Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tense-aspect-modality in Quechua

理解语法系统的关键在于发现它们是如何随时间变化的。秘鲁中部安第斯地区的克川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态-方面-情态系统，说话者使用这些语法系统来指定时间的区别和构建个人观点。这些语言都源自同一种母语，但它们的时态-方面-情态系统却有着有趣的不同。现代语言体系可以看作是随着时间的推移而发生一系列变化的结果，其中一些仅仅是由每种语言内部的力量所驱动的，另一些则是由与邻近语言的接触所激发的。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，在Marianne Mithun博士的指导下，Daniel Hintz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构方法，该方法基于连接语中的语法结构。该方法不仅分析单个标记的语法变化，而且分析整个系统的语法变化。除了描述正在形成的语法类别（即发生了什么）之外，该项目还将展示每项创新是如何在语义变化机制方面发生的，这些机制使语法标记沿着发展路径移动。这项研究将使盖丘亚语社区以及研究该社区的学者受益。在项目过程中收集的关联话语数据库将为安第斯语言学和语言类型学的各种主题的未来工作提供丰富的经验基础。经验表明，语言文献可以增加对土著语言和文化的尊重，并为后代克丘亚人确认传统的民族价值。

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.