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

世界上的许多语言都有被称为偏旁语的元素。根据语言的不同，小单词以不同的方式附着在附近的单词上。从跨语言的角度来看，很多元素都可以是派系。例如，在英语中，否定标记“n‘t”是一个附加在动词上的冠词，用来构成否定句：“他不是一个好学生。”这个项目调查了一种类型的克利特，已经得到了一些科学的分析，但还没有得到全面的研究，但提供了有趣的结构特征。这个冠词涉及定冠词(如英语中的“the”)的缩写。目标定冠词之所以耐人寻味，是因为它是否依附于邻近的单词，既取决于语音(语音)，也取决于句法(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拓宽和加深对定冠词的更广泛的语言学知识，以及语法(句法和语音)的不同部分是如何相互作用的。这个博士论文项目的一个主要目标是与以目标语言的三种微型化方言为母语的人合作，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的方言和说话者的各种语境中是如何表现的。研究人员对收集的数据进行了形式句法分析，假设缩写是结构格分配的形态反映，只出现在特定的语音环境中。这个项目的第二个目标是写出目标语言的定冠词的描述性语法。在与本项目合作的母语人士批准后，描述性语法将托管在开放获取平台上，以便研究人员和普通公众可以访问目标少数民族语言的语法、其确定的冠词或关于整体的偏颇。最后，该项目的一个主要目标是唤起人们对数百年来一直被小型化的语言的关注，并帮助解决更广泛地减少小型化语言的问题。此外，对像Focus这样的微型化和研究不足的语言的探索具有巨大的潜力，可以发现其他语言中没有的现象，从而对语言学理论做出新的贡献。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。

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.