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

基于声音或语音的口语代理在世界范围内得到证实，通常是口哨声或乐器演奏的信息。然而，研究已经确定了一个特定的语音代理，似乎违反了这些代理编码语音的一般原则。这种代理出现在Abu' Arapesh [ISO 639-3 aah]语言和Abu' speakers用于远距离交流的方式中，包括吹口哨，吹海螺壳，大声喊叫和演奏长笛。这个项目将记录和描述这些语言学上新颖的阿布'代理人，只在巴布亚新几内亚的亚历山大王子山脉使用，这可能是对人类语言本质的关键见解。美国和巴布亚新几内亚之间的知识共享，由美国国务院确定为双边亲密友谊，将继续通过弗吉尼亚大学（UVA）和巴布亚新几内亚大学（UPNG）之间的关系，这个项目建立加强。该项目还将通过小型项目和电子设备、计算机程序和科学基本原理的实践培训，以及对UPNG学生的支持，在研究地点进行社区发展，通过科学合作实现“软外交”。更广泛的影响还包括论文学生的培训，研究人员教授的大学课程中的本科生教育，以及弗吉尼亚大学Arapesh语法和数字语言档案馆的完全转录录音的公共存档。这项研究的科学重要性的一个方面是Abu '的代理形式中使用的令人惊讶的稀疏语音资源：两个音高，两个元音，两个辅音，还有节奏另一个方面是它的使用不仅由阿布的发言者，但也由一个相邻的，相互无法理解的语言米亚[ISO 639-3 wmo]的发言者。这是加倍令人惊讶的，因为这两种语言都濒临灭绝，根据语言丧失的全球趋势，语音代理应该比口语面临更高的风险。然而，代理人仍然存在，即使面对最近推出的手机，这可能很容易取代他们的作用，促进长途通信。这个项目的问题是：阿布的代理人如何编码语音？它们的语言作用是什么，使它们得以持续存在？为了回答这个问题，研究人员将在仍然使用Abu'代理的社区中花费八个月的时间，并访问使用Miya的邻近社区，制作一个包括访谈，语言课程，单词启发和日常生活记录的视听语料库。录音将在母语人士的帮助下转录，以实现精细的语言分析。由此产生的语言复原力的案例研究将为改善全球语言损失的努力提供有价值的信息，以及由此产生的与Abu '相关的代理结构的描述，以及Miya的支持证据，将为人类语言的研究提供有价值的信息。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知识产权进行评估来支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.