Doctoral Dissertation Research: Architecture of the Palauan Verbal Complex

句法理论的目标之一是确定语言在多大程度上具有共同的、普遍的结构，以及它们的结构在多大程度上变化。例如，人们通常认为所有语言都有动词。但是，动词究竟是如何构成句子的呢？动词构成句子的方式是单一的、统一的吗，还是有语言上的特殊差异？如果存在这样的差异，动词的形态揭示了什么？为了调查这些问题，Justin Nuger先生将在Sandra Chung博士的指导下，对帕劳语的动词形态和句法进行研究，并研究其对句法理论的影响。帕劳语是一种南岛语，约有15,000人使用。帕劳语动词的形态异常复杂。在这种语言中，有关时态、时态、语气、语态、主语和宾语的信息是通过使用助动词、词缀和语音变化来表达的。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Nuger将调查帕劳语动词的复杂形态在多大程度上为其句子的句法结构提供了一个窗口。在他的研究过程中，Nuger将分析各种帕劳语动词的性质，包括使役、适用、非宾格、非否定、及物和被动。Nuger将到帕劳的科罗尔进行两次实地考察，在帕劳社区学院、帕劳教育部、贝劳（帕劳）国家博物馆和科罗尔社区的其他地方与母语人士进行咨询。数据将从记录的口头叙述、出版的文本和对个别说话者的采访中收集。

One of the goals of syntactic theory is to determine to what extent languages have a shared, universal structure and to the extent their structures vary. For instance, it is commonly assumed that all languages have verbs. But how, exactly, are sentences constructed from verbs? Is there one single, uniform way in which sentences are built up from their verbs, or are there language particular differences in how this occurs? If there are such differences, what does the morphology of verbs reveal about them?To investigate these questions, Mr. Justin Nuger, under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Chung, will conduct research on the morphology and syntax of verbs in Palauan, an Austronesian language spoken by some 15,000 people in Palau, and examine its implications for syntactic theory. Palauan verbs are unusually morphologically complex. Information about tense, aspect, mood, voice, the subject, and the object is expressed in this language through the use of auxiliary verbs, affixes, and phonological alternations. With support from the National Science Foundation, Nuger will investigate the extent to which the complex morphology of Palauan verbs provides a window into the syntactic structure of its sentences. In the course of his research, Nuger will analyze the properties of various classes of Palauan verbs, including causatives, applicatives, unaccusatives, unergatives, transitives, and passives.Mr. Nuger will take two fieldtrips to Koror, Palau, to consult with native speakers at Palau Community College, the Palau Ministry of Education, the Belau (Palau) National Museum, and elsewhere in the community of Koror. Data will be collected from recorded oral narratives, published texts, and interviews with individual speakers.