The Tolowa (TOL) Athabaskan Lexicon and Text Collection Project: Recording the Last Speakers of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Language

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。托洛瓦迪尼语是阿萨巴斯坎语系太平洋沿岸语系的一员，今天在加利福尼亚州史密斯河及其周围使用。它濒临死亡，只剩下三个人说，其中两个年纪很大。这些演讲者代表了深入了解这个曾经多样化、充满活力的语言社区的最后机会。由于其太平洋沿岸方言链的所有其他成员都已经死亡，这些少数说话者代表了阿萨巴斯坎语系整个分支的唯一代表：太平洋沿岸分支的俄勒冈亚群。因此，迫切需要记录现存的托洛瓦人的语言。现有的语言文档是有限的；录音和各种文本基本上是语言学团体和部落团体都无法获得的。这项研究的成功完成将使Athabaskan和更广泛的语言学社区以及Tolowa Dee-ni'部落社区受益。该项目由史密斯河牧场、俄勒冈大学和德尔诺特县联合学区合作设计。该项目将提供所需的数据，使Athabaskan语言学社区能够更好地了解Athabaskan动词，家族中的tonogenesis，以及太平洋沿岸Athabaskan分支在更广泛的家族中的位置；支持史密斯河牧场的托洛瓦人语言和文化的保护和恢复工作，通过开发托洛瓦人的词典和附带的声音文件；它将通过开发托洛瓦语词典和文本和视频语料库来支持托洛瓦语教师的教学需求。这个项目将增加现有的托洛瓦人数据语料库，使项目收集的数据和现有文本转录产生的数据以电子和印刷形式提供给广大读者。建立一个广泛的托洛瓦语文本和词汇数据库将确保对该语言的音系、词法、句法、语义和语用学进行彻底的分析。此外，更好地了解托洛瓦语与阿萨巴斯坎语系的历史关系，以及托洛瓦语本身的发展，如语调和音调，将被研究。该项目将首次提供资金，对现有录音进行盘点，创建一个可搜索的数据库，其中包含演讲者姓名、时间索引和每段录音的摘要。在这一项目过程中所作的录音也将列入这一目录，从而提供该部落所拥有的所有记录材料的全面记录。语言和文化有着内在的联系。一种定义明确的文化的保存取决于语言的保存。这是记录和保存Tolowa Dee-ni'的关键时刻。现在只剩下三个能说流利英语的人，这种语言正濒临灭绝。托洛瓦人再过一代人就会失去他们的语言。该项目旨在通过语言文档和向部落社区提供有关Tolowa Dee-ni' Athabaskan语言的材料，帮助Rancheria成员继续稳定其独特的语言、生活方式和文化，从而实现繁荣。此外，阿萨巴斯坎语言学社区期待已久的提供关于该语言的广泛文献基础，将有助于更好地了解整个语系。如果语言学家要了解阿萨巴斯坎家族如何融入北美语言学和文化的更广泛的马赛克，那么托洛瓦语是必不可少的。将以前的资料数字化将确保托洛瓦早期的语言工作存档，以备将来使用；培训部落成员如何创建档案质量的录音和管理大量的语言数据，将使部落社区能够在项目结束后继续进行文献和档案工作。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Tolowa Dee-ni' language, a member of the Pacific Coast Group of the Athabaskan language family, is spoken today in and around Smith River, California. It is on the verge of death, with only three speakers remaining, two of whom are quite elderly. These speakers represent the final opportunity to gain insight into what was once a diverse, vibrant linguistic community. With all other members of its Pacific coast dialect chain already moribund, these few speakers represent the only remaining representatives of an entire sub-group of the Athabaskan language family: the Oregon subgroup of the Pacific Coast branch. Thus there is an urgent need to document the speech of the living Tolowa speakers. Existing documentation of the language is limited; recordings as well as various texts are essentially inaccessible to both the linguistics community and the tribal community. The successful completion of the research will benefit the Athabaskan and the broader linguistics community as well as the Tolowa Dee-ni' tribal community. The project is designed as a collaboration of Smith River Rancheria, the University of Oregon and the Del Norte County Unified School District. The project will provide needed data which will enable the Athabaskan linguistics community to better understand the Athabaskan verb, tonogenesis within the family, and the place of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan sub-branch within the broader family; support the Tolowa language and culture preservation and restoration efforts of the Smith River Rancheria by developing a Tolowa lexicon with accompanying sound files; and it will support the instructional needs of teachers of Tolowa through developing a Tolowa lexicon and a text and video corpus. This project will increase the existing corpus of Tolowa data, by making both the data collected in the project and that generated by the transcription of existing texts available to a wide audience in electronic and print forms. Making available an extensive database of Tolowa text and lexicon will ensure that a thorough analysis of the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the language can now take place. Additionally, a better understanding of how Tolowa relates historically to the Athabaskan language family, as well as developments within Tolowa itself, such as intonation and tone will be researched. This project will for the first time provide the funding to take inventory of existing recordings, creating a searchable database with speaker names, time indexes, and summaries of what is on each recording. Recordings made during the course of this project will also be incorporated into this catalogue, thus providing a comprehensive record of all recorded materials in the possession of the Tribe.Language and culture are intrinsically linked. The preservation of a well-defined culture depends upon the preservation of the language. This is a critical time for the documentation and preservation of Tolowa Dee-ni'. With only three fluent speakers remaining, the language teeters on the brink of extinction. The Tolowa people are literally one generation away from losing their language. The project is designed to assist the members of the Rancheria to prosper through the continued stabilization of their distinct language, life ways and culture through language documentation and making materials about the Tolowa Dee-ni' Athabaskan language available to the tribal community. Further, providing an extensive base of documentation about the language, long awaited by the Athabaskan linguistics community, will provide a better understanding of the family as a whole. If linguists are to understand how the Athabaskan family fits into the broader mosaic of North American linguistics and cultures, the Tolowa language is essential. Digitizing previous materials will ensure that earlier linguistic work on Tolowa will be archived for future use and training tribal members on how to create archival-quality recordings and manage large amounts of linguistic data will empower the tribal community to continue documentary and archival efforts beyond the end of this project.