Dogon Languages of Mali

在国家科学基金会的支持下，杰弗里·希思博士将记录西非马里东部未被描述的多贡语家族的六种语言。这个项目建立在NEH资助的关于这个家庭的另一种语言(Jamsay)的先前项目的基础上。结果将以出版的参考语法的形式公布，并辅之以词汇和文本文件，将在比较多贡语网站上传播。Dogon语言是动词末尾和后置词，并且有一个特别有趣的“关系从句”系统，其中中心名词不移动，而是降低了语调。更广泛地说，语调重叠甚至语调效果的使用是这些语言的语法系统(如复合词、领有词、连接词)的核心。Dogon人以其对当地动植物的了解而闻名(一个普通村民可以区分15-18种蝗虫)，该项目的词典方面将努力做到这一点。首席调查员是马里(阿拉伯语、图阿雷格、松海)的一名经验丰富的实地工作者，他将与两名年轻的欧洲同事一起参与这一项目。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Jeffrey Heath will document six previously undescribed languages of the Dogon family in eastern Mali, West Africa. This project builds on a prior NEH-funded project on another language of this family (Jamsay). The results will appear in the form of published reference grammars, supplemented by lexical and textual documentation that will be disseminated on a comparative Dogon website. Dogon languages are verb-final and postpositional, and have an especially interesting system for "relative clauses" where the head noun is not moved, but rather drops its tones. More generally, the use of tone overlays and even "intonation" effects are central to the grammatical systems (e.g. compounding, possession, conjunction) of these languages. The Dogon are famous for their knowledge of local flora and fauna (an average villager can distinguish 15-18 types of grasshopper), and the lexicographic aspect of the project will try to do this knowledge justice. The Principal Investigator is a veteran fieldworker in Mali (Arabic, Tuareg, Songhay), and will be joined by two younger European colleagues in this project.