Doctoral Dissertation Research: Verbal Semantics and Morphosyntax in Tsafiki (Colorado)

目前的项目是关于科罗拉多州Tsafiki的形态句法和语义动词系统的博士论文研究。Tsafiki是Tsachila(Colorados)的母语，Tsachila(Colorados)是厄瓜多尔热带西部低地的土著少数民族(2000人)。本论文的主题将实现两个目标：1)对语言的主要语法系统之一进行全面描述；2)探索语言学界感兴趣的理论主题。Tsafiki是一种文献记载较少的语言，属于南美洲鲜为人知的巴尔巴坎-帕桑语系。对动词系统的形态句法进行详细的描述，对于理解察菲基和认识这一语系都有很大的帮助。Tsafiki之所以具有理论意义，是因为它有一个有趣的语言分类系统，将主体和客体结合在一起，也许最重要的是，它有一个非常详细的证据(知识来源)系统。这一证据系统是语法的一个组成部分。语言的大部分形态句法资源不仅用于编码信息来源，而且还用于编码信息的类型，以及信息是否根据说话人自己的即时感知和内部状态属于文化、一般知识或知识范畴。证据系统与人称标记系统、时体系统和动词分类系统之间存在着有趣的互动关系。虽然证据系统在世界各地有多种语言的证明，但它们似乎也是南美洲的一种地区性现象。它们出现在盖丘亚语、艾马拉语和亚马孙流域的语言中。但关于这类系统的描述性或理论性工作很少。本文将推进对这类制度的理论认识。该项目还旨在使三个不同的社区受益：1)美国的学术界；2)厄瓜多尔的学术界；3)察奇拉社区本身。制作的所有材料的副本将分发给厄瓜多尔的Catolica de de Pontifas大学和Tsachila社区。此外，这些材料将被用作最终为社区编制双语材料、词典和教学材料的基础。

The current project is for doctoral dissertation research on the morphosyntactic and semantic verbal system of Tsafiki (Colorado). Tsafiki is the native language of the Tsachila (Colorados), an indigenous minority (2,000 speakers) of the tropical western lowlands of Ecuador. The dissertation topic will accomplish two goals: 1) present a thorough description of one of the major grammatical systems of the language; and 2) explore a topic of theoretical interest to the linguistic community. Tsafiki is an under-documented language which belongs to a little-described family of languages of South America, Barbakoan-Paesan. A detailed description of the morphosyntax of the verbal system will contribute greatly to both the understanding of Tsafiki and knowledge about this family of languages. Tsafiki is of theoretical interest in that it has an interesting system of verbal classification, incorporation of both subjects and objects and perhaps, most importantly, a very elaborate evidential (source of knowledge) system. This evidential system is an integral part of the grammar. Much of the morphosyntactic resources of the language are devoted to coding not only the source of information but also the type of information and whether the information falls into the category of cultural, general knowledge or knowledge based on the speaker's own immediate perceptions and internal states. The evidential system interacts in some interesting ways with the person-marking system, the tense-aspect system and the verbal classification system. While evidential systems are attested in a number of languages worldwide they also appear to be an areal phenomenon in South America. They appear in Quechua, Aymara and languages of the Amazonian basin. But very little descriptive or theoretical work has been done on such systems. This dissertation will advance the theoretical understanding of such systems. The project has also been designed to benefit thr ee different communities: 1) the academic community of the United States; 2) the academic community of Ecuador; and 3) the Tsachila community itself. Copies of all materials produced will be given to the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and to the Tsachila community. In addition, the materials will be used as a basis for eventually producing bilingual materials, a dictionary and pedagogical materials for the community.