Doctoral Dissertation Research: Documenting the Semantics of Verbal and Nominal Tense in an Endangered Language

本论文项目涉及Mvskoke(又名：Mvskoke)的详细田野调查和音频视频文献。Muskogee，Creek，Seminole)，一种美国东南部的严重濒危语言，目前在俄克拉何马州和佛罗里达州约有500人使用。这个项目关注的是这种语言表达时间的独特方式。语言学家使用术语“时态”来指代与时间有关的单词或词缀--特别是过去、现在和将来的时间。经典的假设是，时态(I)传达这三个值中的一个，(Ii)仅指时间间隔，(Iii)仅出现在动词上。然而，近年来，语言学家发现了挑战这三个假设的事实和现象。首先，许多语言都有所谓的“分级”时态，用来表示过去或将来发生的事情有多久。其次，在一些语言中，某些时态只有在说话者目击事件的情况下才能使用。最后，在一些语言中，时态既可以出现在动词上，也可以出现在名词上。值得注意的是，这三种现象都存在于这种语言中，有四种过去时同时出现在名词和动词上；此外，时态的选择取决于说话者是否目击了事件以及事件发生的时间。以往对时态的语言学研究仅限于这三种现象中的一种。这项研究将考察语言时态系统中的这三种现象，包括它们可能的相互作用。这项研究将基于对流利的长辈的采访，博士生将汇编长辈之间以及长辈和学生之间的对话的多个录音(音频和视频)。该项目的结果将进一步加深对时态的理解，并将通过提供日常对话中使用的时态的文档，直接受益于社区语言振兴努力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This dissertation project involves detailed fieldwork and audio and video documentation of Mvskoke (a.k.a. Muskogee, Creek, Seminole), a severely endangered language indigenous to the Southeastern United States, currently spoken by about 500 individuals in Oklahoma and Florida. This project focuses on the unique ways that this language expresses time. Linguists use the term ‘tense’ to refer to words or affixes that reference time – specifically past, present, and future time. It has classically been assumed that tense (i) communicates one of those three values, (ii) refers only to intervals of time, and (iii) only appears on verbs. However, in recent years, linguists have uncovered facts and phenomena that challenge these three assumptions. First, a number of languages have so-called ‘graded’ tenses, which communicate how far into the past or future something happens. Secondly, in some languages certain tenses can only be used if the speaker witnessed the event. Finally, in a few languages, tenses can appear on nouns as well as verbs. Remarkably, all three of these phenomena are present in this language, which has four past tenses that appear on both nouns and verbs; moreover, the choice of tense depends on whether the speaker witnessed the event and how long ago it occurred. Previous linguistic research on tense has been limited to languages exhibiting just one of these three phenomena. This study will examine all three phenomena in the tense system of the language, including their possible interactions. The research will be based on interviews with fluent elders and the doctoral student will compile multiple recordings (audio and video) of conversations between elders and between elders and students. The results of this project will further the understanding of tense and will directly benefit the community language revitalization efforts by providing documentation of the tenses as used in everyday conversation.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.