Doctoral Dissertation Research: Degree semantics in Washo and cross-linguistic variation

博士论文研究：和商中的程度语义和跨语言变异

• 批准号: 1155196
• 负责人: Christopher Kennedy
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-01 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155196&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Degree; semantics

Washo is a Native American language spoken in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada. It is highly endangered, with only a handful of elderly native speakers left. Washo makes use of two strategies for expressing comparison of objects (cf. English: John is taller than Mary): conjoined comparison, where two independent clauses containing antonyms are juxtaposed; and locative comparison, where the standard of comparison is marked with a locative postposition or suffix. While both strategies for comparison are typologically quite common in the world's languages, these constructions remain under-studied in formal linguistics. Under the direction of Dr. Christopher Kennedy, Mr. Ryan Bochnak will conduct primary fieldwork in the Washo community with some of the remaining speakers to investigate the semantic properties of the two comparison constructions in the language. Data will be collected through elicitation sessions where Mr. Bochnak will collect translations, narratives, and judgements on constructed examples to arrive at a more complete picture of comparisons and degree-related constructions in Washo. Of particular interest is the interpretation of scalar properties in comparison constructions, as well as their (un)acceptability with modifiers and measure terms. All data collected will be digitally recorded and transcribed by Mr. Bochnak. The analysis of the Washo data will inform the question of to what extent there exists a common semantics for comparison across languages, despite divergences in morphology and syntax.This research follows a recent and growing trend of using data from under-studied languages to test semantic theories against a broader range of languages. In addition, this project will make a significant contribution to the permanent record of a highly endangered language, with the materials collected being made available to the Washo community in the form of annotated recordings of elicitation sessions in an online database.

Washo是在加利福尼亚和内华达州太浩湖地区使用的美国原住民语言。它是极度濒危的，只剩下少数年轻的母语者。 WASHO利用两种策略来表达对象的比较（参见英语：约翰比玛丽高）：相连的比较，其中有两个包含反义词的独立条款并列；和定位比较，其中比较标准用位置后置或后缀标记。尽管两种比较策略在世界语言上都非常普遍，但这些结构在正式的语言学中仍然不足。在克里斯托弗·肯尼迪（Christopher Kennedy）博士的指导下，瑞安·博克纳克（Ryan Bochnak）先生将在沃沃（Washo）社区进行主要的野外工作，其余的演讲者将调查该语言中两个比较结构的语义属性。数据将通过启发会议收集，Bochnak先生将在构造示例中收集翻译，叙述和判断，以更完整地了解Washo中的比较和与学位相关的结构。特别感兴趣的是对比较结构中标量属性的解释，以及其（UN）可接受性用修饰符和测量术语。收集的所有数据将由Bochnak先生进行数字记录和转录。尽管形态和语法方面有分歧，但对WASHO数据的分析将为跨语言的共同语义提供何种程度的问题。这项研究遵循了一种使用研究不足语言的数据来测试语义理论，以针对更广泛的语言来测试语义理论。此外，该项目将为一种高度濒危语言的永久记录做出重大贡献，其中收集的材料以在线数据库中的带有启发性会话的注释录音形式提供给Washo社区。