Build and Broaden: TCU Participation in Indigenous Language Science

该项目旨在加强由国家科学基金会规划拨款资助的合作语言规划项目为土著语言科学合作研究创造的环境。对土著语言的研究是对美国国会1990年通过的《美洲原住民语言法案》(Nala)的回应，该法案呼吁包括美国原住民活动家在内的利益相关者共同行动起来，“维护、保护和促进美国原住民使用、练习和发展这些语言的权利和自由”。来自美洲原住民社区的研究人员和利益相关者进行的道德和计划良好的研究可以加强NALA。然而，这类研究往往是由外部研究人员领导的。通过以社区为基础的研究(CBR)方法，该项目将扩大代表不足的机构--特别是蒙大拿州的部落学院和大学(TCU)--对语言研究的参与，这些机构包括Aaniiih Nakoda学院、BlackFeet社区学院、首席呆刀学院、派克堡社区学院、Salish Kotenai学院和Stone Child学院。这些活动包括(I)为来自社区和学术界的语言研究人员和语言工作者举办一次全国会议，(Ii)为TCU学者举办现场讲习班，以及(Iii)在研究人员、社区利益攸关方和TCU学者之间召开关于语言科学的会议。该项目将通过为TCU学者提供培训场所，发展语言学、语言习得以及民族和健康科学相关领域的研究技能，从而建设TCU的能力，并将导致语言科学研究项目的设计。培训和讨论将提高参与者对语言结构的理解，支持TCU开展更复杂的语言研究，并促进CBR方法，研究成果的纳入将有助于社区的语言振兴努力。该项目的语言培训包括观察复杂语言数据、根据形式和功能组织数据、发现模式和基本问题、解决问题和解决问题的方法。参与者将发现他们社区语言的独特特性，这些特性与英语明显不同，通过学习如何查阅现有的语言文献来扩大他们的知识，找出语言中未被研究的领域，并开发研究项目，以加深我们对语言以及具体的语言理论概念和框架的理解。这些活动将产生一系列研究问题，该项目的直接成果将包括土著学者和利益攸关方制定的研究议程，其中一些将与外部研究人员合作开展。还将向学员介绍技术工具，以培养可应用于他们在语言相关领域的研究兴趣的技能。语言科学中潜在的研究项目的调查和正式化的过程可能会揭示关于语言使用的有趣的结构(音位、词法、句法和语义)和语用方面的数据。由于美国许多土著语言表现出编码人类经验和复杂思想的不同方式，研究这些语言是增进我们对语言和认知之间关系的理解的关键。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to strengthen the environment for collaborative research in Indigenous language science created by the Collaborative Language Planning Project (CLPP) funded by an NSF planning grant [BCS-1800820]. Research in Indigenous languages responds to the Native American Languages Act (NALA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, which called for stakeholders including Native American activists to act together to “preserve, protect and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice and develop” these languages. The NALA can be reinforced by ethical and well-planned research conducted by researchers and stakeholders from Native American communities. However, such research is often led by outside researchers. With a community-based research (CBR) approach, this project will broaden participation in language research from underrepresented institutions – specifically, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the state of Montana: Aaniiih Nakoda College, Blackfeet Community College, Chief Dull Knife College, Fort Peck Community College, Salish Kootenai College, and Stone Child College. The activities consist of (i) a national conference for language researchers and language workers from communities and academia, (ii) on-site workshops for TCU scholars, and (iii) a convening among researchers, community stakeholders and TCU scholars about language science. The project will build capacity at the TCUs by providing training venues for TCU scholars to develop research skills in linguistics, language acquisition and related fields in ethno- and health sciences and will lead to the designing of research projects in language science. The trainings and discussions will improve participants’ understanding of linguistic structures, support the development of more sophisticated language research at TCUs, and promote the CBR approach, and the incorporation of the research results will contribute to the communities’ language revitalization efforts.This project’s linguistic training includes methods for observing complex language data, organizing data based on form and function, finding patterns and essential problems, addressing issues, and solving problems. The participants will discover unique properties of their community languages, which are notably distinct from English, expand their knowledge by learning how to consult available linguistic literature, identify underresearched areas in the language, and develop research projects to further our understanding of language in general as well as specific linguistic theoretical notions and frameworks. These activities will lead to a set of research questions, and direct outcomes of this project will include research agendas developed by the Indigenous scholars and stakeholders, some of which will be carried out in collaboration with outside researchers. The participants will also be introduced to technological tools in order to develop skills that can be applied to their research interests in language-related fields. The process of investigating and formalizing potential research projects in language science may reveal interesting data on language use in terms of structures (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics) and pragmatics. Since many Indigenous languages spoken in the U.S. show diverse ways of encoding human experience and complex thoughts, investigating these languages is key to advancing our understanding of the relationship between language and cognition.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.