English Dialect Features of Indigenous People in North America: A Cross-Continental Investigation

北美原住民的英语方言特征：跨洲调查

• 批准号: 1251324
• 负责人: James Stanford
• 金额: $ 8.77万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-05-01 至 2017-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1251324&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: English; Dialect; Features; Indigenous; People

This project will examine whether indigenous communities across North America have a shared set of English dialect features. Despite the long history of linguistic research on Native American and Canadian First Nations languages, the English dialect features of such communities are noticeably understudied. English plays an important role in indigenous identity across Native America, even though it is not as well known as some other minority dialects. Moreover, most prior research on Native American English features has lacked a continent-wide perspective or lacked quantitative analysis and insiders' perspectives, thus making it difficult to uncover shared patterns. Dr. Stanford's study helps fill these gaps in knowledge about language behavior in North America, while also empowering Native people as sociolinguistic researchers in their own communities. Specifically, it is hypothesized that many Native American and First Nations people across the continent are linguistically constructing a shared indigenous ethnic identity through a set of contemporary English features, including pitch, rhythm, and grammatical features; these features are most prevalent when Native speakers are interacting with other Native speakers. This two-year study engages three field sites: (1) Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North/South Dakota, (2) a Sahtu Dene community in Northwest Territories, Canada, and (3) the diverse Native community at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Recorded interviews include directed conversation activities and free speech. Pitch and rhythm features are then analyzed with acoustic phonetic methods, and grammatical forms are analyzed quantitatively. Two Native American participants who recently graduated from Dartmouth will conduct field research in their own communities and play key roles in distribution of the new knowledge. Results will be distributed for both Native and non-Native audiences. Linguists have long promoted the fact that ethnic minority dialects are logical, orderly, linguistic systems, and such information has been valuable for inter-ethnic relations and community self-esteem. But for Native American English, distribution of these socially important perspectives has been much more limited. Dr. Stanford will provide presentations and community discussions, printed materials, and a public interactive website for U.S. reservations and Canadian First Nations communities. In all of these activities, he will coordinate closely with local Native Elders and tribal councils to ensure that the project is beneficial on all sides.

该项目将研究北美各地的土著社区是否有一套共同的英语方言特征。尽管对美洲原住民和加拿大第一民族语言的语言学研究有着悠久的历史，但这些社区的英语方言特征明显研究不足。英语在美洲原住民的身份认同中扮演着重要的角色，尽管它并不像其他一些少数民族方言那样广为人知。此外，大多数关于美国土著英语特征的研究缺乏一个大陆范围的视角，或者缺乏定量分析和内部人士的观点，因此很难发现共同的模式。斯坦福大学博士的研究有助于填补北美语言行为知识的空白，同时也使土著人成为自己社区的社会语言学研究人员。具体来说，它是假设，许多美洲原住民和第一民族的人在整个大陆的语言构建一个共享的土著民族身份，通过一套当代英语的功能，包括音高，节奏和语法特征，这些功能是最普遍的，当母语人士与其他母语人士互动。 这项为期两年的研究涉及三个实地地点：（1）北/南达科他州的立岩苏族保留地，（2）加拿大西北地区的Sahtu Dene社区，以及（3）新罕布什尔州汉诺威的达特茅斯学院的多元化土著社区。录音采访包括有指导的谈话活动和自由言论。运用声学语音学的方法对音高和节奏特征进行了分析，并对语法形式进行了定量分析。两名最近从达特茅斯毕业的美国土著参与者将在他们自己的社区进行实地研究，并在传播新知识方面发挥关键作用。 结果将分发给本地和非本地观众。语言学家长期以来一直在宣传少数民族方言是逻辑的、有秩序的语言系统，这些信息对民族间关系和社区自尊都很有价值。但对于美国本土英语来说，这些社会重要观点的分布要有限得多。斯坦福大学将提供演讲和社区讨论，印刷材料，并为美国保留和加拿大第一民族社区的公共互动网站。在所有这些活动中，他将与当地土著长老和部落委员会密切协调，以确保该项目对各方都有利。