Doctoral Dissertation Research: Documenting contact and shift in a demonstrative system

城市化、全球化和环境变化正在共同改变北极地区的地球物理环境、经济和社会。语言的使用，特别是土著人民的语言使用，也受到深刻影响；例如，城市化带来了相当大的社会和文化变化，以及对多数语言的同化。随着人们越来越多地生活在城市环境中，传统的生活方式发生了深刻的变化，环境变异性和城市化正在改变地球物理环境本身以及人们与地球物理环境接触的方式。语言也在效仿；在用来描述与传统景观内的生存活动有关的环境的语言中，这一点尤为明显。所有语言都有指代围绕讲话事件的上下文方面的词汇，这些方面可能包括空间上下文（例如here/there， this/that），时间上下文（例如now），演讲参与者（例如I， you, we）或其他方面。有显著的语言差异，其中语境方面的编码。指示词是“指针”，或指示词，用于定位或指出上下文中的特定所指物。英语做双向区分，对比“here/there”或“this/that”。其他语言区分更多的指示范畴。三方面的区别（这里/那里/那边）并不罕见，而其他人的区别要多得多。一些较大的系统以调用地球物理上下文的各个方面来定位指涉的方式使用指示符。然而，与现实世界中更广泛的地球物理变化相一致，语言系统目前正在发生重大变化和减少。这个项目将记录和分析一个这样的示范系统中正在进行的变化，记录不同群体发言者的使用和变化，以了解其变化轨迹并解开影响系统的因素。与大多数人接触，民族语言起着重要作用，与全球占主导地位的语言接触也是如此。由于指示语与环境密切相关，本研究进一步探讨了语言与环境之间的关系，特别是在整个地区环境快速变化和人类与环境相互作用不断演变的背景下。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。

Urbanization, globalization, and environmental variability are working together to transform the Arctic region's geophysical environment, economies, and societies. Language use, particularly that by Indigenous peoples, is also profoundly affected; urbanization, for instance, brings with it considerable social and cultural change, as well as assimilation to a majority language. Environmental variability and urbanization are altering both the geophysical environment itself and the way people engage with it, as people increasingly live in urban settings and traditional ways of life are deeply altered. Language is following suit; this is particularly clear in the language used to describe the environment which is linked to subsistence activities within the traditional landscape. All languages have words for referring to aspects of the context surrounding the speech event, which may include the spatial context (e.g. here/there, this/that), the temporal context (e.g. now), speech participants (e.g. I, you, we), or other aspects. There is significant linguistic variation in which contextual aspects are encoded. Demonstratives are "pointers," or deictic words that serve to locate or point out a specific referent within the context. English makes a two-way distinction, contrasting "here/there" or "this/that." Other languages distinguish more deictic categories. Three-way distinctions (here/there/over there) are not uncommon, while others have considerably more. Some of the larger systems use demonstratives in ways that invoke aspects of the geophysical context for locating referents. However, in line with the broader geophysical changes in the real world, the linguistic systems are currently undergoing significant change and reduction. This project will document and analyze ongoing change in one such demonstrative system, documenting use and variation across different groups of speakers, in order to understand its trajectory of change and unpack the factors influencing the system. Contact with the majority, national language plays an important role, as does contact with globally dominant languages. As demonstratives are anchored to the environment, this research further speaks to the relationship between language and environment, especially within the context of rapid environmental change and evolving human-environment interactions as seen across the region.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.