From competing theories to fieldwork: the challenge of an extreme agreement system

语言学是一门学科，它的核心组成部分，即句法（句子结构），面临着几个理论之间似乎无法解决的竞争。进一步的进展需要我们澄清每种理论的具体预测有何不同。我们将创建一个框架来比较和评估领先的语法理论（HPSG， LFG和极简主义）的主张。我们通过关注语法的一个核心领域来做到这一点，即一致性。具体来说，我们将使用达吉斯坦语阿奇语的数据来分析每一个主要理论，阿奇语有一个非常丰富和复杂的协议系统。当考虑到一致性时，当代句法理论倾向于把注意力集中在不同语言中发现的孤立的复杂性实例上。为了确定针对这些单独问题提出的解决方案的兼容性，我们需要扩大到对完整协议系统的全面说明。Archi提出了一个罕见的案例，一种语言的协议系统挑战了三种不同语法理论中的主要主张。我们之前关于协议的工作为我们提供了以一致的方式描述极端协议系统所必需的理论工具。我们的类型学工作使我们意识到协议系统中形态和句法可能性的范围。我们早期对阿奇语的研究，通过实地调查编纂了一部创新的电子词典，使我们能够评估不同协议策略的频率。这将允许我们研究协议系统如何在Archi中工作，以及它的不同组件如何相互作用。对于一种使用人数很少的不成文语言来说，可用材料的范围是相当独特的，我们在实地考察方面的专业知识以及与社区的良好工作关系使我们有可能调查该系统允许的协议变化。该项目将采用一种创新的调查和传播模式。它的结构是围绕定期为期一天的研讨会，其中Archi协议系统的一个关键部分将根据这三种理论进行分析，这些理论的代表将讨论差异，并进一步的实地工作要求将被指定。最早将在项目的第三个月开始通过Wiki进行传播。这将提供基本的Archi数据，并参考Archi的注释语料库，与Wiki并行在线发布。Wiki将有三种响应，分别以HPSG、LFG和Minimalism的形式对数据进行三种分析。对于那些对任何一种主要语法理论感兴趣的人，对于那些希望比较和对比这三种理论的人，以及那些想要研究一种语法要求极高的语言的人来说，这些浓缩的材料都是有价值的。宗旨和目标为比较和评价句法理论提供一个可实现的框架。2. 在Archi.3中对协议系统进行本体论上一致的描述。给出具有挑战性的数据体的三个并行语法描述。调查Archi协议系统的全部功能和可变性。潜在的应用和好处最明显的好处是在理论方面：句法理论从来没有以如此有节制、严谨和创新的方式进行过比较和对比。就我们对极端协议系统的理解而言，好处也将是相当大的，因为我们将有三个互补的观点，以及对频率数据的调查和对系统功能的研究，这些通常不在句法家的主要兴趣范围之内。方法上的创新也应该为合作研究问题提供一种模式，这些问题既有固有的挑战性，也因为该领域的理论多样性。

CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCHLinguistics is a discipline which faces a seemingly irresolvable competition between several theories of its central component, namely syntax (sentence structure). Further progress requires us to clarify how the concrete predictions of each theory differ. We will create a framework for comparing and evaluating the claims of leading theories of syntax (HPSG, LFG and Minimalism). We do this by focusing on one core area of syntax, namely agreement. Specifically, we shall use data from the Daghestanian language Archi, which has an outstandingly rich and complex agreement system, for analyses in each of the leading theories.When accounting for agreement, contemporary syntactic theories tend to concentrate on isolated instances of complexity found in different languages. To determine the compatibility of the solutions suggested for these separate problems, we need to scale up to a full account of a complete agreement system. Archi presents a rare case of a language whose agreement system challenges major claims found in three different syntactic theories. Our previous work on agreement gives us the theoretical apparatus necessary for describing an extreme agreement system in a consistent way. Our typological work makes us aware of the range of morphological and syntactic possibilities in agreement systems. Our earlier research on Archi, through fieldwork which led to the compiling of an innovative electronic dictionary, enables us to assess the frequencies of the different agreement strategies. This will allow us to investigate how the agreement system functions in Archi, and how its different components interact. The range of available materials, rather unique for an unwritten language with a small number of speakers, our expertise in fieldwork and the excellent working relations with the community make it possible to investigate the variation in agreement that the system allows. The project will employ an innovative model of investigation and dissemination. It is structured around regular day-long seminars, at which a key part of the agreement system of Archi will be analysed according to the three theories, the differences will be discussed by representatives of these theories, and further fieldwork requirements will be specified. Dissemination will begin as early as the third month of the project, through a Wiki. This will give the essential Archi data, and refer to the annotated corpus of Archi, published online in parallel to the Wiki. The Wiki will have three strands of responses, contributing to the three analyses of the data, in HPSG, LFG and Minimalism. These condensed materials will be of value for those interested in any one of the major theories of syntax, for those wishing to compare and contrast the three theories, and for those wanting to approach a language with extremely demanding syntax. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES1. Provide an implemented framework for comparing and evaluating syntactic theories. 2. Produce an ontologically consistent description of the agreement system in Archi.3. Give three parallel syntactic accounts of the body of challenging data.4. Investigate the full range of function and variability of the Archi agreement system.POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITSThe obvious benefit is for theory: never before have syntactic theories been compared and contrasted in such a controlled, rigorous and innovative way. In terms of our understanding of extreme agreement systems, the benefits will also be considerable, since we shall have three complementary views, together with investigation of frequency data and research into the functioning of the system, which often lie outside syntacticians' main interests. The methodological innovations should also provide a model for collaborative research on problems which are challenging both inherently and because of the the theoritical diversity of the field.