Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Grammar of Kuna, a Community-Based Approach to Documenting and Grammar Writing

该项目旨在记录库纳语的自然语言实例，库纳语是一种奇布坎语，主要在巴拿马和哥伦比亚边境地区使用。然后，从这项文件编制工作中获得的数据将用于编制经过处理的文本和该语言的综合语法，重点是加强和振兴社区的利益。该项目的初始阶段将集中于收集已录制但未发表的文本，并制作新的库纳语音频和视频记录。其目的是通过增加目前语言档案中没有的类型来丰富和补充现有的录音集。同样重要的是，该项目将通过对精选录音进行仔细的转录、翻译和逐个语素的注释，生成几个小时的经过处理的文本供社区使用。该项目还设法培训库纳土著人士掌握基本的语言描述术语和文件编制方法。库纳发言者通过讲习班和讨论会参与文件编制过程是很重要的，因为它重视社区的投入，并确保社区在加强和振兴努力方面不断得到支持。该项目的目标与在巴拿马接受教育的库纳人日益意识到语言和文化的丧失相一致。这导致人们有兴趣挽救库纳语的使用，并在城市中心进行跳舞和吟诵的文化习俗。如果鼓励库纳语社区成员开展自己的文献项目并与社区分享新材料，该项目就能在库纳语社区内产生持久的影响。因此，这里介绍的工作是对社区内已经开始的工作的补充。

This project seeks to document instances of naturally occurring speech in Kuna, a Chibchan language spoken mostly in the Panamanian-Colombian border area. The data obtained from this documentation effort will then be used to produce processed texts and a comprehensive grammar of the language, with an emphasis on community interests of strengthening and revitalization. The initial stage of the project will focus on collecting already-recorded, but unpublished, texts and making new audio and video recordings of Kuna speech. The purpose is to enrich and complement the existing collection of recordings by adding genres that are not represented currently in the language archives. Just as importantly, the project will produce several hours of processed texts for community use, through careful transcription, translation and morpheme-by-morpheme glossing of selected recordings.The project also seeks to train native Kuna speakers in basic linguistic descriptive terminology and documentation methods. The participation of Kuna speakers in the process of documentation, through workshops and seminars, is important because it places value on community input and ensures continual support of the community in strengthening and revitalization efforts. The objectives of the project are lined up with the growing awareness of language and cultural loss among Panamanian-educated Kuna. This has resulted in an interest in rescuing the use of Kuna language and the exercise of cultural practices of dancing and chanting in urban centers. The project can have a lasting impact within the community of Kuna speakers if its members are encouraged to carry out their own documentation projects and share new materials with the community. The work presented here, therefore, serves as a complement to work already started within the community.