Collaborative Research: Descriptive Studies of Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal

该项目有两个目标。首先，目的是收集关于尼泊尔四种以前没有记录或记录不全的语言的数据。尼泊尔至少有130种语言，其中只有大约25种语言有任何形式的语法描述，其中许多是初级的。由于5000多人讲的尼泊尔语言不超过30多种，由于国语尼泊尔语的双语能力现在对成年人几乎是普遍的，由于许多不发达国家的典型经济因素在尼泊尔起作用，导致越来越多的人向城市移民，大多数尼泊尔语言似乎不太可能存活超过一两代人。在整个社区仍在使用尼泊尔的大多数语言时，必须立即开展语言实地工作。该项目的第二个目标是为四名研究生提供实地考察和藏缅语语言学方面的培训。

This project has two aims. First and foremost is the aim of collecting data on four previously undocumented or poorly documented languages of Nepal. There are at least 130 languages spoken in Nepal and, of these languages, only about 25 have grammatical descriptions of any sort and many of these are rudimentary. Since no more than about three dozen of Nepal's language are spoken by more than 5000 people, since bilingualism in the national language, Nepali, is now almost universal for adults, and since economic factors typical of many undeveloped countries are operative in Nepal resulting in increasing migration to the cities, it seems unlikely that the majority of Nepalese languages can survive for more than a generation or two. It is imperative that linguistic fieldwork be conducted now while the majority of Nepal's languages are still spoken by whole communities. The second aim of the project is to provide training in fieldwork and TibetoBurman linguistics for four graduate students.