Collaborative research: Using the structure of verbal complexes to assess linguistic relationships

在缺乏长期书面记录的情况下，理解人类语言经历的自然变化过程是具有挑战性的。虽然像英语这样的印欧语言有几个世纪的记录，但并不是所有语言都有这样的记录。对语言变化的研究为有关人口流动和接触的理论提供了信息、证实或反驳——也就是说，它提供了对史前的洞察。它的研究也有助于我们理解语言变化是如何更普遍地进行的。藏缅语，与汉语或汉语一起，构成了更大的汉藏语系，包括数百种语言，从巴基斯坦延伸到太平洋。这些语言大多没有书面记录。该奖项将调查在缅甸钦邦使用的多达六种藏缅语，这些语言到目前为止只记录在零碎的词表中。这个项目将扩展我们对以下方面的理解：音调的发展和音调现象的其他方面；这些语言的声音变化和在更大的藏缅语系中的地位；名词和动词的语法行为。更广泛的影响包括在西班牙裔服务机构指导一名初级教员和一名研究生；本科培训;缅甸语言学和语言文献的能力建设，以及为社区语言保存和振兴目标提供物资支持。该项目有可能在该地区发挥“软实力”的作用，加强美缅接触，赋予当地社区权力，这两者都是美国国务院的重要目标。在该项目下收集的材料将被太平洋和区域濒危文化数字资源档案馆存档。通过仔细调查和分析所讨论的语言的动词复合体（动词加上与之相关的特定意义元素）的结构，研究者将测试理解这些结构在多大程度上有助于相对于相关语言对语言进行适当分类。以前对语言进行分类的尝试主要是基于单个单词中特定发音的发展，这种方法往往不能提供明确的分类；目前的项目将更加强调考虑特定的语法现象，以达到分类的目的。在过去的几十年里，访问钦邦一直受到严格限制，这阻碍了更全面的数据收集，从而无法阐明这些语言的历史。目前，外国学者进入该地区有一个机会之窗。这个合作项目将两名PI配对，一名PI拥有在邻国开展语言文档项目的丰富经验，另一名PI本身就是来自中国的文化圈内人。这两个pi都是中国和缅甸，孟加拉国和印度邻近地区的语言专家。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding natural processes of change that human languages undergo is challenging in the absence of long-term written records. While there are centuries of such records for Indo-European languages like English, this is not the case for all languages. The study of language change informs, confirms, or disputes theories of population movement and contacts--that is, it provides insights into prehistory. Its study also contributes to our appreciation of how language change proceeds more generally. Tibeto-Burman, along with the Sinitic or Chinese languages, constitutes the larger Sino-Tibetan family, including hundreds of languages stretching from Pakistan to the Pacific. Most of these languages have no written record. This award will investigate as many as six Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Chin State, Myanmar, which up to now have only been recorded in fragmentary wordlists. This project will expand our understanding of: development of tone and other aspects of tonal phenomena; sound changes and the position of these languages in the larger Tibeto-Burman language family; the grammatical behavior of nouns and verbs. Broader impacts include the mentoring of a junior faculty member and a graduate student at a Hispanic-Serving Institution; undergraduate training; capacity-building in linguistics and language documentation in Myanmar, and materials support for community language preservation and revitalization goals. This project has the potential to act as "soft power" in the region, strengthening U.S.-Myanmar engagement and empowering local communities, both of which are important U.S. State Department objectives. Materials collected under the project will be archived with the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures.By careful investigation and analysis of the structure of verbal complexes (verbs plus specific meaningful elements associated with them) for the languages in question, the investigators will test the extent to which understanding these structures contributes to a proper classification of languages with respect to related languages. Previous attempts to classify languages are based primarily on developments of specific sounds in individual words, a method which often fails to provide unambiguous classification; the current project will place greater emphasis on the consideration of specific grammatical phenomena for purposes of classification. Access to Chin State has been highly restricted for the last several decades, preventing fuller data collection which would illuminate the languages' history. Currently, there is a window of opportunity for access to the region by foreign scholars. This collaborative project pairs a PI with extensive experience running language documentation projects in neighboring countries, and a PI who is himself originally from Chin State, a cultural insider. Both PIs are established specialists in the languages of Chin State and the adjacent areas of Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.