Documenting Defaka [afn] and Nkoroo [nkx]

据估计，目前有超过200种西非语言被认定为严重濒危语言。Ijoid语是在尼日利亚南部尼日尔三角洲发现的尼日尔-刚果语系的一个分支，大多数Ijoid语都有消失的危险。该项目的目的是按照目前确立的最佳做法，详细记录尼日利亚尼日尔三角洲地区两种严重濒危的语言——德法卡语和恩科鲁语。其中一种语言德aka的人口估计从1000人或更少（Crozier & Blench 1992）到200人（Blench 2007），表明在过去十年中迅速枯竭，需要紧急关注。从学术的角度来看，这个项目的最大优点是对两种复杂的濒危语言的记录和分析，这将有助于我们了解尼日尔-刚果伊约德亚群的性质和历史。非洲主义语言学和一般的语言学理论都将从即将获得的新知识中受益。该项目的广泛影响将在几个方面表现出来。首先，通过收集大量的文本和词汇数据，这些数据将保存在一个持久的媒介中，我们将保存德aka和Nkoroo语，以造福于他们的使用者，外部语言学家，人类学家，历史学家和其他学者，以及整个人类。第二，将对以这些语言为母语的人进行文献技术方面的培训，使他们能够在保存其语言方面发挥更积极的作用。此外，美国和非洲的研究生也将接受文件技术方面的培训。最后，我们的项目涉及美国罗格斯大学、加拿大约克大学、英国肯特大学和尼日利亚哈科特港大学四个不同国家机构的研究人员的积极合作，从而促进了国际学术合作。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

According to some estimates, over 200 West African languages are currently identified as being severely endangered. Most of the Ijoid languages, a branch of the Niger-Congo family found in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, are in danger of disappearing. The aim of this project is to document in detail, following currently established best practice, two severely endangered languages of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Defaka and Nkoroo. Population estimates for one of these languages, Defaka, range from 1,000 or fewer (Crozier & Blench 1992) to as few as 200 (Blench 2007), indicating rapid depletion in the last decade and calling for urgent attention.From a scholarly perspective, the great merit of this project is the documentation and analysis of two complex endangered languages, which will contribute to our understanding of the nature and history of the Ijoid subgroup of Niger-Congo. Both Africanist linguistics and linguistic theory in general stand to benefit from the new knowledge that will be gained. The broader impact of the project will be manifested in several ways. First, by gathering large quantities of texts and lexical data, which will be archived in a lasting medium, we will be preserving Defaka and Nkoroo for the benefit of their speakers, outside linguists, anthropologists, historians and other scholars, and for mankind in general. Second, native speakers of the languages will be trained in documentation techniques, enabling them to play a more active role in the preservation of their language. In addition, American and African graduate students will also trained in documentation techniques. Finally, our project involves the active collaboration of researchers at institutions in four different countries, Rutgers University in the USA, York University in Canada, the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, and the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, thus fostering international academic cooperation. This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.