A reference grammar and tonal documentation of Seenku, an endangered Mande language

世界上估计有7000种语言，其中一半以上是声调语言，其中大多数是受到全球化和不断变化的社会经济格局威胁的小群体使用的语言。这个项目将促进对声调和声调语言的科学理解。这个项目将通过关注一种表现出特殊音调复杂性的语言来回答关于音调的许多问题。四声调是一种相对不常见的跨语言模式，对四声调语言的调查将更好地告诉语言学家不同声调数量的上限和仅通过声调表示的语法信息类型。该项目将为音调和语音还原的许多问题提供新的见解，以及在形态学和句法中复杂音调系统的行为。研究结果将通过参考语法进行传播，该语法包括并完整记录语法上下文中的语气，以及存档的、注释的语言数据。更广泛的影响包括促进国际科学合作和培养本科生的语言文献和分析方法。通过对国际合作伙伴进行科学和技术培训以及为21世纪培养具有尖端技术专长的语言科学家，这有助于实现软外交，从而促进国家利益。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。这个项目的重点是记录Seenku的语法结构，Seenku是布基纳法索一种濒危的曼德语。即使在非洲语境中，Seenku的音调复杂性也是例外，无论是在对比音高的数量上，还是在语法中音调使用的范围上。特别注意记录和分析音调系统使用各种创新的方法。首先，研究团队将开发一种新的计算工具ATLAS (Automated Tone Level Annotation System)，用于自动标注文献材料的音调。声调的转录是出了名的困难和耗时，这个工具的开发将帮助其他研究人员和语言社区研究声调语言。其次，音色将通过独特的文化传统进行研究，在这种传统中，Seenku词通过音色和节奏编码在木琴上。像这样的机制产生没有分段和其他特征的音调，这些特征与表面音调实现相互作用。这一机制提供了一个难得的窗口，让我们了解说话者对自己语言的潜意识知识，解决语气的认知表征问题。该项目的主要产品包括综合参考语法，三语Seenku-English-French词典，以及各种语音类型的音频和视频录音档案，并按时间排列转录和翻译。这些产品对语言学家、人类学家、民族音乐家和非政府组织（ngo）都很有用。

Over half of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are tonal, and most are spoken by small populations, threatened by globalization and changing socioeconomic landscapes. This project will advance scientific understanding of tone and tonal languages more generally. This project will answer some of the many questions remaining about tone by focusing on a language displaying exceptional tonal complexity. The investigation of a language with four tones, a relatively uncommon cross-linguistic pattern, will better inform linguists about the upper bounds on the number of distinct tones and the types of grammatical information represented solely through tone. The project will provide new insights into many questions remaining about tone and phonological reduction, and on the behavior of a complex tonal system in morphology and syntax. The results will be disseminated via a reference grammar that includes and fully documents tone in its grammatical context, as well as by archived, annotated language data. Broader impacts include fostering international scientific cooperation and training undergraduate students in methods of language documentation and analysis. This contributes to the national interest by enabling soft diplomacy through scientific and technological training of international partners and by producing language scientists for the twenty-first century with expertise in cutting-edge techniques. This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering. This project focuses on documenting the grammatical structure of Seenku, an endangered Mande language of Burkina Faso. Even in the African context, Seenku is exceptional for its tonal complexity, both in the number of contrasting pitch levels and the range of uses of tone in the grammar. Special attention is paid to documenting and analyzing the tone system using a variety of innovative methods. First, the research team will develop a novel computational tool ATLAS (Automated Tone Level Annotation System) to automate the tonal annotation of documentary materials. Tone can be notoriously difficult and time-consuming to transcribe, and the development of this tool will help other researchers and linguistic communities working on tonal languages. Second, tone will be studied through a culturally unique tradition in which Seenku words are encoded on the xylophone through their tone and rhythm. Mechanisms like this produce tones without the segmental and other features, which interact with surface tone realizations. This mechanism provides a rare window into speakers' subconscious knowledge of their language, addressing questions of cognitive representations of tone. The main products of this project include a comprehensive reference grammar, a trilingual Seenku-English-French dictionary, and an archive of audio and video recordings of various speech genres, with time-aligned transcriptions and translations. These products are of use to linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).