Collaborative Research: Documenting Cherokee (CHR) Tone and Vowel Length

根据联合国教科文组织的语言活力代际传播量表，切罗基语是一种严重濒危的语言，在易洛魁语中是独一无二的，因为它唯一的语调表现出词汇语调。切诺基语中的声调和元音长度共同作用，提供了区分大词组的唯一声学线索。然而，语言学习者、教师或研究人员还没有相应的切罗基语调和元音长度的音频和书面例子可供参考。这个项目的总体目标是表示现有切诺基电子词典中三种书写系统的9000个词条中每个词的声调和元音长度：国际音标、历史悠久的Sequoyah切诺基音节表和常用的“近音素字母表”。其他成果包括：不同说话者对每个词条的背诵录音，以呈现一系列性别和语音细节，对说切罗基语的人和高级第二语言学习者进行文献语言学方面的培训，以及开发和试点测试使用电子词典在切诺基语言课堂上教授声调的材料和课程。该项目将提供现有最大的可搜索的切罗基韵律数据库，帮助研究人员测量语音特征，描述分布模式，测试声调理论，同时为切罗基语言学习者提供一个工具，以提高他们的发音和对切罗基语言特征的知识。由此产生的产品可以作为创作一部植根于土著社区语言和文化表达的纪录片语言学的典范，说明语言作品不一定要通过英语来框定。

Cherokee, a severely endangered language according to the UNESCO Language Vitality Scale of Intergenerational Language Transmission, is unique among Iroquoian languages in that it alone exhibits lexical tone. Functioning together, tone and vowel length in Cherokee provide the only acoustic cues that distinguish large sets of words. Yet, there are no available resources of corresponding audio and written examples of Cherokee tone and related vowel length for language learners, teachers, or researchers to refer to. The overall goal of this project is to represent both tone and vowel length for each of 9,000 entries in the existing Cherokee Electronic Dictionary on three writing systems: the International Phonetic Alphabet, the historic Sequoyah Cherokee Syllabary, and a commonly used "Near Phonemic Alphabet." Other outcomes include: recorded recitations of each entry by different speakers to present a range of gender and phonetic detail, training for Cherokee speakers and advanced second language learners in documentary linguistics, and the development and pilot testing of materials and lessons that use the electronic dictionary to teach tone in Cherokee language classrooms.The project will make available the largest searchable dataset on Cherokee prosody in existence, aiding researchers in measuring phonetic characteristics, describing distribution patterns, and testing theories of tone while providing Cherokee language learners a tool for improving their pronunciation and knowledge of the linguistic character of Cherokee. The resulting product may serve as a model for the creation of a documentary linguistics rooted in the expression of an Indigenous community's language and culture, illustrating that language work does not necessarily have to be framed through English.