Continuing Support for Aleu t Linguistics and Language Learning Materiials

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project by Anna Berge at the University of Alaska is to continue the research that was encompassed in her earlier project on the Aleut language that was funded as an NSF CAREER award. The goals of the original CAREER project were to document aspects of the syntax and discourse of the endangered Aleut language and to create language learning materials for adults. The research under the CAREER project generated an unanticipated amount of sound recordings, which were transcribed, analyzed, and incorporated into language learning materials for college-level coursework. This project will continue the transcription and analysis of many of the remaining recordings with the support of a student assistant. In addition, new research goals have been set to include the investigation of discourse, metaphor and variability in expression of the Eastern Aleut language. This research is critically important as many of the fluent speaker are very elderly and the linguistic research supported here has not previously been described in the academic literature. By collecting previously undocumented types of texts as well as focusing on analyses of less-well studied levels of language use, this project will result in major contributions to the understanding of contemporary Aleut, as well as in unique contributions in to the fields of Eskimo-Aleut Linguistics and General Linguistics. It is anticipated that language documentation and materials development will result in the training of Aleut language teachers and in new speakers, contributing to language revitalization and maintenance efforts in the Aleut communities.