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/爱尔兰后裔。这个社区的主要传承语言之一是苏格兰盖尔语。这种语言是丰富的文学、歌曲、诗歌、历史和土著知识体系文化的媒介。它也为了解苏格兰裔美国人社区祖先的世界观和文化提供了一个重要的窗口。目前，苏格兰盖尔语严重濒危。没有只会说一种语言的人，而且每天使用这门语言的人数在持续下降。追溯到18世纪早期的语言和文化压制的悠久传统，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。我们对这么多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损失。建立一个稳定的语言社区的第一步是为美国和苏格兰的使用者社区开发语言材料，用于语言教学。编写这种材料的先决条件是对这种语言的语法有正确的理解。这笔赠款的目标是迈出这重要的第一步。利用语言学领域的技术和现代录音设备，亚利桑那大学的安德鲁·卡尼教授和以苏格兰盖尔语为母语的穆里尔·费舍尔将收集有关盖尔语语法和词汇的数据。这个田野调查的结果将被整合成一个可在网上访问的语言描述语法。补助金之后，教材将根据这个语法编写。研究生将接受关于濒危语言的语法描述技巧的培训。该培训将允许学生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是我们记录这种语言的复杂性的最后机会，这种语言在广泛的美国人口以及苏格兰人口中产生了共鸣。

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.