Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language Socialization and the Acquisition of Evidentiality in Amdo Tibetan

幼儿如何学习在第一语言的语法框架内表达知识模式(S)？儿童认知和语言能力的发展如何与社会和文化规范相联系？本文通过对青海安多藏族(ISO639-3编码ADX)幼儿中国15个月以上的研究，对这些问题进行了研究。像其他藏语一样，安多语种展示了一套精心设计的证据标记系统--说话者用来表达他们与获得知识的关系的语法形式(即，通过传闻与直接感知来了解某事)。无论是安多语证据标记在自发互动中的作用，还是儿童对这一语法系统的纵向习得，都有待于研究。这项调查遵循了被称为语言社会化的人种学方法。研究人员通过记录和分析他们的日常社交互动，绘制了六个焦点儿童的发展情况。纵观15个月的发展轨迹，研究人员确定了儿童及其对话者使用的证据性语用(社会和互动功能)的模式。对塑造儿童和社区成员之间言语交流的语言意识形态和社会性规范的民族志审查将补充对证据使用的发展变化的分析。这项研究的结果将为社会互动与儿童的认知和语言发展之间的关系提供重要的见解。这些发现的意义将不仅仅局限于一种语言社区，还可以通过比较分析来丰富目前对生活在美国的幼儿的社会、认知和语言发展的理解。该论文项目还支持对一名语言人类学家进行专业培训。

How do young children learn to express modes of knowledge within the grammatical framework of their first language(s)? How is children's development of this cognitive and linguistic capability linked to social and cultural norms? This dissertation investigates these questions by studying young child speakers (aged 2-5) of Amdo Tibetan (ISO 639-3 code adx) living in Qinghai, China, over 15 months of developmental time. Like other Tibetan languages, Amdo demonstrates an elaborate system of evidential markers--grammatical forms that speakers use to express their relation to the acquisition of knowledge (i.e. knowing something via hearsay vs. direct perception). Both the role that Amdo evidential markers play in spontaneous interaction, and children's longitudinal acquisition of this grammatical system, have yet to be studied. This investigation follows the ethnographic approach known as language socialization. The researchers chart the development of six focal children, by recording and analyzing their everyday social interactions. Looking across a 15-month developmental trajectory, the researchers identify patterns in the pragmatics (the social and interactive functions) of evidentiality used by children and their interlocutors. Ethnographic examination of language ideologies and the norms of sociality that shape verbal exchanges between children and community members will complement the analysis of developmental changes in the use of evidentiality. The results of this study will provide critical insight into the relations between social interaction and children's cognitive and linguistic development. The implications of the findings will not be limited to one language community, and can be applied through comparative analysis to enrich present understandings of the social, cognitive, and linguistic development of young children living in the United States. The dissertation project also supports the professional training of a Linguistic Anthropologist.