Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating communication at a distance in the context of changing communication habits

以声音为基础的或语音的口语替代品在世界范围内得到证实，通常是口哨语音或乐器上播放的信息。然而，研究发现了一种特殊的语音代理，它似乎违反了这些代理对语音进行编码的一般原则。这种代理出现在Abu‘ARapesh[ISO 639-3 aah]语言中，阿布语使用者使用这种语言进行远距离交流，包括吹口哨、吹海螺贝壳、叫喊和吹奏长笛。这个项目将记录和描述这些语言上新颖的阿布的代词，这些代词只在巴布亚新几内亚的亚历山大王子山脉使用，可能持有对人类语言本质的关键见解。美国国务院将美国和巴布亚新几内亚之间的知识共享确定为双边亲密友谊，通过该项目在弗吉尼亚大学(UVA)和巴布亚新几内亚大学(UPNG)之间建立的联系，美国和巴布亚新几内亚之间的知识共享将继续得到加强。该项目还将通过小项目和使用电子设备、计算机程序和基本科学原理的实践培训在研究地点开展社区发展，以及支持UPNG的学生，通过科学合作实现“软外交”。更广泛的影响还包括对一名论文学生的培训，在研究人员教授的大学课程中对本科生的教育，以及在弗吉尼亚大学的ARapesh Grammar和数字语言档案馆公开存档完整转录的录音。这项研究的科学重要性的一个方面是在Abu‘的代理形式中使用的音系资源令人惊讶地稀少：两个音调、两个元音、两个辅音和节奏。另一方面，它不仅被阿布的说话者使用，而且还被说邻近的相互难以理解的语言Miya[ISO 639-3 WMO]的人使用。这令人加倍惊讶，因为两种语言都濒临灭绝，而且根据全球语言丧失的趋势，语音代用的风险应该比口语更高。然而，即使面对最近推出的手机，这些代理仍然存在，这很容易取代它们在促进长途通信方面的作用。这个项目的问题是：阿布的代理人如何对语音进行编码？他们的语言角色是什么，以至于他们坚持下来？为了回答这个问题，研究人员将在仍在使用阿布的代理程序的社区花费8个月的时间，并访问使用Miya的邻近社区，制作一个视听语料库，其中包括采访、语言课程、单词启发和日常生活录音。录音将在母语人士的帮助下转录，以实现细粒度的语言分析。由此产生的语言韧性案例研究将为改善全球语言损失的努力贡献有价值的信息，以及由此产生的与ABU相关的代理结构的描述，以及来自Miya的支持证据，将为人类语言研究贡献有价值的信息。该奖项反映了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。

Sound-based, or phonological proxies for spoken language are attested worldwide, generally as whistled speech or messages played on musical instruments. However, research has identified a particular phonological proxy that appears to violate the general principles by which these proxies encode speech. This proxy occurs in the Abu' Arapesh [ISO 639-3 aah] language and the modalities used by Abu' speakers to communicate across distance, which include whistling, blowing conch shells, calling out, and playing flutes. This project will document and describe these linguistically novel Abu' proxies, used only in the Prince Alexander Mountains of Papua New Guinea, which may hold key insights into the nature of human language. The knowledge sharing between the United States and Papua New Guinea, identified by the U.S. State Department as a bilateral close friendship, will continue to be strengthened via the ties this project builds between the University of Virginia (UVA) and the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). The project will also undertake community development at the research site via small projects and hands-on training with electronic devices, computer programs, and basic principles of science, as well as support for students at UPNG, effecting "soft diplomacy" through scientific collaboration. Broader impacts also include the training of a dissertation student, the education of undergraduate students in a university course to be taught by the researcher, and the public archiving of fully transcribed recordings at UVA's Arapesh Grammar and Digital Language Archive.One aspect of the scientific importance of this study is the surprisingly sparse phonological resources used in the proxy forms of Abu': two pitches, two vowels, two consonants, and rhythm. Another aspect is its use not only by Abu' speakers but also by speakers of a neighboring, mutually unintelligible language Miya [ISO 639-3 wmo]. This is doubly surprising, as both languages are endangered and, according to global trends of language loss, phonological proxies should be at even higher risk than spoken language. Yet the proxies persist, even in the face of recently introduced cell phones, which could easily supplant their role facilitating long distance communication. This project asks: how do the Abu' proxies encode speech? What is their linguistic role, such that they persist? To answer, the researcher will spend eight months in the community in which Abu' proxies are still used, and visit neighboring communities where Miya is used, producing an audiovisual corpus of interviews, language lessons, word elicitations, and recordings of daily life. Recordings will be transcribed with the help of native speakers to achieve fine-grained linguistic analysis. The resulting case study of linguistic resilience will contribute valuable information to endeavors to ameliorate global language loss, and the resulting description of the structure of the proxies as they relate to Abu', with supporting evidence from Miya, will contribute valuable information to the study of human language.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.