Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating Overt Definite Articles and Grammatical Variation

“飞机上有医生吗？”和“飞机上有医生吗？”这两个问题可以表示非常不同的情况。对于第一个问题，丈夫可能只是在找妻子，而对于第二个问题，则是有紧急情况需要医生。这两个问题之间唯一的区别是“The”（定冠词）和“a”（不定冠词）。然而，许多语言没有明显的定冠词和不定冠词。那么，这些语言的使用者是如何区分这两种意思的呢？一种区分的方法是通过语境：在没有明显冠词的语言中，“is doctor on board?”可以是确定的，也可以是不确定的，在语境中，说话者可以理解是否需要特定的医生或任何医生。某些语言学理论预测，如果一种语言有一个明显的定冠词，那么某些语法结构是被禁止的。其中一种被禁止的结构是修饰语与它们所修饰的名词脱节（“Friendly I saw the doctor”在英语中不符合语法，但在没有定冠词的语言中可能符合语法）。这个项目将调查一种未被记录的语言的两种方言的变化，每种方言都有不同的表达确定性的方式。这些方言虽然可以相互理解，但在可能的语法结构方面也有所不同，比如不连贯的修饰语结构。该项目将促进我们对跨语言差异的理解，包括语言如何表达确定性和跟踪话语中的个体，以及对自然语言处理、语音识别和计算语言学其他分支领域的研究。更广泛的影响包括录音和转录的公共存储库，供社区成员使用的材料，促进该地区语言的可持续性，以及与当地大学生合作，积极贡献他们的传统语言知识。其他成果包括培养一名博士生。CoPI是康奈尔大学的一名博士候选人，她将在她的博士论文中记录和分析两种chol （CTU）的方言，这是墨西哥南部一种濒危的玛雅语言。由于朝鲜语的两种方言（提拉语和通巴拉语）表达定语的方式不同，因此，如果有定冠词，就会禁止某些语法结构的理论将与CoPI的研究联系起来。Tumbala方言允许各种修饰语与它们所修饰的名词分离。然而，提拉方言不允许许多修饰语出现在它们所修饰的名词的远处。这个项目的假设是Tila方言比Tumbala方言有更多的限制，因为Tila方言有一个语法化的定冠词，而Tumbala方言没有。在实地工作期间，CoPI将记录和转录叙述，并对演讲者进行采访。这些不同的数据来源将为论文和未来的工作创造一个经验上健全的基础。该项目的成果包括对汉语定冠词和标称结构的深入记录，以及关于确定性和不连贯的标称表达的方言变化，这两者都是对该领域的新贡献。它还将在语法和语义的界面上推进语言模型，并为跨语言的确定性标记工作提供信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The questions "Is the doctor on board?" and "Is a doctor on board?" can signify very different situations. With the first question, a husband may simply be looking for his wife, whereas with the second, a doctor is needed for an emergency. The only difference between these two questions is "the" (the definite article) and "a" (the indefinite article). Many languages, however, do not have overt definite and indefinite articles. How, then, do speakers of these languages differentiate between these two meanings? One way to differentiate is by context: "Is doctor on board?" in languages without overt articles can be either definite or indefinite, and in context speakers understand whether a particular doctor is needed or any doctor. Certain linguistic theories predict that if a language has an overt definite article, then certain grammatical constructions are prohibited. One such prohibited construction is where modifiers appear disconnected from the noun they modify ("Friendly I saw the doctor" is not grammatical in English, but possibly grammatical in languages without definite articles). This project will investigate variation in two dialects of an underdocumented language, each of which have different ways of expressing definiteness. These dialects, while mutually understandable, also differ with respect to possible grammatical constructions, like the disconnected modifier construction. This project will advance our understanding of crosslinguistic variation in how languages express definiteness and keep track of individuals in discourse, research with implications for the fields of natural language processing, speech recognition and other branches of computational linguistics. Broader impacts include a public repository of recordings and transcriptions, materials for use by community members, promotion of linguistic sustainability in the region and collaboration with local university students as active contributors to knowledge on their heritage language. Other outcomes include the training of a doctoral student.The CoPI, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University, will document and analyze two dialects of Ch'ol (CTU), an endangered Mayan language of southern Mexico, for her doctoral dissertation. As the two dialects of Ch'ol (Tila and Tumbala) have different ways to express definiteness, the CoPI will connect this research to theories that predict that certain grammatical constructions are prohibited if a language has a definite article. The Tumbala dialect allows for a variety of modifiers to be disconnected from the nouns they modify. The Tila dialect, however, does not allow many modifiers to appear far away to the noun they modify. The hypothesis of this project is that the Tila dialect has more restrictions than the Tumbala dialect because the Tila dialect has a grammaticalized definite article, whereas the Tumbala dialect does not. During fieldwork, the CoPI will record and transcribe narratives, and conduct interviews with speakers. These varied sources of data will create an empirically sound foundation for the dissertation and future work. The outcomes of this project include in-depth documentation of definite articles and nominal constructions in Ch'ol as well as dialectal variation with respect to definiteness and disconnected nominal expressions, both novel contributions to the field. It will also advance linguistic models at the interface of syntax and semantics and inform work on the marking of definiteness crosslinguistically.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.