Continuing Support for Aleu t Linguistics and Language Learning Materiials

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。阿拉斯加大学的安娜·伯格的这个项目是为了继续她早期的阿留申语项目中包含的研究，该项目是作为NSF职业奖资助的。最初职业项目的目标是记录濒危的阿留申语言的句法和语篇的各个方面，并为成年人创建语言学习材料。职业项目下的研究产生了意想不到的数量的录音，这些录音被转录、分析并纳入大学水平课程的语言学习材料。这个项目将在一名学生助理的支持下继续对许多剩余的录音进行转录和分析。此外，还设定了新的研究目标，包括对阿留申语的语篇、隐喻和表达变异性的研究。这项研究是至关重要的，因为许多流利的说话者都是非常年长的人，而且这里所支持的语言研究以前没有在学术文献中被描述过。通过收集以前未记录在案的文本类型，并侧重于对较少研究的语言使用水平的分析，该项目将对理解当代阿留申语做出重大贡献，并在爱斯基摩-阿留申语言学和普通语言学领域做出独特贡献。预计语言文件和材料的开发将导致培训阿留申语言教师和新的发言者，为阿留申社区的语言振兴和维护努力作出贡献。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project by Anna Berge at the University of Alaska is to continue the research that was encompassed in her earlier project on the Aleut language that was funded as an NSF CAREER award. The goals of the original CAREER project were to document aspects of the syntax and discourse of the endangered Aleut language and to create language learning materials for adults. The research under the CAREER project generated an unanticipated amount of sound recordings, which were transcribed, analyzed, and incorporated into language learning materials for college-level coursework. This project will continue the transcription and analysis of many of the remaining recordings with the support of a student assistant. In addition, new research goals have been set to include the investigation of discourse, metaphor and variability in expression of the Eastern Aleut language. This research is critically important as many of the fluent speaker are very elderly and the linguistic research supported here has not previously been described in the academic literature. By collecting previously undocumented types of texts as well as focusing on analyses of less-well studied levels of language use, this project will result in major contributions to the understanding of contemporary Aleut, as well as in unique contributions in to the fields of Eskimo-Aleut Linguistics and General Linguistics. It is anticipated that language documentation and materials development will result in the training of Aleut language teachers and in new speakers, contributing to language revitalization and maintenance efforts in the Aleut communities.