Doctoral Dissertation Research: Alignment in the Grammar of Tupari, an Endangered Language of the Brazilian Amazon

博士论文研究：巴西亚马逊濒危语言图帕里语语法的对齐

• 批准号: 1563228
• 负责人: Lenore Grenoble
• 金额: $ 2.13万
• 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: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1563228&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Alignment; Grammar

One reason that linguists seek to investigate a wide variety of languages is because even basic sentences can behave in radically different ways. So while English is often thought of as having subjects and objects that work with verbs to create sentences, linguists have shown a much larger range of ways that subjects behave, especially in terms of their relationships to the verb and the roles they play in sentences. For example, some subjects are the agent of the action, such as "She saw the cat," others are patients of the action, as in "The ball was thrown by the boy," and some subjects are empty placeholders, such as the "it" in "It is important that you study math." Languages show a wide variety of approaches for how these subject roles and object roles pattern, and some of these patterns are quite rare. Documenting and analyzing these kinds of patterns, which linguists call "alignment", is important for a larger understanding of the cross-linguistic variation in human grammar. This dissertation will add deeper insight to the less frequent type of patterns ("typology").In this dissertation project, doctoral student Adam Roth Singerman will document the grammar of Tupari, an endangered language spoken by perhaps 300 people in villages in the Rio Branco Indigenous Reserve, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Working closely with the community, Singerman will first document a wide variety of interesting grammatical phenomena in Tupari. This theory-neutral description of the language's morphosyntax will serve as the basis for the first complete reference grammar of the language. It will also create a foundation for more detailed, theoretical investigation into several key topics, focusing especially on the grammatical alignment patterns (both ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative) which Tupari shows. Alignment in Tupari behaves in ways that defy previous generalizations from the literature, so studying it in greater depth is important for typological research and for syntactic theory. In addition to creating a comprehensive, complete description of Tupari grammar, Singerman will also collaborate with the community to develop native literacy materials. The dissertation will also facilitate comparative analysis of the Tupian family, drawing from languages of Rondônia that are historically related to Tupari, including Gavião, Mekens, and Karitiâna.

语言学家试图研究各种语言的一个原因是，即使是基本的句子也可能以完全不同的方式表现出来。因此，虽然英语通常被认为是有主语和宾语与动词一起组成句子，但语言学家已经展示了更多的主语的行为方式，特别是在它们与动词的关系以及它们在句子中扮演的角色方面。例如，一些主题是动作的主体，如“她看到了猫”，另一些是动作的病人，如“球是由男孩扔出来的”，还有一些主题是空的占位符，如“你学习数学很重要”中的“它”。语言展示了这些主题角色和对象角色如何模式化的各种方法，其中一些模式相当罕见。记录和分析这些类型的模式，语言学家称之为“对齐”，对于更广泛地理解人类语法的跨语言变化非常重要。本论文将对不太常见的模式类型（“类型学”）进行更深入的了解。在这个论文项目中，博士生亚当·罗斯·辛格曼将记录图帕里语的语法，这是一种濒临灭绝的语言，大约有300人在巴西Rondônia州的里约热内卢Branco土著保护区的村庄里使用。与社区紧密合作，辛格曼将首先记录各种各样的图帕里语有趣的语法现象。这种对语言的形态语法的理论中立的描述将作为语言的第一个完整的参考语法的基础。它还将为对几个关键主题进行更详细的理论研究奠定基础，特别关注图帕里所展示的语法匹配模式（否定-绝对和主格-宾格）。Tupari中的对齐行为方式违背了先前文献中的概括，因此更深入地研究它对类型学研究和句法理论很重要。除了创建一个全面、完整的图帕里语语法描述外，辛格曼还将与社区合作开发本地识字材料。本文还将促进图pian家族的比较分析，从历史上与图pari相关的Rondônia语言中提取，包括gavi<e:1> o， Mekens和kariti<e:1> na。