Documenting Linguistic Structure and Language Change in Yawarana

众所周知，语言的变化是不可避免的和系统的，基因相关的语言往往表现出平行的变化。加勒比语言是南美洲最大的语族之一，是检验这种期望的良好试验场，因为密切相关的加勒比语言往往表现出不同的变化。俄勒冈大学的斯派克·吉尔迪亚将与语言学家纳塔利娅Cáceres和词典编纂者玛丽-克劳德·马蒂·穆勒一起记录一种极度濒危的加勒比语言亚瓦拉纳语。现存的亚瓦拉纳语数据显示，它与相近的马波约语和papoyo语有着惊人的音韵差异（例如，音节减少、重音）。此外，Yawarana语、Mapoyo语和psammono语与它们的加勒比邻居Panare语、Tamanaku语和Ye’kwana语在形态语法（例如，大小写对齐、词性变化）上也存在显著差异。尤其引人注目的是，名词化（如英语中的“eating”或“eater”基于“eat”）或分词（如英语中的“eaten”基于“eat”）导致的主句动词形式之间的差异。所有的语言都在变化，有些语言完全用名词化和分词代替动词的变化，但一种语言或语言群体在最接近的语言没有改变的情况下做出如此彻底的改变是不寻常的。为了研究亚瓦拉纳语的这些和其他语法特征，该团队将与该语言的最后一批使用者合作，制作一个最先进的文献语料库，包括亚瓦拉纳语的音频和视频录音，并对语音样本进行注释和分析。最终成品将包括参考语法和亚瓦拉纳语-西班牙语双语词典。所得数据将阐明加勒比语言变化的性质，并将对语言变化理论产生影响。Gildea和他的团队将与委内瑞拉教育部合作，努力制作亚瓦拉纳语的教材，供语言社区学校使用。为这个项目创建的文献语料库将在拉丁美洲土著语言档案馆（德克萨斯大学）存档。该项目由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

It is known that language change is inevitable and systematic and that genetically related languages often exhibit parallel changes. The Cariban languages, which constitute one of the largest linguistic families of South America, are a good testing ground for this expectation since closely related Cariban languages often show dissimilar changes.Spike Gildea of the University of Oregon along with linguist Natalia Cáceres and lexicographer Marie-Claude Mattei Muller will document a critically endangered Cariban language Yawarana [yar]. Extant data for Yawarana show surprising phonological differences (e.g., syllable reduction, stress) with closely related languages, Mapoyo and 'Pémono. In addition, there are dramatic differences in morphosyntax (e.g., case alignment, verbal conjugations) between Yawarana, Mapoyo, and 'Pémono and their Cariban neighbors Panare, 'Tamanaku, and Ye'kwana. Particularly striking are differences between main clause verb forms resulting from nominalizations (like English 'eating' or 'eater' based on 'eat') or a participial (like English 'eaten' based on 'eat'). All languages change, and some entirely replace verb conjugations with nominalizations and participles, but it is unusual for a language or language group to have made so complete a change when the nearest related languages have not.To investigate these and additional grammatical features of Yawarana, this team will work with the last speakers of the language to produce a state-of-the-art documentary corpus, including audio and video recordings of Yawarana speech with annotations and analysis of speech samples. The final products will include a reference grammar and a Yawarana-Spanish bilingual dictionary. The resulting data will elucidate the nature of language change in Cariban and will have implications for theories of language change.Gildea and his team will collaborate with the Venezuelan Ministry of Education in their efforts to produce educational materials about the Yawarana language for use in speech community schools. The documentary corpus created for this project will be archived at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (University of Texas).The project is supported by co-funds from the National Science Foundation's International Science and Engineering Office.