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

华盛顿语是一种美国土著语言，在加利福尼亚州和内华达州的太浩湖地区使用。它是高度濒危的，只剩下少数以它为母语的老年人。Washo使用两种策略来表达物体的比较（例如：John is taller than Mary）：连接比较，即两个包含反义词的独立子句并列在一起；以及位置比较，其中比较的标准用位置后置或后缀标记。虽然这两种比较策略在世界语言中都很常见，但这些结构在形式语言学中仍未得到充分研究。在Christopher Kennedy博士的指导下，Ryan Bochnak先生将在Washo社区与一些剩余的使用者一起进行初步的实地调查，以调查该语言中两种比较结构的语义特性。数据将通过启发式会议收集，Bochnak先生将收集对构建示例的翻译、叙述和判断，以更全面地了解华盛顿州的比较和与学位相关的构建。特别感兴趣的是比较结构中标量性质的解释，以及它们与修饰语和测量项的（不可）接受性。所有收集到的数据将由博奇纳克先生进行数字记录和转录。对Washo数据的分析将告诉我们，尽管在词法和语法上存在差异，但在多大程度上存在用于跨语言比较的共同语义。这项研究遵循了最近不断增长的趋势，即使用未被充分研究的语言的数据来针对更广泛的语言测试语义理论。此外，该项目将对一种高度濒危语言的永久记录作出重大贡献，收集到的材料将以在线数据库中启发会议的注释记录的形式提供给Washo社区。

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.