Doctoral Disseration Research: A multi-generational phonetic and sociolinguistic study of emphasis in Turoyo

博士论文研究：图罗约语中重音的多代语音和社会语言学研究

• 批准号: 1423913
• 负责人: Alan Yu
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 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: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1423913&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Disseration; Research; multi; generational

Around the world, people are shifting their language use from the minority language of their parents to the dominant language of the place they live. Through this process, minority languages are being lost. This research project will delve deep into the details of the sound system of Turoyo, an endangered Neo-Aramaic language originally spoken in southeastern Turkey, to provide a fine-grained analysis of one aspect of sound change in the language - the loss of the secondary articulation known within Semitic studies as emphasis. The project will study the language as spoken within a close-knit immigrant community in northern New Jersey. The research question is: Is emphasis being preserved within this community, and how are social factors affecting the preservation or lack thereof? The project will consist of two parts: (1) fifty interviews directed by a sociolinguistic questionnaire to discover more about the culture's effect on the vitality of the language, and (2) an extensive acoustic study involving three generations of speakers to discover the acoustic correlates of emphasis in Turoyo, and how faithfully emphasis is being passed on between generations. The results of these two studies will be synthesized to determine what social factors correlate to the most faithful preservation of emphasis.This research is important for three main reasons. First, this study will help in the goal to come to a clear, cross-linguistic definition of emphasis. Second, understanding the intricate details of this sound change in Turoyo will help linguists to better understand sound change in contact situations in general. Third, the community that will be studied is actively trying to pass the Turoyo language on to their children, but they do not seem to be succeeding. Why is this the case? This project will reveal the type of factors that are hindering this community from reaching their goal, and this information can then be applied to similar contact situations around the world.

在世界各地，人们正在将他们的语言使用从他们父母的少数民族语言转移到他们居住地的主导语言。在这一过程中，少数民族语言正在消失。这个研究项目将深入研究Turoyo的声音系统的细节，Turoyo是一种濒临灭绝的新阿拉姆语，最初在土耳其东南部使用，以提供对语言声音变化的一个方面的细粒度分析-在闪族研究中被称为重点的第二发音的丧失。该项目将研究在北方新泽西一个紧密团结的移民社区内使用的语言。 研究的问题是：强调被保存在这个社区，以及如何影响保存或缺乏的社会因素？该项目将包括两个部分：（1）通过社会语言学问卷进行的50次访谈，以发现更多关于文化对语言活力的影响;（2）涉及三代说话人的广泛声学研究，以发现Turoyo中强调的声学相关性，以及强调如何忠实地在代际之间传递。 这两项研究的结果将被综合，以确定哪些社会因素与最忠实地保留强调相关。首先，这项研究将有助于在目标来一个明确的，跨语言的定义强调。第二，了解Turoyo语音变化的复杂细节将有助于语言学家更好地理解一般接触情况下的语音变化。第三，我们将研究的社区正在积极地试图将Turoyo语言传给他们的孩子，但他们似乎没有成功。为什么会这样呢？该项目将揭示阻碍该社区实现其目标的因素类型，然后这些信息可以应用于世界各地的类似接触情况。