Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ergativity in an Endangered Language

语言标记主语和宾语等语法关系的方式有很大的不同，包括词序的差异，标记名词和动词的差异，以及完全使用不同的句子结构。这个项目的目标是调查不同语言之间的语法关系是如何不同的，并随着时间的推移而变化，特别是对一种濒危语言的关注。通过记录句子、故事和与说话者的对话，本项目将记录和分析一种不寻常的语法标记系统，由于与其他语言的接触，该系统正在经历快速变化。由此产生的语言文档不仅对语言学家有用，而且对对保持语言感兴趣的社区成员也很有用。被研究的语言显示出作格对齐，其中及物主语和及物宾语被区别对待；然而，与许多作格语言不同的是，这种模式只在关系从句的构成中表现出来，而不是从语序或名词和动词上的标记来体现。这种模式以前被认为是不可能的，并给最近的理论句法工作带来了一些挑战。本研究将探讨这一不寻常模式的特点及其对我们更广泛地理解小句结构的启示，包括小句结构如何受到语言接触的影响。为了解决这个问题，这项研究将基于对说话者的广泛样本的采访，他们的语言使用可能会因年龄、教育和居住地而异。这一奖项反映了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。

Languages have vastly different ways of marking grammatical relations like subject and object, including differences in word order, marking on nouns and verbs, and employing different sentence structures altogether. The goal of this project is to investigate how grammatical relations can differ across languages and change over time, with a particular focus on an endangered language. By recording sentences, stories, and conversations with speakers, this project will document and analyze an unusual system of grammatical marking, which is undergoing rapid change due to contact with other languages. The resulting language documentation will be useful not only to linguists, but also to community members interested in maintaining the language.The language being investigated shows an ergative alignment, where transitive subjects are treated differently from intransitive subjects and transitive objects; unlike many ergative languages, however, this pattern is only apparent in the formation of relative clauses, not from word order or marking on nouns and verbs. This pattern was previously thought to be impossible and presents some challenges for recent work in theoretical syntax. This research will explore the properties of this unusual pattern and its implications for our understanding of clause structure more broadly, including how clause structure is affected by language contact. To address this question, the study will be based on interviews with a broad sample of speakers, whose language use may differ according to age, education, and place of residence.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.