Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Grammar of Kuna, a Community-Based Approach to Documenting and Grammar Writing

这个项目试图记录库纳语中自然产生的语言实例，库纳语是一种奇布昌语，主要在巴拿马-哥伦比亚边境地区使用。从这项文件工作中获得的数据将用于编制经过处理的文本和语言的全面语法，重点是加强和振兴社区的利益。该项目的初始阶段将侧重于收集已经录制但未出版的文本，并制作新的库纳演讲的音频和视频记录。这样做的目的是通过增加语文档案中目前没有记录的体裁，丰富和补充现有的录音收藏。同样重要的是，该项目将通过对选定的录音进行仔细的转录、翻译和逐个语素的注解，制作几个小时的加工文本，供社区使用。该项目还力求对以库纳语为母语的人进行基本语言描述性术语和文件方法的培训。讲库纳语的人通过讲习班和研讨会参与文件进程是重要的，因为它重视社区的投入，并确保社区继续支持加强和振兴工作。该项目的目标与在巴拿马接受教育的库纳人越来越多地意识到语言和文化的丧失是一致的。这导致了人们对挽救库纳语的使用以及在城市中心练习舞蹈和吟唱的文化习俗的兴趣。如果鼓励讲库纳语的社区的成员开展自己的文件项目并与社区分享新材料，该项目可以在社区内产生持久的影响。因此，这里提出的工作是对社区内已经开始的工作的补充。

This project seeks to document instances of naturally occurring speech in Kuna, a Chibchan language spoken mostly in the Panamanian-Colombian border area. The data obtained from this documentation effort will then be used to produce processed texts and a comprehensive grammar of the language, with an emphasis on community interests of strengthening and revitalization. The initial stage of the project will focus on collecting already-recorded, but unpublished, texts and making new audio and video recordings of Kuna speech. The purpose is to enrich and complement the existing collection of recordings by adding genres that are not represented currently in the language archives. Just as importantly, the project will produce several hours of processed texts for community use, through careful transcription, translation and morpheme-by-morpheme glossing of selected recordings.The project also seeks to train native Kuna speakers in basic linguistic descriptive terminology and documentation methods. The participation of Kuna speakers in the process of documentation, through workshops and seminars, is important because it places value on community input and ensures continual support of the community in strengthening and revitalization efforts. The objectives of the project are lined up with the growing awareness of language and cultural loss among Panamanian-educated Kuna. This has resulted in an interest in rescuing the use of Kuna language and the exercise of cultural practices of dancing and chanting in urban centers. The project can have a lasting impact within the community of Kuna speakers if its members are encouraged to carry out their own documentation projects and share new materials with the community. The work presented here, therefore, serves as a complement to work already started within the community.