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

美国国会1990年通过的《美洲原住民语言法案》承认了美国原住民语言的独特地位和价值。吉卡里拉·阿帕契语是美国西南部的一种美洲原住民语言，已知濒临灭绝。随着他们传统语言的丧失，社区的习俗和传统习俗也同样受到威胁。该项目旨在通过开发19世纪90年代至30年代由詹姆斯·R·穆尼、普林尼·A·戈达德等人收集的吉卡里拉·阿帕奇文本的新转录和翻译，来处理语言和文化知识。一组以吉卡里拉为母语的阿帕奇长老将负责检查文本，将其重新转录成准确的吉卡里拉阿帕奇，然后将其翻译成英语和阿帕奇。西方学者几十年前从说土著语言的人那里收集的材料为基础的科学理解经历了变化。笔译和口译不适当地受到西方观点和优先考虑学术受众的影响；这一基本上是多个“翻译”的过程并不总是准确地捕捉到流利讲吉卡里拉·阿帕奇和其他土著语言的人的意图。误解也可能是由于翻译成英语的不完美而引起的。重新审视这一挑战，项目活动将提高一套关键文本和相关传统知识在语言和文化方面的准确性。以社区为基础的记录吉卡里拉语言的努力旨在促进学习者和流利的说话者的融入和培训。除了介绍存档和保存语言数据所涉及的计算方法外，社区青年还将学习吉卡里拉语言和人类学语言学研究。更广泛的影响还包括美洲原住民更多地参与他们未被充分代表的领域：语言学、计算机科学和大学其他STEM研究领域。该项目还获得了已建立的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)的资金。这些历史悠久的吉卡里拉阿帕奇叙事包含了关于吉卡里拉社区内的物质文化、历史和传统习俗的丰富信息。该项目将产生一套新的文献，增加社区成员和其他人的土著语言识字机会。该项目将使用早期文本作为吉卡里拉文学的基础，但用关于文化和历史的新信息来加强这些重译。其目的是关注吉卡里拉语篇的更广泛的含义和社会文化含义；这代表了一种自上而下的语言振兴方法，首先考察语篇，而不是从语法片段到句子结构的自下而上的方法。这个项目的目标是使用社区驱动的视角来重新分析和解释叙事记录。该项目旨在通过邀请部落首领和社区成员参加工作会议并对进程和产品发表评论，最大限度地促进社区内的合作。该项目还将对从事德内(阿萨巴斯干)语言研究的学术学者社区大有裨益，因为它将提供与这种特殊的阿帕奇语言的音位、词汇和语法分析相关的转录和录音。此外，对于其他有濒危遗产语言的社区，它可以为档案材料的回收和新的有效教学材料的开发提供一个样板。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.