Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tense-aspect-modality in Quechua

理解语法系统的关键在于发现它们如何随时间变化。秘鲁中部安第斯地区的克丘亚语为研究这种发展提供了一个极好的机会。这些语言表现出复杂的时-体-情态系统，说话者使用这些语法系统来指定时间的区别并构建个人观点。这些语言都起源于一种共同的母语，但它们的时体情态系统却有着有趣的不同。现代系统可以被看作是随着时间的推移而发生的一系列变化的结果，有些是由每种语言内部的力量驱动的，有些是由与邻近语言的接触引发的。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，并在Marianne Mithun博士的指导下，丹尼尔欣茨先生将研究盖丘亚方言连续体的语义和结构创新模式，以重建导致现代系统的步骤。本研究将采用一种创新的基于语篇的重建方法，该方法基于连接语音中的语法结构。该方法不仅分析单个标记语的语法变化，而且分析整个系统的语法变化。除了对正在形成的语法类别的描述之外（即，发生了什么），该项目将展示每一项创新是如何在语义变化的机制方面发生的，这些机制使语法标记沿着发展的路径移动。这项研究将有益于盖丘亚语社区，以及对该社区进行研究的学者。在项目过程中收集的相关话语数据库将为今后安第斯语言学和语言类型学各种专题的工作提供丰富的经验基础。 经验表明，语言文件可使克丘亚人后代更加尊重本族语言和文化，并确认传统的民族价值观。

A key to understanding grammatical systems lies in discovering how they change over time. An excellent opportunity for examining such developments is offered by the Quechuan languages of the Andean region of central Peru. These languages exhibit elaborate tense-aspect-modality systems, the grammatical systems speakers use to specify distinctions of time and to frame personal viewpoint. The languages are all descended from a common parent language, but their tense-aspect-modality systems differ in intriguing ways. The modern systems can be seen to be the result of sequences of changes over time, some motivated solely by forces within each language, some sparked by contact with neighboring languages. With support from the National Science Foundation, and under the direction of Dr. Marianne Mithun, Mr. Daniel Hintz will investigate patterns of semantic and structural innovation across the Quechua dialect continuum in order to reconstruct the steps that led to the modern systems. The research will employ an innovative discourse-based reconstruction methodology based on grammatical constructions in connected speech. The methodology is designed to analyze grammatical change not just in individual markers, but also in the system as a whole. Beyond the account of grammatical categories in the making (i.e., what happened), the project will demonstrate how each innovation happened in terms of mechanisms of semantic change that move grammatical markers along pathways of development.This research will benefit the Quechua language community, as well as scholars doing research on that community. The database of connected discourse collected during the course of the project will provide a rich empirical foundation for future work on a wide variety of topics in Andean linguistics and linguistic typology. Experience shows that language documentation can result in increased esteem for native language and culture, and the validation of traditional ethnic values for future generations of Quechua people.