Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of How Cooperation Emerges in Multiethnic Contexts

博士论文研究：多民族背景下合作如何出现的社会语言学分析

• 批准号: 1423916
• 负责人: Judith Irvine
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 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: 2014-09-01 至 2016-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1423916&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Sociolinguistic; Analysis

Anthropologists have long established that social cohesion and enduring interpersonal relationships can be difficult to establish in dynamic multiethnic and multicultural environments. When they are not, the consequences can be adverse: contexts marked by poorly formed social relationships can correlate to interethnic conflict. Conversely, social cohesion and cooperation among diverse individuals and groups can have positive social impacts (for example, such contexts can become important trade centers). This project, which trains a graduate student in how to conduct rigorous scientific fieldwork in the study of language and culture, asks what linguistic anthropological evidence exists to explain how cooperation between linguistically and culturally diverse individuals and groups emerges. Mr. Nikolas Sweet under the supervision of Dr. Judith Irvine of the University of Michigan will how explore interpersonal relationships are formed in heteroglossic, dynamic contexts. This project questions what sociolinguistic evidence exists to explain how cooperation and cohesion is achieved among diverse individuals and groups. The research takes place in a formerly marginalized region in Senegal on the Guinea border, a context once characterized by interethnic conflict which has now become the site of significant trade, transportation, artisanal gold mining, and in-migration from all across Senegal and West Africa. As such, it is a novel site for a sociolinguistic study of how multilingual speakers from diverse backgrounds develop interpersonal relationships. This is a two-phase project that compares a rural context and large regional center, with the aim of exploring differences in the communicative practices between urban and rural centers, and how access to trade networks impacts language use. Through an in-depth study of face-to-face conversations in multiple languages between differentially positioned individuals, this project will be able to investigate how ethnic and national associations--categories that are too often taken for granted--are in fact negotiated in verbal interactions. Finally, this project contributes to understandings of how proximity to national borders affects individuals' linguistic practices.

人类学家早已确定，在动态的多民族和多文化环境中很难建立社会凝聚力和持久的人际关系。如果不是这样，后果可能是不利的：以不良社会关系为标志的环境可能与种族间冲突相关。相反，不同个人和群体之间的社会凝聚力和合作可以产生积极的社会影响（例如，这样的环境可以成为重要的贸易中心）。该项目培训研究生如何在语言和文化研究中进行严格的科学实地考察，询问有哪些语言人类学证据可以解释语言和文化多样化的个人和群体之间的合作是如何出现的。 Nikolas Sweet 先生在密歇根大学 Judith Irvine 博士的指导下将探讨如何在异语动态环境中形成人际关系。该项目质疑存在哪些社会语言学证据来解释不同个人和群体之间如何实现合作和凝聚力。这项研究发生在塞内加尔几内亚边境的一个曾经被边缘化的地区，该地区曾经以种族间冲突为特征，现在已成为重要的贸易、运输、手工金矿开采以及来自塞内加尔和西非各地的移民的场所。因此，它是一个社会语言学研究的新颖网站，研究来自不同背景的多语言使用者如何发展人际关系。这是一个两阶段的项目，比较农村环境和大型区域中心，旨在探索城市和农村中心之间交流实践的差异，以及贸易网络的接入如何影响语言使用。通过深入研究不同定位的个体之间以多种语言进行的面对面对话，该项目将能够调查种族和民族关联（通常被认为是理所当然的类别）实际上是如何在言语互动中进行协商的。最后，该项目有助于理解靠近国界如何影响个人的语言实践。