Implementing a linguistic database for analysis of an endangered language

现代技术为构建语言分析的基础设施提供了新的途径。构成一门语言的最低限度科学文献的基本要素包括参考语法、词典、带有翻译和语言分析的转录叙述，本项目通过开发濒危语言的交互式数据库来实现这一目标。该项目建立在一个数据库的基础上，其中包括最后一批流利使用该语言的人的文字、故事和歌曲记录，以及从档案记录中获得的语言信息。使用更新的技术，适当的形态和句法分析现在是可能的，可以识别单词的各个部分，每个部分的语义贡献，以及它们如何（或不能）组合在一起组成单词。这对于记录这种语言至关重要（从而使其可用于将来的分析），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，更局限于给定的上下文，而不是由它们的几个部分的含义所保证的。这项研究揭示了一种语言是如何强调什么是容易的、什么是困难的、什么是必须进行交流的，以及语言的结构是如何为感知和目标的组织提供一个框架的。这给我们提供了一个了解不同思维方式的窗口。这个项目对于任何研究语言之间关系的人来说都是无价的，在这个领域，许多语言都是相互接触的，也将突出这种语言在语言上的不同寻常的特征。例如，在语言中识别语素是一个挑战，构词法很复杂，人们对其工作原理几乎没有正式的了解；对构词法理论提出了挑战。数据库将允许构建新词，数据库将允许更好的分析。词典将指定组成词素以及只能从词源上分析或根本无法分析的单词，语法将提供如何构建复杂动词词干以及将单词组合成短语和句子的熟悉意义上的语法的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.