Epistemology and Indexicality in English, Tibetan and Navajo

语言在表达自己的思想与他人的思想、信仰和话语之间的关系时所使用的句法手段各不相同。例如，有些语言会使用嵌入从句来表达一个信念或想法（“我认为玛丽在这里”），而其他语言则使用助词或动词后缀。越来越多关于儿童语言习得和心理学的研究表明，儿童在理解他人的思想和信仰方面与成人不同，也就是说，他们在一定年龄之前缺乏“心智理论”。近年来，人们发现心理理论核心属性的习得与句法嵌入的习得之间存在显著的相关性。Speas教授、Roeper教授、deVilliers教授、Garfield教授和Parsons-Yazzie教授正在利用语言嵌入和心智理论研究的最新进展，作为一扇窗口，研究对他人心灵理解发展的触发因素。与他们的习得研究相一致，他们正在调查英语、藏语和纳瓦霍语在几个语法子系统中的跨语言差异，这些语法子系统的解释需要整合多个认知视角。他们的田野调查结果为习得研究提供了素材，也被用来开发新的教学材料，向那些试图学习和保存他们语言的年轻纳瓦霍学生教授这些语法的微妙方面。

Languages vary in the syntactic means used to express the relationship between one's own thoughts and the thoughts, beliefs and utterances of others. For example, where some languages will use embedded clauses to report a belief or thought ("I think that Mary is here"), other languages use particles or verbal suffixes. A growing body of work in child language acquisition and psychology suggests that children differ from adults in their understanding of the thoughts and beliefs of others, that is, they are said to lack "Theory of Mind" before a certain age. Recently, a striking correlation has been found between the acquisition of the core properties of Theory of Mind and the acquisition of syntactic embedding. Professors Speas, Roeper, deVilliers, Garfield and Parsons-Yazzie are using recent advances in the study of linguistic embedding and Theory of Mind as a window into the triggers for the development of the understanding of other minds. In concert with their acquisition studies, they are investigating cross-linguistic differences between English, Tibetan and Navajo in several sub-systems of grammar whose interpretation requires integrating multiple epistemic perspectives. The results of their fieldwork feed the acquisition studies and are also being used to develop new pedagogical materials for teaching these subtle aspects of grammar to young Navajo students who are trying to learn and preserve their language.