Fostering Dakota Language Restoration through Workshops: First Steps to Partnering by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Dakotah Language Institute and Carleton College

通过研讨会促进达科他语言恢复：Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate、达科他语言学院和卡尔顿学院合作的第一步

• 批准号: 1641556
• 负责人: Michael Flynn
• 金额: $ 1.89万
• 依托单位: Carleton College
• 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 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1641556&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fostering; Dakota; Language; Restoration; through

At least half of the 7,000 languages worldwide will cease to be spoken by the end of the current century. Native American languages represent a portion of those languages that will fall silent, that is, have no remaining first language fluent speakers. 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. Many Native American communities are working hard to create new speakers while elder speakers are still here. One challenge in creating new speakers is the lack of effective teaching materials. Another challenge is having a deep enough understanding of the complexities of the particular language, since a deeper linguistic understanding of a language can be used to train teachers, to develop effective pedagogical resources, and to help learners move from beginner levels to more intermediate and advanced levels of complexity. Other challenges include the lack of adequate language documentation and resources, including dictionaries and reference grammars. Cases of successful language revitalization often involve partnerships between tribal communities and organizations with linguists and other academics. Those partnerships often take years to develop, but their results include broader impacts like Native Americans earning degrees and other credentials in linguistics and other social sciences. In this project, a workshop and follow up meetings will be held to try to address these challenges and develop support for language restoration for Dakota, a Native American language of the Upper Midwest. This will bring together linguists, computer scientists, and tribal experts in the Dakota language. Broader impacts include capacity building in the social sciences and computational infrastructure in the tribe's educational department and tribal college, the development of better electronic and other resources to support Dakota language learning, and potential opportunities for undergraduates at two institutions to participate in authentic research experiences in linguistics.Participants in these workshops to support the Dakota language include the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation in eastern South Dakota, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakotah Language Institute, and Carleton College in southern Minnesota. Dakota is a member of the large Siouan language family, spoken from Canada to Arkansas with a number of close relatives in the Upper Midwest, but all are endangered, with some severely threatened and even lacking first language speakers. The Dakotah Language Institute of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Carleton will explore the documentation, analysis, preservation, and revitalization of Dakota at a two-day workshop in August 2016, and follow up with a subsequent meeting at Sisseton-Wahpeton in the fall. Funding will also cover the costs of attending the Linguistic Society of America meeting in January 2017 for tribal educators, including those at the tribal college, and Carleton College participants. This conference is the premier annual meeting of American linguists and is the largest gathering each year of those who focus on Native American languages. The goal of these activities is to bring together potential partners in the work to create a thorough, up-to-date description of the language, and developing tools and materials to facilitate instruction in Dakota to children. One long-term goal of the project is to develop a clear analysis of Dakota that is informed by current language science. A second goal is to construct an array of resources for classroom and extracurricular use at the Oyate. The NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUP) program in EHR is providing support for tribal college participation in this project.

到本世纪末，全世界7000种语言中至少有一半将不再使用。美洲土著语言代表了那些将归于沉寂的语言的一部分，也就是说，没有剩下的母语流利的人。美国国会于1990年通过了《美洲原住民语言法案》，将承认美洲原住民语言的独特地位和重要性制定为政策。许多印第安人社区正在努力创造新的演讲者，而老演讲者仍然在这里。培养新演讲者的一个挑战是缺乏有效的教学材料。另一个挑战是对特定语言的复杂性有足够深入的理解，因为对语言的深入理解可以用来培训教师，开发有效的教学资源，并帮助学习者从初级水平过渡到中级和高级水平的复杂性。其他挑战包括缺乏足够的语言文档和资源，包括字典和参考语法。语言复兴的成功案例通常涉及部落社区和组织与语言学家和其他学者之间的合作。这些伙伴关系通常需要数年时间才能发展起来，但它们的结果包括更广泛的影响，比如美国原住民获得了语言学和其他社会科学的学位和其他证书。在这个项目中，将举行一个研讨会和后续会议，试图解决这些挑战，并为达科他语的语言恢复提供支持。达科他语是美国中西部北部的一种土著语言。这将汇集语言学家、计算机科学家和达科他语的部落专家。更广泛的影响包括社会科学和计算基础设施在部落教育部门和部落学院的能力建设，更好的电子和其他资源的发展，以支持达科他语言学习，以及潜在的机会，本科生在两个机构参与语言学的真实研究经验。这些支持达科他语的研讨会的参与者包括南达科他州东部特拉弗斯湖保留地的西西顿-瓦佩顿奥亚特，西西顿-瓦佩顿奥亚特达科他语言学院和明尼苏达州南部的卡尔顿学院。达科他语是一个庞大的苏族语系的成员，从加拿大到阿肯色州，在中西部上游有一些近亲，但都濒临灭绝，有些人受到严重威胁，甚至没有第一语言使用者。达科他语言学院将于2016年8月在为期两天的研讨会上探讨达科他的文献、分析、保存和复兴，并于秋季在塞西顿-瓦佩顿举行后续会议。资金还将用于支付参加2017年1月美国语言学会会议的费用，包括部落学院的教育工作者和卡尔顿学院的参与者。这个会议是美国语言学家最重要的年度会议，也是每年关注美洲原住民语言的最大聚会。这些活动的目标是将潜在的合作伙伴聚集在一起，创建一个全面的、最新的语言描述，并开发工具和材料，以促进达科他州儿童的教学。该项目的一个长期目标是在当前语言科学的基础上，对达科他语进行清晰的分析。第二个目标是在奥亚特建立一系列课堂和课外使用的资源。国家科学基金会部落学院和大学（TCUP）项目为部落学院参与该项目提供支持。