DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Syntax of Passamaquoddy

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Eastern Algonquian languages, members of a family of Native American languages spoken across North America, occupy a culturally, historically, and linguistically significant position. They were among the first languages to be encountered by the Europeans, and among the first to succumb to the unfortunately widespread subsequent pattern of language loss on this continent (only four Eastern Algonquian languages are still spoken today). They also fall into the typologically significant class of 'polysynthetic' languages currently under intense scrutiny in theoretical linguistics. Polysynthetic languages make extensive use of agglutinative morphology in the construction of complex verbal and nominal stems; exhibit a similarly extensive use of agreement morphology and accompanying null pronominals; and possess relatively free word order, including the use of discontinuous constituents. This project will investigate these properties by carefully exploring the syntax of Passamaquoddy, an Eastern Algonquian language currently spoken by approximately 500 people in Maine and New Brunswick. The dissertation will attempt to illuminate theoretical issues raised by polysynthetic phenomena through a study of double-object constructions and transitivity alternations in Passamaquoddy. In addition, the study will have two descriptive goals: the systematic description of a broad range of syntactic constructions, not touched on in previous studies; and the recording, in digital form, of as large a sample of the spoken language as possible over the term of the project. The work will directly contribute to current efforts to document and revitalize the language, such as a web-based dictionary project and ongoing bilingual education programs.