A Description and Database of Scottish Gaelic (Gaidhlig; gla) Morphosyntax

多达2000万美国人声称自己是苏格兰或苏格兰/爱尔兰血统。这个社区的主要遗产语言之一是苏格兰盖尔语。这种语言是文学、歌曲、诗歌、历史和土著知识体系等丰富文化的媒介。它还提供了一个重要的窗口，进入世界观和苏格兰裔美国人社区的祖先的文化。目前，苏格兰盖尔语正处于严重濒危状态。没有单语者，每天使用这种语言的人数继续下降。语言和文化压制的长期传统可以追溯到世纪早期，导致了一种语言，虽然被热情的少数人所接受，但却处于被遗忘的边缘。我们对如此多的苏格兰人和苏格兰裔美国人的文化和背景的理解可能会有很大的损失。建立一个稳定的语言社区的第一步之一是开发语言中的和关于语言的材料，供美国和苏格兰的使用者社区使用，用于语言教学。开发这种材料的先决条件是正确理解这种语言的语法。这一举措是迈出重要的第一步。亚利桑那大学的安德鲁·卡尼教授和苏格兰盖尔语母语者穆里尔·费舍尔将利用语言场技术和现代录音设备收集有关该语言语法和词汇的数据。这一实地考察的结果将被组装成一个网络访问的语言描述语法。在获得赠款后，将根据这一语法编写教材。一名研究生将接受濒危语言语法描述技术的培训。这项培训将使学生能够对其他濒危遗产语言进行类似的工作。这个及时的研究项目代表了我们最后一次机会来记录一种语言的复杂性，这种语言在美国和苏格兰的人口中引起了广泛的共鸣。

As many as 20 million Americans claim to be of Scottish or Scots/Irish descent. One of the primary heritage languages of this community is Scottish Gaelic. This language is the medium for a rich culture of literature, song, poetry, history and indigenous knowledge-systems. It also provides an important window into the world-view and culture of the ancestors of the Scottish-American community. At present, the Scottish Gaelic language is severely endangered. There are no monolingual speakers, and the number of speakers who use the language everyday continues to decline. A long tradition of language and cultural suppression dating back to the early 18th century has resulted in a language that, while embraced by an enthusiastic minority, is on the verge of oblivion. The potential loss to our understanding of the culture and background of so many Scots and Scottish Americans is substantial.One of the first steps towards building a stable linguistic community is to develop materials in and about the language for use of the community of speakers -- both here in the USA and in Scotland -- to use for language teaching. A prerequisite to developing such materials is a proper understanding of the grammar of this language. This grant targets this important first step. Using linguistic field techniques and modern recording devices, Prof. Andrew Carnie of the University of Arizona and Scottish Gaelic native speaker Muriel Fisher will gather data about the language's grammar and words. The results of this fieldwork will be assembled into a web-accessible descriptive grammar of the language. Subsequent to the grant, teaching materials will be developed based on this grammar. A graduate student will be trained in the techniques of grammatical description of an endangered language. This training will allow the student to do similar work on other endangered heritage languages. This timely research project represents our last chance to record the intricacies of a language that resonates throughout a wide range of the U.S. population as well as with that of Scotland.