Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Grammar of Sakun (Sukur)

萨昆语言文献项目将为教科文组织世界遗产苏库尔文化景观约15,000人所说的濒危和无记录的乍得语编制语法。乍得语系占非亚语系语言的一半以上，但被研究的最少。这个家庭的许多成员，包括萨昆，正在让位于豪萨。该项目将安排一名熟悉Sakun并与社区建立联系的经验丰富的现场工作人员在现场进行研究。萨昆语包含许多曼达拉山脉语言尚未描述的语法特征。对这种语言的详细描述将填补关于乍得语经验知识基础的一个重要空白，并将为更广泛的关于语言结构和使用的理论问题提供重要证据。在2008年5月至8月试点项目取得成功的基础上，将在萨昆语顾问的帮助下，在5个月的时间内收集和分析各种音频和视频文本。收集到的文本将为语法提供语料库。收集的词表将为未来的词典奠定基础。时间很短，因为教科文组织的加入增加了接触和发展，这增加了使用萨昆语以外的语言的压力。编写词典、语法和课本的长期目标，再加上对参加实地工作的萨昆顾问的培训，将支持当地社区为维护其语言和文化而不断采取的举措。该项目将在萨昆发展协会、科罗拉多大学、尼日利亚国家博物馆和古迹委员会、教科文组织和迈杜古里大学之间建立重要的机构联系。

The Sakun language documentation project will produce a grammar of the endangered and undocumented Chadic language spoken by approximately 15,000 people at the UNESCO World Heritage Sukur Cultural Landscape. The Chadic language family constitutes over half the languages of the Afroasiatic phylum, but is the least studied. Many members of this family, including Sakun, are giving way to Hausa. This project will place an experienced fieldworker familiar with Sakun and with established ties to the community on site to conduct the research. Sakun contains a number of grammatical features that have yet to be described for languages of the Mandara mountains. A detailed description of the language will fill a crucial gap in the empirical base of knowledge about Chadic, and will contribute important evidence for more general theoretical questions about language structure and use. Building on the success of the pilot project conducted in May-August, 2008, a broad range of audio and video texts will be collected and analyzed with the aid of Sakun language consultants over a 5-month period. The collected texts will provide the corpus for the grammar. The word lists collected will provide the foundation for a future dictionary. Time is short due to increased contact and development resulting from UNESCO enlistment, which has increased pressure to use languages other than Sakun. The long term goals of producing a dictionary, grammar and texts, coupled with the training of Sakun consultants participating in the fieldwork, will support the local community in their ongoing initiatives towards maintaining their language and culture. This project will build important institutional connections between the Sakun Development Association, the University of Colorado, Nigeria's National Commission on Museums and Monuments, UNESCO and the University of Maiduguri.