Comparative morphosemantics of plurality

这个项目调查了西南地区两种基因无关的土著语言的语法特性。由于数百年来的接触，两种语言在语法上有共同的特点，特别是复杂的形态过程（即单词的形成方式），特别是在谈论多个个人或事件时。这些语法特征在人类语言中很少发现。因此，理解这些过程将为语言科学做出根本性的贡献。通过研究这些语言中的单词是如何形成的，并通过这个复杂的案例，该项目将强化单词形成的语言学和心理学理论，以及单词是如何在大脑中被处理和存储的。此外，该项目还为研究生和博士后研究人员提供了在语言学领域、语言文献和语言复兴方面的培训机会。这两种语言使用类型学上罕见的复杂形态学系统来标记复数、复数性和复数一致性，这为研究语义-形态学界面提供了理想的机会。在记录这些系统之后，研究团队将使用结果数据对语言科学做出以下基本贡献：(i)绘制单词水平以下语义构成的界限；（ii）强化范式的形态学理论；（iii）比较竞争性的供给理论；（iv）考虑复杂形态系统如何在实际中扩散的含义。这些问题将在三年的时间里通过结构化和半结构化的启发式进行调查。结果将是这一语言区域最丰富的复数性和复数性数据集，并将允许世界各地的研究人员调查有关人类语言中单词如何工作的新问题。该项目的具体成果包括研究出版物，以及带有语义和形态注释的公开共享语料库。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。

This project investigates the grammatical properties of two genetically unrelated indigenous languages spoken in the southwest. Due to contact over hundreds of years the languages share grammatical features, in particular, complex morphological process (that is, the way that words are formed), especially when talking about pluralities of individuals or events. These grammatical features are only rarely found in human languages. Understanding these processes will thus allow fundamental contributions to language sciences. By studying how words are formed in these languages, and through this complex case, the project will sharpen linguistic and psychological theories of word formation, as well as how words are processed and stored in the brain. Additionally, the project provides educational opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to train in field linguistics, language documentation, and language revitalization.The two languages mark plurality, pluractionality, and plural agreement using complex morphological systems that are typologically rare, and which provide an ideal opportunity for studying the semantics-morphology interface. After documenting these systems, the research team will use the resulting data to make the following fundamental contributions to language science: (i) draw bounds on how semantic composition works below the level of the word; (ii) sharpen morphological theories of the paradigm; (iii) compare competing theories of suppletion; and (iv) consider the implications for how complex morphological systems diffuse areally. These questions will be investigated through elicitation, both structured and semi-structured, over a three-year period. The result will be the richest set of data on plurality and pluractionality for this linguistic region and will allow researchers around the world to investigate novel questions about how words work in human languages. Concrete results of the project include research publications, as well as a publicly shared corpus with semantic and morphological annotations.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.