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

1990年美国国会通过的《美洲原住民语言法》承认美洲原住民语言的独特地位和价值。印第安阿帕契语是美国西南部的一种美洲土著语言，已经濒临灭绝随着他们的遗产语言的丧失，社区的习俗和传统做法同样受到威胁。该项目旨在通过开发新的译本和翻译19世纪90年代至1930年代由詹姆斯·R。作者声明：A.戈达德等人。 一个以Jabuilla Apache为母语的长老团队将负责检查文本，将其重新转录为准确的Jabuilla Apache，然后将其翻译为英语和Apache。西方学者几十年前从讲土著语言的人那里收集的材料为基础的科学认识发生了变化。翻译和口译不适当地受到西方观点的影响，并优先考虑学术受众;这种基本上是多重“翻译”的过程并不总是准确地捕捉到讲流利的Jakartilla Apache和其他土著语言的人的意图。 误解也可能是由于翻译不完善而造成的。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。以社区为基础的关于记录Jobuilla语言的努力旨在促进对学习者和流利使用者的包容和培训。社区青年将获得关于Jobuilla语言和人类语言学研究的介绍，以及关于语言数据存档和保存所涉及的计算方法的介绍。更广泛的影响还包括增加美国原住民在他们代表性不足的领域的参与：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。这些历史上的阿帕奇族的叙述包含了丰富的信息，关于物质文化，历史，和传统的做法，在阿帕奇族社区。该项目将产生一套新的文学作品，增加社区成员和其他人的土著语言扫盲机会。该项目将使用早期的文本作为这一机构的JEFFILLA文学的基础，但加强这些重新翻译与文化和历史的新信息。其目的是集中在更广泛的意义和社会文化的进口Jobuilla话语;这代表了一个自上而下的方法来振兴语言，首先看话语，而不是自下而上的方法，从语法块到句子结构。这个项目的目标是使用社区驱动的观点，导致重新分析和重新解释的叙事记录。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进程和产品发表评论，最大限度地加强社区内的合作。这个项目也将极大地有利于谁的学术学者在Dene（阿萨巴斯卡）语言工作的社区，因为它将提供相关的语音，词汇和语法的分析，这一特定的阿帕奇语言的transanimals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模式。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.