NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in Taiwan

Erlewine Michael Y, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine of Massachusetts Institute of Technology to conduct a research project, entitled "Investigating focus sentences in the endangered Atayal language of Taiwan," during the summer of 2012 at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. The host scientist is Professor Henry Chang. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is to investigate focus constructions in the endangered Austronesian language of Atayal. "Focus" refers to sentences like "I only like chicken... not beef" where the additional emphasis on "chicken" produces a very different meaning than the similar "I only like chicken... not love." The careful study of these sentences illuminates how focus works across different languages, as well as describing Atayal language's different structural strategies for expressing meaning, that is, its syntax-semantics mapping. Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.