Doctoral Dissertation Research: Discovering Patterns of Language Change through the study of the Koryak Language and its Dialects

该项目将记录柯里亚克语的几种方言，这是一种严重濒危的楚科特科-堪察加语言，在俄罗斯堪察加半岛有1670名说话者，分布在至少八种方言中。研究人员将收集数据，这些数据将极大地增进我们对楚科特科-堪察干家族的了解，并导致跨方言和跨语言的比较。楚科特科-堪察干语系之所以令人感兴趣，是因为它与连接新旧世界的白令海峡两岸的语言具有相同的特征。在加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的玛丽安·米顿的指导下，Dibella Wdzenczny将记录科里亚克方言，包括帕伦语、阿查瓦亚姆语、卡门语和斯雷德尼·帕哈奇语，这些方言都处于严重濒危状态，记录不足，在语法上令人惊讶地与众不同。通过对这些不同方言的语法和词汇的对比分析，Wdzenczny将尝试重建原始Koryak语法，并追溯Koryak语言和人民在整个半岛的历史传播。演讲者敏锐地意识到语言的丢失，并对保存努力非常感兴趣。为了支持这些努力，Wdzenczny正在与堪察加人经营的机构合作，如Palana Okrug档案馆，保存和存档不同科里亚克方言的录音。她的工作还将为正在为各种科里亚克方言创建的教学和阅读材料提供数据。

This project will document several dialects of Koryak, a severely endangered Chukotko-Kamchatkan language spoken in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia by 1,670 speakers spread across at least eight dialects. The researcher will gather data that will greatly enhance our understanding of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family and lead to cross-dialect and cross-linguistic comparison. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family is of interest because it shares features with languages on either side of the Bering Strait, which bridges the Old and New Worlds.Under the direction of Marianne Mithun from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dibella Wdzenczny will document dialects of Koryak, including Paren, Achaivayam, Kamen, and Srednie Pakhachi, all severely endangered, under- documented, and surprisingly distinctive in their grammars. Through comparative analysis of the grammar and lexicon of these divergent dialects, Wdzenczny will attempt a reconstruction of Proto-Koryak grammar and trace the historical spread of the Koryak language and people throughout the peninsula. Speakers are keenly aware of language loss and are very interested in preservation efforts. To support these efforts, Wdzenczny is working with Kamchatkan-run institutions, such as the Palana Okrug Archive, to preserve and archive recordings of different Koryak dialects. Her work will also provide data for pedagogical and reading materials being created for various Koryak dialects.