Doctoral Dissertation Research: Grammar and Interaction in Kula [tpg], a non-Austronesian Language of Eastern Indonesia

库拉语是一种濒临灭绝的非南岛语言，在印度尼西亚阿洛尔东部高地约有5000人使用。Alor和邻近的Pantar是大约20种非南岛语（或“巴布亚语”）语言的家园。这组“巴布亚异类”在过去十年中因其类型学上的独特特征和对巴布亚史前主题的启发而引起语言学家越来越大的兴趣。尽管人们对库拉的兴趣越来越大，但库拉几乎完全没有被记录在案。此外，持续的语言转移威胁着库拉语，许多孩子现在学习当地的马来语作为他们的第一语言。这笔资金将用于支持库拉急需的文献资料和尼古拉斯·威廉姆斯博士论文关于库拉地点参考的相关研究。本研究提出了一种新的语言文档模型，该模型以语言在日常会话中的使用为中心。文件项目的主要目标将是制作一个广泛的库拉语自发对话录像语料库。将对这些录音进行转录、注释、注释和翻译，为库拉社区的存档、进一步研究和使用做准备。利用语料库，尼古拉斯将探索库拉语使用者在社会互动过程中使用空间语言和其他符号学实践（例如指向）来实现对地点的参考。本研究提出了一个重要的问题，即语法实践是如何在社会互动过程中出现的，重点是指涉领域。这项研究将为语言文献领域带来新的方法，为互动语言学领域带来新的数据和分析。在未来的语言维护活动中，文档材料也将成为Kula社区的重要资源。作为第一个此类项目，这项工作将对当地语言态度产生积极影响，可能会增加语言的相对声望，并减缓语言转变的进程。通过训练母语人士掌握语言文件和在当地存档材料的基本技术，该项目将确保社区能够获得这些材料。

Kula is an endangered and undocumented non-Austronesian language spoken by approximately 5,000 people in the eastern highlands of Alor, Indonesia. Alor and neighboring Pantar are home to around 20 non-Austronesian (or 'Papuan') languages. This group of 'Papuan outliers' has become of increased interest to linguists in the past decade for their typologically unique features and for the light they shed on the topic of Papuan prehistory. Despite this increased interest, Kula remains almost entirely undocumented. Furthermore, ongoing language shift threatens the Kula language with many children now learning the local variety of Malay as their first language.This grant from will support both urgently needed documentation of Kula and related research for Nicholas Williams's doctoral dissertation on place reference in Kula. This research promotes a new model of language documentation which takes as its central focus the use of language in everyday conversation. The primary goal of the documentation project will be to produce an extensive corpus of video recorded spontaneous conversation in Kula. These recordings will be transcribed, annotated, glossed and translated in preparation for archiving, further research and use by the Kula community. Using the corpus, Nicholas will explore Kula speakers' use of spatial language and other semiotic practices (e.g. pointing) for achieving reference to places in the course of social interaction. This research asks the important question of how grammatical practices emerge in the course of social interaction, focusing on the domain of reference. This research will introduce new methods to the field of language documentation and new data and analyses to the field of interactional linguistics. The documentation materials will also become an important resource for the Kula community in any future language maintenance activities. As the first project of its kind, this work will have a positive effect on local language attitudes, potentially increasing the relative prestige of the language and mitigating the progress of language shift. By training native speakers in the basic techniques of language documentation and archiving materials locally, the project will ensure community access to the materials.