Discovering Omaha Linguistic Structure through the Documentation of Fluent Omaha Elders' Voices

理解人类语言如何以及为什么以特定的方式包装信息，可以揭示人类的认知过程。人类以压倒性的方式组织信息，以便最大限度地促进理解。在口语和手语中，最重要的信息通常首先呈现给熟悉的人。然后是与上下文相关的注释或其他修改。这种信息的组织被认为有助于理解。例如，一个单词的主要意思通常放在第一位，然后可能会紧随其后的后缀可以进一步修饰，例如英语中的‘like’和‘like’。世界上有一小部分语言将所有或大部分修改信息放在单词的开头，即放在前缀中，而不是放在后缀中。这些语言挑战了说话者如何打包信息以便听者最好地理解信息的理论。许多这样的前缀语言是濒危的，以至于认知过程的关键很快就会丢失，即使面对意想不到的信息组织也能理解。高度濒危的苏族美洲原住民语言奥马哈就是这样一种复杂的前缀语言。这个项目将从少数几位能流利地说奥马哈语言的长老那里获得各种奥马哈流派的宝贵文献。收集到的数据将为词汇结构的认知加工提供理论依据，其中评论和修饰先于词汇的语义核心。此外，奥马哈的数据将有助于词缀组织的形态理论：大多数语言在词缀变化之前组织派生词法，但在奥马哈，屈折和派生词法是交错的。内布拉斯加州印第安人社区学院奥马哈语言系的社区成员迈克尔·奥尔特罗格和爱丽丝·桑索西将与部落的长老语言咨询委员会合作，从30名流利的长老那里创建一个奥马哈对话和叙述性话语的数据库。该团队将使用最先进的语言文档协议来收集、转录和翻译数据。这项工作将与语言学家Ardis Eschenberg合作进行，他还将帮助团队出版一本关于奥马哈动词的书。关于奥马哈动词的音频和视频文件和材料都将从萨姆·诺布尔博物馆获得。该项目将扩大美洲原住民语言专家的参与，他们将因该项目而接受文献语言学方面的培训。

Understanding how and why human languages package information in particular ways can shed light on human cognitive processes. Humans overwhelmingly organize information in order to facilitate maximum comprehension. In spoken and signed language, salient information is most often presented to the conversant first. This is then followed with a contextualizing comment or additional modification. This organization of information is thought to facilitate comprehension. The main meaning of a word, for example, often comes first, and then, may be followed by suffixes that lend further modification, e.g. English 'like' and 'liked'. There are a small set of languages worldwide that place all or most modifying information at the beginning of the word, that is, in prefixes rather than in suffixes. These languages challenge theories of how speakers package information so that hearers can best comprehend a message. Many such prefixing languages are endangered so that the key to the cognitive processes that allow for comprehension even in the face of unexpected information organization will soon be lost. The highly endangered Siouan Native American language Omaha is one such complex prefixing language. This project will lead to valuable documentation of a variety of genres of Omaha from the few remaining elders who speak the language fluently. The data gathered will inform theories on the cognitive processing of word structure where comment and modification precede the semantic core of the word. In addition Omaha data will contribute to morphological theories on the organization of affixes: most languages organize derivational morphology before inflection but in Omaha inflectional and derivational morphology are interdigitated.Community members Micheal Oltrogge and Alice Saunsoci of the Omaha language department of the Nebraska Indian Community College will work with the tribe's Elders Language Advisory Council to create a database of conversational and narrative discourse in Omaha from thirty fluent Elders. The team will use state-of-the art language documentation protocol to collect, transcribe, and translate the data. This work will be conducted in collaboration with linguist Ardis Eschenberg who will also help the team produce a book on Omaha verbs. Both the audio and video documentation and material on Omaha verbs will be accessible from the Sam Noble museum. The project will broaden participation of Native American language experts through the training in documentary linguistics they will receive as a result of this project.