Mixe-Zoquean and Zapotecan Documentation and Comparative Linguistics

这个为期三年的项目旨在推进MixeZoquean(MZ)和Zapotecan(Zn)语言的比较研究。没有一种MZ语言只有一个基本的句法描述，而且对大多数语言来说，即使是形态描述也是不完整的。我们瞄准了Ayapa、Oluta、Oaxaca Zoque、Soteapan和Texistepec在这些地区开展工作，建立在上个赛季提供的基础上。该项目还将为前几季没有研究的MZ语言建立词汇和文本基础：Highland Mixe、Lowland Mixe和Chiapas Zoque(条件允许)。这些语言有相当大的词汇量，但一些语音特征不清楚或规定不足，语素分类不充分，语料库缺乏。锌语言大多没有完整的文档，并且存在与MZ相同的需求。三种Zapotec语言(Isthmus、Guelavi*a和Oaxaca环境)和一种Chatino语言(Zenzontepec)被作为1993年和1994年所做的那种初步文件的目标。拟议的工作在几个领域具有重要意义。虽然两种语言在结构上非常不同，但它们都具有当前语言学理论感兴趣的结构特征。值得注意的是，MZ有作格和OV形态句法，而ZN有声调和动词前缀和倾向的不透明系统。该项目有可能对早期中美洲的文化和语言历史做出重大贡献：奥尔梅克人使用MZ语言，并在奥尔梅克时代产生了影响，随后影响了该地区的许多其他语言。它有助于正在进行的EPI-Olmec文字的破译；对其文本的解释在很大程度上依赖于MZ比较研究，这在最初的破译中是至关重要的。锌的比较研究虽然落后于MZ研究，但已经在推动瓦哈卡语文字的破译。最后，它包括一个主要的语言抢救行动，帮助保护美洲语言遗产的一个重要部分。

This three-year project is designed to advance the comparative study of MixeZoquean (MZ) and Zapotecan (Zn) languages. No MZ language has more than a rudimentary syntactic description, and for most even morphological description is incomplete. We are targeting Ayapa, Oluta, Oaxaca Zoque, Soteapan, and Texistepec for work in these areas, building on the foundation provided last season. The project will also build a lexical and textual foundation for those MZ languages that were not investigated in previous seasons: Highland Mixe, Lowland Mixe, and (conditions permitting) Chiapas Zoque. There are fairly large vocabulary collections for these languages, but some phonological features are unclear or underspecified, morpheme classification is not adequate, and text collections are lacking. Zn languages are mostly not fully documented, and the same needs exist as for MZ. Three Zapotec languages (Isthmus, Guelavi*a, and Oaxaca environs) and one Chatino language (Zenzontepec)are targeted for initial documentation of the type done in 1993 and 1994. The proposed work is significant in several areas. Both MZ and Zn languages have structural properties of interest to current linguistic theory, although they are structurally highly dissimilar. Notably, MZ has ergativity and OV morphosyntax,and Zn has tones and an often opaque system of prefixes and proclitics on verbs. The project has the potential to make a major contribution to early Mesoamerican cultural and linguistic history: MZ languages were spoken by Olmecs,and were influential at the Olmec era and subsequently in affecting many other languages in the area. It contributes to the ongoing decipherment of epi-Olmec writing; the interpretation of its texts depends heavily upon MZ comparative studies, which were crucial in the original decipherment. Zn comparative studies, though lagging behind MZ studies, are already advancing the decipherment of Oaxacan writing. Finally, it includes a major language salvag e operation, helping to preserve an important part of the linguistic heritage of the Americas.