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

合作研究：记录切罗基语 (CHR) 音调和元音长度

• 批准号: 1065508
• 负责人: Lizette Peter
• 金额: $ 4.18万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-06-01 至 2013-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1065508&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Documenting; Cherokee; CHR

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.

切罗基语是联合国教科文组织制定的“代际语言传播的语言生命力量表”中的一种严重濒危语言，在易洛魁语中是独一无二的，因为它只显示词汇音调。切罗基语的音调和元音长度共同作用，提供了区分大量单词的唯一声学线索。然而，目前还没有相应的切罗基音和相关元音长度的音频和书面实例资源可供语言学习者、教师或研究人员参考。该项目的总体目标是为现有的切罗基电子词典中的9,000个词条中的每一个词条提供声调和元音长度，这些词条基于三种书写系统：国际音标、历史悠久的塞阔亚切罗基音节和常用的“近音素字母”。“其他成果包括：记录不同发言者对每个条目的背诵，以呈现一系列性别和语音细节，对切罗基发言者和高级第二语言学习者进行文献语言学培训，以及开发和试点测试使用电子词典在切罗基语言课堂上教授音调的材料和课程。该项目将提供现有的关于切罗基韵律的最大可搜索数据集，帮助研究人员测量语音特征，描述分布模式，并测试音调理论，同时为切罗基语言学习者提供一种工具，用于改善他们的发音和切罗基语言特征的知识。由此产生的产品可以作为一个模式，创建一个植根于土著社区的语言和文化的表达纪实语言学，说明语言工作不一定要通过英语框架。