Build and Broaden: TCU Participation in Indigenous Language Science

本项目旨在加强由美国国家科学基金会规划基金[BCS-1800820]资助的协同语言规划项目（CLPP）创建的土著语言科学合作研究环境。原住民语言研究回应了1990年美国国会通过的《原住民语言法案》（NALA），该法案呼吁包括原住民活动人士在内的利益相关者共同行动，“维护、保护和促进原住民使用、实践和发展这些语言的权利和自由”。美国原住民社区的研究人员和利益相关者可以通过道德和精心策划的研究来加强NALA。然而，这样的研究通常是由外部研究人员领导的。通过社区研究（CBR）方法，该项目将扩大代表性不足的机构对语言研究的参与，特别是蒙大拿州的部落学院和大学：Aaniiih Nakoda学院、Blackfeet社区学院、Chief Dull Knife学院、Fort Peck社区学院、Salish Kootenai学院和Stone Child学院。活动包括：(1)为社区和学术界的语言研究人员和语言工作者举办的全国会议；(2)为TCU学者举办的现场研讨会；(3)召集研究人员、社区利益相关者和TCU学者讨论语言科学。该项目将通过为TCU的学者提供培训场所，发展语言学、语言习得以及民族科学和健康科学相关领域的研究技能，从而建设TCU的能力，并将导致设计语言科学的研究项目。培训和讨论将提高参与者对语言结构的理解，支持tcu开展更复杂的语言研究，促进CBR方法的发展，并将研究成果纳入社区语言振兴的努力中。本项目的语言训练包括观察复杂语言数据的方法、根据形式和功能组织数据的方法、发现模式和基本问题的方法、提出问题的方法和解决问题的方法。参与者将发现他们的社区语言的独特属性，这些属性与英语明显不同，通过学习如何查阅可用的语言文献来扩展他们的知识，确定语言中研究不足的领域，并制定研究项目，以进一步了解语言的总体以及具体的语言理论概念和框架。这些活动将导致一系列研究问题，该项目的直接成果将包括土著学者和利益相关者制定的研究议程，其中一些将与外部研究人员合作进行。课程亦会向参加者介绍科技工具，以培养他们在语言相关领域的研究兴趣所需的技能。调查和形式化潜在的语言科学研究项目的过程可能会揭示语言使用在结构（音系、形态学、句法和语义）和语用方面的有趣数据。由于在美国使用的许多土著语言表现出不同的编码人类经验和复杂思想的方式，研究这些语言是提高我们对语言和认知之间关系的理解的关键。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 aims to strengthen the environment for collaborative research in Indigenous language science created by the Collaborative Language Planning Project (CLPP) funded by an NSF planning grant [BCS-1800820]. Research in Indigenous languages responds to the Native American Languages Act (NALA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, which called for stakeholders including Native American activists to act together to “preserve, protect and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice and develop” these languages. The NALA can be reinforced by ethical and well-planned research conducted by researchers and stakeholders from Native American communities. However, such research is often led by outside researchers. With a community-based research (CBR) approach, this project will broaden participation in language research from underrepresented institutions – specifically, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the state of Montana: Aaniiih Nakoda College, Blackfeet Community College, Chief Dull Knife College, Fort Peck Community College, Salish Kootenai College, and Stone Child College. The activities consist of (i) a national conference for language researchers and language workers from communities and academia, (ii) on-site workshops for TCU scholars, and (iii) a convening among researchers, community stakeholders and TCU scholars about language science. The project will build capacity at the TCUs by providing training venues for TCU scholars to develop research skills in linguistics, language acquisition and related fields in ethno- and health sciences and will lead to the designing of research projects in language science. The trainings and discussions will improve participants’ understanding of linguistic structures, support the development of more sophisticated language research at TCUs, and promote the CBR approach, and the incorporation of the research results will contribute to the communities’ language revitalization efforts.This project’s linguistic training includes methods for observing complex language data, organizing data based on form and function, finding patterns and essential problems, addressing issues, and solving problems. The participants will discover unique properties of their community languages, which are notably distinct from English, expand their knowledge by learning how to consult available linguistic literature, identify underresearched areas in the language, and develop research projects to further our understanding of language in general as well as specific linguistic theoretical notions and frameworks. These activities will lead to a set of research questions, and direct outcomes of this project will include research agendas developed by the Indigenous scholars and stakeholders, some of which will be carried out in collaboration with outside researchers. The participants will also be introduced to technological tools in order to develop skills that can be applied to their research interests in language-related fields. The process of investigating and formalizing potential research projects in language science may reveal interesting data on language use in terms of structures (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics) and pragmatics. Since many Indigenous languages spoken in the U.S. show diverse ways of encoding human experience and complex thoughts, investigating these languages is key to advancing our understanding of the relationship between language and cognition.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.