A reference grammar and tonal documentation of Seenku, an endangered Mande language

Seenku（一种濒临灭绝的曼德语）的参考语法和声调文档

• 批准号: 1664335
• 负责人: Laura McPherson
• 金额: $ 20.34万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1664335&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: reference; grammar; tonal; documentation; Seenku

Over half of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are tonal, and most are spoken by small populations, threatened by globalization and changing socioeconomic landscapes. This project will advance scientific understanding of tone and tonal languages more generally. This project will answer some of the many questions remaining about tone by focusing on a language displaying exceptional tonal complexity. The investigation of a language with four tones, a relatively uncommon cross-linguistic pattern, will better inform linguists about the upper bounds on the number of distinct tones and the types of grammatical information represented solely through tone. The project will provide new insights into many questions remaining about tone and phonological reduction, and on the behavior of a complex tonal system in morphology and syntax. The results will be disseminated via a reference grammar that includes and fully documents tone in its grammatical context, as well as by archived, annotated language data. Broader impacts include fostering international scientific cooperation and training undergraduate students in methods of language documentation and analysis. This contributes to the national interest by enabling soft diplomacy through scientific and technological training of international partners and by producing language scientists for the twenty-first century with expertise in cutting-edge techniques. This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering. This project focuses on documenting the grammatical structure of Seenku, an endangered Mande language of Burkina Faso. Even in the African context, Seenku is exceptional for its tonal complexity, both in the number of contrasting pitch levels and the range of uses of tone in the grammar. Special attention is paid to documenting and analyzing the tone system using a variety of innovative methods. First, the research team will develop a novel computational tool ATLAS (Automated Tone Level Annotation System) to automate the tonal annotation of documentary materials. Tone can be notoriously difficult and time-consuming to transcribe, and the development of this tool will help other researchers and linguistic communities working on tonal languages. Second, tone will be studied through a culturally unique tradition in which Seenku words are encoded on the xylophone through their tone and rhythm. Mechanisms like this produce tones without the segmental and other features, which interact with surface tone realizations. This mechanism provides a rare window into speakers' subconscious knowledge of their language, addressing questions of cognitive representations of tone. The main products of this project include a comprehensive reference grammar, a trilingual Seenku-English-French dictionary, and an archive of audio and video recordings of various speech genres, with time-aligned transcriptions and translations. These products are of use to linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

世界上大约7,000种语言中有一半以上是声调语言，大多数都是由少数人使用，受到全球化和不断变化的社会经济格局的威胁。该项目将促进对音调和音调语言的更普遍的科学理解。这个项目将通过关注一种显示出特殊音调复杂性的语言来回答关于音调的许多遗留问题中的一些。 四声语言是一种相对罕见的跨语言模式，对它的研究将更好地为语言学家提供关于不同声调数量的上限以及仅通过声调表示的语法信息类型的信息。该项目将提供新的见解，许多问题仍然存在的音调和音系的减少，并在一个复杂的音调系统的行为在形态和句法。研究结果将通过一个参考语法，包括和充分文件的语气在其语法环境中，以及通过存档，注释的语言数据传播。更广泛的影响包括促进国际科学合作和对本科生进行语言文献和分析方法的培训。这有助于通过对国际合作伙伴进行科学和技术培训来实现软外交，并培养具有尖端技术专业知识的21世纪语言科学家，从而促进国家利益。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。该项目的重点是记录Seenku的语法结构，Seenku是布基纳法索濒临灭绝的Mande语。即使在非洲的背景下，Seenku也因其音调的复杂性而与众不同，无论是在对比音高水平的数量还是在语法中使用音调的范围。特别注意使用各种创新方法记录和分析音调系统。首先，研究小组将开发一种新的计算工具ATLAS（自动音调水平注释系统），以自动化文档材料的音调注释。声调的转录是出了名的困难和耗时，这个工具的开发将有助于其他研究声调语言的研究人员和语言社区。第二，音调将通过一个文化独特的传统，其中Seenku的话是通过他们的音调和节奏在木琴编码研究。像这样的机制产生的音调没有音段和其他特征，与表面音调的实现相互作用。这一机制提供了一个难得的窗口，以了解说话者对其语言的潜意识知识，解决了音调的认知表征问题。该项目的主要产品包括一个全面的参考语法，一个三语Seenku-英语-法语词典，以及一个各种语音类型的音频和视频记录档案，并配有时间对齐的翻译和翻译。这些产品对语言学家、人类学家、民族音乐学家和非政府组织（NGO）有用。

项目成果

Multiple feature affixation in Seenku plural formation

Seenku 复数形式中的多个特征附加

• DOI: 10.1007/s11525-017-9300-4
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: Morphology
• 影响因子: 1.4
• 作者: McPherson, Laura

Tone: The present state and future potential

语气：现状和未来潜力

• DOI: 10.1353/lan.2019.0027
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Language
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: McPherson, Laura

Artistic adaptation of Seenku tone: Musical surrogates vs. vocal music

Seenku 音调的艺术改编：音乐替代品与声乐

• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5578834
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Contemporary African linguistics
• 作者: McPherson, Laura;James, Lucas
• 通讯作者: James, Lucas

The morphosyntax of adjectives in Seenku [sos]

Seenku 中形容词的形态句法 [sos]

• DOI: 10.4000/mandenkan.1041
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: Mandenkan
• 影响因子: 0.3
• 作者: McPherson, Laura

ATLAS (Automated Tone Level Annotation System): A tonologist's and documentarianâ's toolkit

ATLAS（自动音级注释系统）：音调学家和纪录片制作人的工具包

• DOI: 10.21437/tal.2018-16
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Proceedings of Tonal Aspects of Language 2018
• 作者: Grabowski, Emily;McPherson, Laura
• 通讯作者: McPherson, Laura