A Community-Based Re-Analysis of Narratives in Jicarilla Apache, a Native American Language

美国国会于1990年通过的《美洲原住民语言法案》承认了美洲原住民语言的独特地位和价值。据悉，美国西南部的印第安人语言Jicarilla Apache正在濒临灭绝。随着他们的传统语言的丧失，社区的习俗和传统习俗同样受到威胁。该项目旨在通过开发由James R. Mooney, Pliny A. Goddard和其他人在19世纪90年代至30年代收集的Jicarilla Apache文本的新转录和翻译来解决语言和文化知识。一组以Jicarilla Apache为母语的长老将负责检查文本，将其重新转录成准确的Jicarilla Apache，然后用英语和Apache进行翻译。西方学者在过去几十年里从土著语言使用者那里收集的资料为基础的科学认识发生了变化。翻译和口译受到西方观点的过度影响，优先考虑学术受众；这种本质上是多次“翻译”的过程并不总是准确地捕捉到Jicarilla Apache和其他土著语言流利使用者的意图。误解也可能是由于翻译成英语的不完美而引起的。回顾这一挑战，项目活动将使一组关键文本和相关传统知识在语言和文化上更加准确。以社区为基础的记录吉卡里拉语的工作旨在促进学习者和流利使用者的融合和培训。社区青年将接受关于Jicarilla语言和人类学语言学研究的介绍，以及关于存档和保存语言数据所涉及的计算方法的介绍。更广泛的影响还包括印第安人在他们代表性不足的领域的参与度增加：语言学、计算机科学和大学的其他STEM研究领域。该项目还获得了刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）的资金。这些历史上的Jicarilla Apache叙述包含了大量关于Jicarilla社区的物质文化、历史和传统习俗的信息。这个项目将产生一个新的文学体系，增加社区成员和其他人识字土著语言的机会。该项目将使用早期文本作为Jicarilla文学主体的基础，但在这些重新翻译中加入新的文化和历史信息。其目的是关注Jicarilla话语的更广泛意义和社会文化意义；这代表了一种自上而下的语言复兴方法，首先关注话语，而不是自下而上的方法，从语法块到句子结构。该项目的目标是使用社区驱动的视角来重新分析和重新解释叙事记录。该项目旨在通过邀请部落领导人和社区成员参加工作会议并对流程和产品发表评论，最大限度地扩大社区内的合作。这个项目也将对从事Dene （Athabaskan）语言研究的学术学者社区大有裨益，因为它将提供与分析这种特殊的阿帕奇语言的音韵学、词汇和语法相关的转录和录音。此外，对于其他拥有濒危遗产语言的社区，它可以为档案材料的回收和开发新的有效的教学材料提供一个模式。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。

The Native American Languages Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, recognizes the unique status and value of Native American languages. The Jicarilla Apache language, a Native American language of the Southwestern U.S., is known to be endangered. With the loss of their heritage language, the community's customs and traditional practices are equally endangered. This project is designed to address both linguistic and cultural knowledge by developing new transcriptions and translations of Jicarilla Apache texts gathered in the 1890s to 1930s by James R. Mooney, Pliny A. Goddard, and others. A team of native-speaking Jicarilla Apache elders will undertake the process of examining the texts, retranscribing them into accurate Jicarilla Apache, and then translating them, both in English and Apache. Scientific understanding, based on materials collected in earlier decades by Western academics from indigenous language speakers underwent changes. Translations and interpretations were unduly influenced by Western perspectives and prioritizing academic audiences; this process of essentially multiple "translations" did not always capture accurately the intent of fluent speakers in Jicarilla Apache and other indigenous languages. Misunderstandings may also have been introduced through imperfect translation into English. Revisiting this challenge, project activities will achieve greater linguistic and cultural accuracy for a key set of texts and associated traditional knowledge. The community-based efforts for documentation of the Jicarilla language are designed to foster inclusion and training of both learners and fluent speakers. Community youth will receive an introduction to the Jicarilla language and to the study of anthropological linguistics, in addition to an introduction to the computational methods involved in archiving and preserving language data. Broader impacts also include increased participation by Native Americans in fields where they are underrepresented: linguistics, computer science, and other STEM fields of study at the university. This project also received funds from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). These historical Jicarilla Apache narratives contain a wealth of information about the material culture, history, and traditional practices within the Jicarilla community. This project will produce a new body of literature, increasing indigenous language literacy opportunities for community members and others. The project will use the early texts as a basis for this body of Jicarilla literature, but enhance these retranslations with new information on culture and history. The aim is to focus on the broader meanings and socio-cultural import of Jicarilla discourse; this represents a top-down approach to language revitalization, looking at discourse first, rather than a bottom-up approach, from grammatical pieces to sentence structure. The goal of this project is to use community-driven perspectives to lead to a re-analysis and reinterpretation of the narrative record. The project is designed to maximize collaboration within the community by inviting Tribal leaders and community members to participate in the work sessions and comment on the process and the products. This project will also be of great benefit to the community of academic scholars who work on Dene (Athabaskan) languages, as it will provide transcriptions and recordings relevant to the analysis of phonology, lexicon, and grammar of this particular Apachean language. Additionally, for other communities with endangered heritage languages, it can provide a model for the reclamation of archival material and for the development of new and effective pedagogical materials.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.