Investigating language contact by documenting two endangered Arctic languages, Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) and Mednij Aleut

当至少两种语言或语言变体相互作用时，就会出现语言接触的情况。语言学研究表明，在这些情况下会出现各种各样的结果。例如，有时只有几个词是借来的，或者可能出现了全新的语言，或者说话者使用两种语言，并以系统的、有模式的方式在它们之间切换和混合。现有的关于语言接触情境的知识存在很大的差距。这个项目将记录和分析一种濒临灭绝的土著语言和一种欧洲语言之间的语言接触，这种接触导致了两种不同的结果。在一种情况下，社区通过创造一种混合语言来适应，而在第二种情况下，社区通过转向欧洲语言来适应。这提供了一个独特的机会来比较影响接触和适应的因素，因为源语言是相同的。由此产生的活动还将记录两种濒危语言（混合语言和土著语言），每一种语言都没有得到充分的记录和严重濒危。更广泛的影响包括创建便于社区使用的语言材料，通过当地社区参与者扩大参与，以及促进以北极地区为重点的新的国际关系。美国国家科学基金会的北极社会科学项目为与该项目相关的活动提供额外的支持。乌南加姆图努语，也被称为阿留申语，是白令海近200个岛屿的土著语言，从阿拉斯加一直延伸到俄罗斯联邦的堪察加半岛。在指挥官群岛，乌南加姆图努族和俄语之间的语言接触导致了两种不同的语言适应结果（语言转移与混合语言的创造）。一种全新的混合语言，Mednij Aleut，是乌南加姆图努语和俄语结合的结果。相比之下，白令岛的居民保持着他们的乌南加姆图努方言，后来转向俄语。国际项目团队包括备受尊敬的乌南加姆图努语专家和教育家摩西·德克斯，以及梅德尼阿留申语的主要学者叶夫根尼·戈洛夫科，他们将研究这些严重濒危的语言，以及语言接触和变化。该小组将收集和分析梅德尼阿留申语和乌南加姆图努语的白令岛方言的语言数据，并利用历史上的口头和书面档案资源。旧材料的存在将有助于在两种截然不同的情况下考察语言随时间和地点的变化。尤其令人兴奋的是，Mednijj Aleut有可能对混合语言的科学理解做出重大贡献，混合语言是世界上一小群有趣的语言。该项目将增加我们对阿留申地区文化历史的了解，并增加阿拉斯加土著语言的现有文献。1990年，美国国会通过了《美洲原住民语言法案》，将承认包括阿拉斯加原住民语言在内的美洲原住民语言的独特地位和重要性制定为政策。位于费尔班克斯的阿拉斯加大学的阿拉斯加本土语言档案馆将作为项目数据的存储库。此外，北极地方观测和知识交流（ELOKA）将协助公众传播和获取。后一步骤将确保新收集的数据被添加到ELOKA与北极地区其他参与社区的当地和传统知识的广泛交流中，从而增加其对各种受众的价值，包括普通公众、其他土著社区和来自不同学科的北极科学家。

Language contact situations arise when at least two languages or varieties interact. Linguistic research shows a wide variety of outcomes that occur in these situations. For example, sometimes only a few words are borrowed, or perhaps entirely new languages emerge, or speakers use both languages and switch and mix between them in systematic, patterned ways. There are significant gaps in existing knowledge about language contact situations. This project will document and analyze language contact between an endangered indigenous language and a European language where the contact resulted in two different outcomes. In one, the community adapted by creating a mixed language, and the second where the community adapted by shifting to the European language. This offers a unique opportunity to compare factors that affect contact and adaptation because the source languages are the same. The resulting activities will also document two endangered language varieties (the mixed and the indigenous languages), each of which is inadequately documented and critically endangered. Broader impacts include creating language materials available in formats that facilitate community use, broadening participation by involving local community participants, and fostering new international relationships focused on the Arctic region. The Arctic Social Sciences Program at NSF is providing additional support for activities associated with this project.The Unangam Tunuu language, also known as Aleut, is indigenous to the nearly 200 islands in the Bering Sea that stretch from Alaska towards the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Russian Federation. Language contact between Unangam Tunuu and Russian resulted in two distinct outcomes of language adaptation (language shift vs. creation of a mixed language) in the Commander Islands. An entirely new mixed language, Mednij Aleut, arose as a result of the combining of Unangam Tunuu and Russian. In contrast, Bering Island residents maintained their dialect of Unangam Tunuu and later shifted to Russian. The international project team includes the highly respected Unangam Tunuu expert and educator Moses Dirks and the leading scholar of Mednij Aleut, Evgeny Golovko, to research each of these severely endangered languages, as well as language contact and change. The team will collect and analyze language data for Mednij Aleut and the Bering Island dialect of Unangam Tunuu, as well draw on historical oral and written archival resources. The existence of the older materials will facilitate an examination of language change over time and place in two very different situations. Especially exciting is the potential for Mednijj Aleut to contribute significantly to the scientific understanding of mixed languages, which is a small but interesting set of languages of the world.The project will increase our understanding of the cultural history of the Aleut region and increase existing documentation of Native Alaskan languages. The Native American Languages Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, enacted into policy the recognition of the unique status and importance of Native American languages, including Alaska Native languages. The Alaska Native Language Archive at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks will serve as the repository for the project data. In addition, the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) will assist in public dissemination and access. The latter step will ensure that the newly collected data gets added to ELOKA's extensive exchange of local and traditional knowledge from other participating communities in the Arctic region, increasing its value to a wide variety of audiences, including the general public, other indigenous communities, and Arctic-focused scientists from a variety of disciplines.