Implementing a linguistic database for analysis of an endangered language

实施语言数据库来分析濒危语言

• 批准号: 1951923
• 负责人: Bruce Nevin
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Endangered Language Fund, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2023-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1951923&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Implementing; linguistic; database; analysis; endangered

Modern technology allows for new ways of constructing infrastructure for linguistic analysis. The essential elements that constitute the minimal scientific documentation of a language include a reference grammar, a dictionary, and transcribed narratives with translations and linguistic analysis, and this project undertakes this by developing an interactive database of an endangered language. The project builds on a database that includes records of words, stories, and songs of the last fluent speakers of the language as well as language information derived from archival records. Using newer technology, proper morphological and syntactic analysis is now possible, identifying the parts of words, the semantic contribution of each, and how they can (and cannot) be put together to make words. This is crucial for documenting this language (thereby making it available for future analysis) because most words, and all verbs, are complex, and the translations given for them are more specific and limited to the given context than is warranted by the meanings of their several parts. This research provides insights into how a language puts emphasis on what is easy or difficult or obligatory to communicate, and on how the structure of a language provides a scaffold upon which perceptions and goals are organized. This gives a window into different ways of thinking. The project will be invaluable to anyone examining relationships between languages in an area where many languages came into contact with each other, and also will highlight the linguistically unusual features of this language. For instance, morphemes are a challenge to identify in the language, and word formation is complex, with little formal understanding of how it works; with challenges for theories of word formation. The database will allow for the construction of new words, and the database will allow for better analysis. The lexicon will specify the constituent morphemes as well as words that are analyzable only etymologically or not at all, and the grammar will provide insight into how to construct complex verb stems as well as syntax in the familiar sense of combining words into phrases and sentences.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.

现代技术为构建语言分析基础设施提供了新的方法。构成一种语言的最低限度科学文献的基本要素包括参考语法、词典和带有翻译和语言分析的转录叙述，本项目通过开发一种濒危语言的交互式数据库来实现这一点。该项目建立在一个数据库的基础上，该数据库包括最后一批流利使用该语言的人的单词、故事和歌曲记录，以及来自档案记录的语言信息。使用更新的技术，正确的形态和句法分析现在是可能的，识别单词的部分，每个单词的语义贡献，以及如何将它们放在一起组成单词。这对于记录这种语言（从而使其可用于未来的分析）至关重要，因为大多数单词和所有动词都很复杂，并且为它们提供的翻译更具体，并且仅限于给定的上下文，而不是由其几个部分的含义所保证。这项研究提供了深入了解语言如何强调什么是容易或困难或强制性的沟通，以及语言的结构如何提供一个脚手架上的看法和目标的组织。这为我们提供了一个了解不同思维方式的窗口。该项目将是非常宝贵的任何人研究语言之间的关系，在一个地区，许多语言相互接触，也将突出这种语言的语言学上不寻常的功能。例如，在语言中识别词素是一个挑战，构词法很复杂，对它如何工作的正式理解很少;对构词法理论的挑战。该数据库将允许构建新词，并允许进行更好的分析。词典将指定构成词素以及仅可从词源分析或根本不可分析的词，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力进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。