Doctoral dissertation research: Linguistic avoidance and social relations

语言在我们如何处理与他人的关系中扮演着什么角色？本论文项目调查这个问题的角度来看，坦桑尼亚的语言称为Datooga，其中有一个特殊的尊重词汇只使用妇女。出于对丈夫家庭的尊重，已婚妇女避免说出姻亲的名字，以及语言中任何听起来像这些名字的普通单词。为了能够在遵守禁忌的同时自由交谈，达图加妇女发展了一整套额外的词汇，与普通语言不同。这些特殊词汇被称为“回避登记册”，在世界语言中很少见，但在非洲的几个地区以及蒙古和澳大利亚独立出现。不幸的是，我们目前对这些回避寄存器如何工作的了解并不完整，因为大多数以前的研究都依赖于对说话者的采访，而不是对实际讲话的观察。本论文项目将提供第一个全面的文件回避登记在日常使用。回避语域对语言研究很重要，因为它们突出地说明了语言的社会功能;它们的动机完全是与性别、亲属关系和社会地位有关的人际关系。为了探索Datooga回避登记册的社会动态，该项目涉及收集，转录和分析Datooga家园自发互动的视听记录，以及编制回避词汇数据库。实地工作将在坦桑尼亚的马尼亚拉地区进行，并将从该地区的几个家庭收集数据。该项目将大大推进我们对语言回避及其在社会生活中的作用的理解，同时也建立在我们对一种未充分研究的语言的了解基础上，并为世界语言多样性的文献记录做出独特的贡献。

What is the role of language in how we manage our relationships with other people? This dissertation project investigates this question from the perspective of a Tanzanian language called Datooga, which has a special respect vocabulary used only by women. Out of respect for their husbands' families, married women avoid saying the names of their in-laws, as well as any ordinary words in the language that sound like these names. To be able to talk freely while still observing the taboo, Datooga women have developed an entire additional vocabulary, distinct from that of the ordinary language. "Avoidance registers," as these special vocabularies are known, are rare across the world's languages, but have arisen independently in several parts of Africa, as well as in Mongolia and Australia. Unfortunately, we currently have an incomplete picture of how these avoidance registers work, because most previous research has relied on interviews with speakers rather than observation of actual speech. This dissertation project will provide the first comprehensive documentation of an avoidance register in everyday use. Avoidance registers are important for the study of language because they illustrate strikingly the social function of language; they are motivated solely by interpersonal concerns relating to gender, kinship, and social status. To explore the social dynamics of the Datooga avoidance register, this project involves collecting, transcribing, and analysing audio-visual recordings of spontaneous interaction in Datooga homesteads, as well as compiling a database of avoidance vocabulary. Fieldwork will be conducted in Manyara Region, Tanzania, and data will be collected from several families across the region. This project will significantly advance our understanding of linguistic avoidance and its role in social life, while also building on our knowledge of an understudied language and making a unique contribution to the documentation of the world's linguistic diversity.