Doctoral Dissertation Research: Article Contraction as a Reflex of Case Assignment

世界上的许多语言都有被称为附着体的元素。附着词是以不同的方式附着在附近单词上的小词，这取决于语言。从跨语言的角度来看，许多元素都可以是附着词。例如，在英语中，否定标记“n't”是一个附着在动词上的附加词，构成否定句：“他不是一个好学生。“这个项目研究了一种已经得到一些科学分析的气候类型，但尚未进行全面研究，但提供了有趣的结构特征。这个附著词涉及到定冠词的收缩（英语中的“the”）。目标定冠词很有趣，因为它是否与邻近的单词相连取决于语音（语音）和句法（句子中单词的顺序）。由于其复杂性，对目标定冠词的严格分析有助于更广泛地拓宽和深化附着词的语言知识以及语法的不同部分（句法和音韵）如何相互作用。 这个博士论文项目的一个主要目标是与目标语言的三个少数民族方言的母语使用者一起构建一个大型数据集。这个数据集的目的是记录定冠词在不同方言和说话人的广泛语境中的表现。研究人员进行了正式的句法分析，这个组装的数据集的工作假设下，收缩是一个形态反射的结构情况下分配，只在某些语音环境中的表面。这个项目的第二个目标是写一个目标语言的定冠词的描述性语法。在本项目的母语使用者的批准下，描述性语法被托管在开放获取平台上，以便研究人员和公众可以访问目标少数民族语言的语法，其定冠词clitic或关于clitics的整体。最后，该项目的一个总体目标是提请注意一种数百年来一直处于少数民族地位的语言，并帮助更普遍地防止少数民族语言的语言流失。此外，对少数民族语言的探索，如重点语言，具有发现其他语言中没有发现的现象的巨大潜力，因此对语言学理论做出了新的贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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。

Many languages of the world have elements known as clitics. Clitics are small words that attach to nearby words in different ways, depending on the language. Cross-linguistically, many kinds of elements can be clitics. For example, in English, the negative marker "n’t" is a clitic that attaches to a verb to form a negative sentence: "He isn’t a good student." This project investigates one type of clitic that has received some scientific analysis, but that has yet to be studied comprehensively yet offers interesting structural features. This clitic involves contraction of the definite article (words like "the" in English). The target definite article is intriguing because whether it attaches to nearby words depends both on phonology (speech sounds) and on syntax (the order of words in a sentence). Because of its complex nature, a rigorous analysis of the target definite article helps to broaden and deepen linguistic knowledge of clitics more generally and of how different parts of grammar (syntax and phonology) interact. A main goal of this doctoral dissertation project is to work with native speakers of three minoritized dialects of the target language to construct a large data set. The purpose of this data set is to document how the definite article behaves in a wide range of contexts, across different dialects and speakers. The researchers conduct a formal syntactic analysis of this assembled data set under the working hypothesis that contraction is a morphological reflex of structural Case assignment that only surfaces in certain phonological environments. A second goal of this project is to write a descriptive grammar of the definite article of the target language. Upon approval of native speakers collaborating on this project, the descriptive grammar is hosted on open access platforms, so that researchers and the general public can access the grammar of the target minority language, its definite article clitic, or about clitics overall. Finally, an overarching objective of this project is to call attention to a language that has been minoritized for hundreds of years as well as to help combat language loss of minoritized languages more generally. In addition, an exploration of a minoritized and understudied language such as the one under focus holds great potential to uncover phenomena not found in other languages and therefore to make a new contribution to linguistic theory.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.