Socio-Spatial Approaches to the Analysis of Multilingualism

地图上的语言分布通常非常简单，只为给定区域分配一种语言。现实情况更为复杂。一方面，即使在一种语言占主导地位的地方，也常常有一些群体在日常生活中主要使用另一种语言，例如在家里或在教堂里。另一方面，许多人能够说多种语言，简化的地图无法有效地表示这一点。为了获得更真实的语言分布感，有必要在个人层面上探索语言知识和使用。在这个多学科项目中，研究人员将利用现有工具的进步，绘制喀麦隆农村地区空间和语言动态的复杂社会模式，该地区的成年人平均讲五种不同的语言，其中许多语言濒临灭绝。在这个农村环境中发现的个人多语言水平远远超过了美国的典型水平。该项目将支持研究生的培训，并为国际合作研究创造未来的机会。由此产生的社会空间模式和语言使用的研究可能是由美国在公共卫生，国家安全和在喀麦隆地面连接等领域使用。这些方法的未来适应将有助于调查社会行为的其他方面的空间模式，如贸易和婚姻，或比较语言特征的传播与疾病的传播。研究人员将利用地理信息系统（GIS）和个人层面的数据来表示和分析语言分布的新方法，以了解人们倾向于学习他们附近的人所说的语言以及他们的朋友和家人所说的语言的程度。这些个人层面的因素将在这些人所生活的社区的动态和性质方面进行审查。这项工作的一个特别重点是理解空间，社会和文化因素之间的关系，在占一个人的语言知识。高分辨率空间数据将与语言使用的个人模式的详细描述相结合，并从空间和社会网络分析的角度进行分析。大部分数据将使用智能手机收集，从而能够以前所未有的规模收集濒危语言的语言学研究信息。将要开发的工具和方法将具有普遍性，适用于世界任何地方，对调查基础设施有限的农村地区的语言动态特别有用。更好地了解人们如何以及为什么会说不同的语言，将为语言规划领域的政策制定者提供更好的信息。个人语言使用的空间分析将增强心理语言学和其他多语言分析，以促进人类认知和行为在这一领域的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Language distributions represented on maps are typically quite simplified, assigning only one language to a given area. The reality is more complex. On the one hand, even in places where one language is dominant, there will often be groups who primarily use a different language in their daily lives, such as at home or in church. On the other hand, many people are able to speak more than one language, and simplified maps are incapable of representing this effectively. To achieve a more realistic sense of language distributions, it is necessary to explore linguistic knowledge and use at the level of the individual. In this multidisciplinary project, the investigators will use advances in the available tools for mapping complex social patterns for the spatial and linguistic dynamics of a rural region of Cameroon where the average adult speaks five different languages, many of which are endangered. The level of individual multilingualism found in this rural environment far exceeds what is typically found in the United States. The project will support the training of a graduate student and build future opportunities for international collaborative research. The resulting research on socio-spatial patterns and language use may be usable by the U.S. in the areas of public health, national security, and connections on the ground in Cameroon. The future adaptation of these methods will facilitate investigating the spatial patterns of other dimensions of social behavior, such as trade and marriage, or to compare the spread of linguistic features with the spread of diseases. The investigators will utilize new ways of representing and analyzing language distributions using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and individual-level data to understand the extent to which people tend to learn languages spoken by those that they live near and languages spoken by their friends and family members. These individual-level factors will be examined with regard to the dynamics and nature of the community in which these individuals live. A particular focus of the work is understanding the relationship between spatial, social, and cultural factors in accounting for an individual's linguistic knowledge. High-resolution spatial data will be integrated with detailed descriptions of individual patterns of language use and analyzed from the perspective of spatial and social network analysis. Much of the data will be collected using smartphones, allowing information to be gathered at a scale that is unprecedented for linguistic research on endangered languages. The tools and methods to be developed will be general in nature and applicable to any part of the world and will be especially useful for the investigation of the language dynamics of rural areas with limited infrastructure. A better understanding of how and why people come to speak different languages will provide better information to policymakers in the domain of language planning. Spatial analysis of individual language use will augment psycholinguistic and other analyses of multilingualism to advance knowledge of human cognition and behavior in this domain.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.