Doctoral Dissertation Research: Belizean Mopan Documentation (MOP)

该项目旨在记录和描述伯利兹南部托莱多地区使用的一种玛雅语言——伯利兹莫潘语的语法、词汇、方言变化以及各种表演和演讲类型。尽管磨盘族人口有所增加，但磨盘语仍然是一种严重濒危的语言，因为年轻的社区成员不再说这种语言。将对这些数据进行记录和分析，以便：评价伯利兹莫潘语与其尤katekkan姐妹语的关系；原始yukatekan重建数据集；特定文化的语言功能分析，如话语中声音象征主义的作用；比较英语接触对伯利兹莫潘和西班牙接触对危地马拉莫潘的影响；为子孙后代创造文化和智力资源。这项研究将有助于更好地了解伯利兹玛雅人，加强其使用者的种族特性，并呼吁公众更多地注意和欣赏现代伯利兹玛雅人、文化和语言。该项目还将有助于培养一名有前途的学者。

This project aims to document and describe the grammar, lexicon, dialectal variations, and a variety of performance and speech genres of Belizean Mopan, a Mayan language spoken in the Toledo district of Southern Belize. Despite increases in Mopan populations, Mopan is a severely endangered language because younger community members are no longer speaking the language. The data are to be documented and analyzed to allow for: evaluation of Belizean Mopan's relationship with its Yukatekan sister languages; data sets for Proto-Yukatekan reconstruction; analysis of culturally specific linguistic functions, such as the role of sound symbolism in discourse; the comparison of the effects of English contact on Belizean Mopan with Spanish contact on Guatemalan Mopan; and the creation of cultural and intellectual resources for future generations. This study will contribute to a better understanding of Belizean Maya and to strengthening the ethnic identity of its speakers and call more public attention to and appreciation of the modern Belizean Mayan people, culture and language. This project will also contribute to the scientific training of a promising scholar.