语言文件是在这些语言的早期进行的，但从未完成-录音需要从恶化中拯救出来，工作需要完成。该项目的目标包括：1。对这些语文的所有模拟录音进行解码，以制作可供存档的数字录音供解码。建立所有书面（未出版）材料的数据库;电子数据库将是编制词典和语法的基础，这是本项目的目标。从剩下的几个讲三种语言的人那里录制各种体裁的其他文本，录像和转录，并使其可在网上查阅。 4.将这些材料提供给土著组织和社区，以促进其正在进行的语言振兴工作，并提供给各种学者。5.完成和出版这些语言的词典。6.完成和出版语言的语法。这些结果将增加对结构的理解，这反过来又对语言学理论的各个方面做出了重大贡献-了解世界语言的可能结构和特征的范围以及它们如何相互作用，从而促进人类认知-也就是说，语言学家理论的主要目标。 这些结果也有助于这些语言的历史，中美洲语言学，并了解该地区的史前史。 这项研究的实际好处包括培训了几名研究生和土著社区成员;大学生参与了实践研究;为六种语言编写了词典和语法，这将成为土著社区和学校语言振兴方案的基础。 这些产品将是对社区成员、语言学家和其他学者有价值的基本参考书。

Xinkan, Pipil, and Mocho':Bringing Three Endangered Language Documentation Projects to CompletionThe problem of endangered languages is recognized as perhaps the highest priority in Linguistics - when an undescribed language becomes extinct, much invaluable scientific information is lost with it. The three components of this project - Xinkan (three languages of Guatemala), Pipil (El Salvador), and Mocho'-Tuzantec (Mayan languages of Chiapas, Mexico) - involve languages critically near extinction and in need of urgent attention. Some linguistic documentation was undertaken earlier on these languages, but never completed - the recordings need to be rescued from deterioration and the work needs to be completed. This project's objectives include:1. To digitize all analog recordings of these languages to produce archive-ready digital recordings for preservation.2. To database all written (unpublished) materials; the electronic database will be the foundation for producing the dictionaries and grammars, objectives of this project.3. To record additional texts in various genres from the remaining few speakers of three languages, videotaping and transcribing them, and making them web-accessible. 4. To make these materials available to indigenous organizations and communities for their on-going language revitalization efforts, as well as to scholars of many sorts. 5. To complete and publish dictionaries of these languages. 6. To complete and publish grammars of the languages. The results will increase understanding of the structure, which in turn contributes significantly to aspects of linguistic theory - to understanding the range of possible structures and traits of the world's language and how they can interact, and thus to human cognition -, that is, to a major goal of linguist theory generally. The results also contribute to the history of these languages, to Mesoamerican linguistics, and to understanding the prehistory of the area. The practical benefits from this research include the training of several graduate students and members of indigenous communities; involvement of undergraduates in hands-on research; production of dictionaries and grammars for six languages, which will form the basis for language revitalization programs in the indigenous communities and schools. These products will be basic reference works valuable to community members, to linguists, and to other scholars.