SGER: Exploratory Fieldwork with the Nedebang Language of Eastern Indonesia

在国家科学基金会的支持下，加里·霍尔顿博士将与尼德邦进行为期六周的探索性田野工作，内德邦是一种濒危的非南岛语系语言，在印度尼西亚东部的潘塔尔岛上只有不到1000人使用。该项目有三个主要目标：(1)收集基本的语音、词汇和语法信息，以编制一份关于内德邦的简短草图；(2)对潘塔尔岛非南岛语言的语法和类型学特性进行调查；以及(3)评估今后对潘塔尔语言进行长期实地调查的可行性。在项目过程中收集的数据和记录将被存档，以供其他研究人员使用。该项目具有重要意义，主要有三个原因。(1)潘塔尔语目前正在被交流范围更广的语言所取代。这项研究的时机将确保在尼德邦和其他潘塔尔语言停止使用之前记录有关该语言的信息。(2)潘塔尔语言似乎属于跨新几内亚语系，这是一个假定由新几内亚地区使用的500多种语言组成的群体。然而，它们的确切遗传关系尚不清楚。来自Pantar语言的数据将有助于更好地了解内部和外部遗传关系。(3)现有的数据表明，在潘塔尔语言中发现的语法结构与在其他语言中发现的显著不同。这项研究的结果将通过提供一种在类型上不寻常的语言的详细文件来增加我们对人类语言和语言学理论的了解。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Gary Holton will conduct six weeks of exploratory field work with Nedebang, an endangered non-Austronesian language spoken by fewer than one thousand persons on Pantar Island, eastern Indonesia. The project has three primary objectives: (1) to gather basic phonological, lexical, and grammatical information from which to compile a short sketch of Nedebang; (2) to conduct a survey of the grammatical and typological properties of the non-Austronesian languages of Pantar Island; and (3) to assess the feasibility of future longer-term field investigations of the languages of Pantar. Data and recordings gathered during the course of the project will be archived for use by other researchers.The project is significant for three main reasons. (1) The Pantar languages are currently being replaced by languages of wider commuication. The timing of this research will ensure that information regarding Nedebang and other Pantar languages is recorded before the language ceases to be spoken. (2) The Pantar languages appear to belong to the Trans-New Guinea language family, a putative grouping of more than 500 languages spoken in the New Guinea region. However, their precise genetic relationship is unclear. Data from Pantar languages will contribute to a better understanding of both internal and external genetic relationships. (3) What data are available suggest that the grammatical structures found in the Pantar languages differ significantly from those found in other languages. The results of this research will add to our knowledge of human language and linguistic theory by providing detailed documentation of a typologically unusual language.