Documenting Domaaki, an Endangered Indo-Aryan Language

San Jose State University Foundation, San Jose CA

Investigators

Abstract

Many of the estimated 7000 languages worldwide have not been documented or analyzed, meaning linguists lack a comprehensive understanding of their grammatical systems. When such languages lack a writing system and the remaining speakers are elderly, they are especially susceptible to erosion and loss. In situations such as these, there is an urgent need to document and analyze the languages while there are still fluent speakers. This work not only preserves the language for its speakers but also produces language data that can advance theoretical linguistics and typological studies. This project will document one of the least known languages in a highly diverse linguistic region. The importance of this project lies in its ability to understand the genetic relationships between languages, its potential to deepen the linguistic understanding of grammatical features poorly understood in the world's languages, and to better understand the historical development of a language family. Broader impacts include fostering an international scientific partnership in a geopolitically significant part of the world. Such documentation efforts support the national interest by facilitating soft diplomacy through the scientific training of international colleagues. Another broader impact is the potential to test and transform the technology of documentation at a distance, expanding the tools available to linguists for documenting languages where travel is restricted or otherwise challenging. Areas of dense linguistic diversity often lie in remote regions, so innovations in field methods could enable high quality documentation of more languages than is currently possible. The project will also expand the language documentation capabilities of the local university partner, setting the stage for future documentation projects in this particular linguistically diverse region. This project will document and analyze Domaaki, a highly endangered and underdocumented Indo-Aryan language spoken in only two villages in northern Pakistan. This region, and the nearby region of India, is estimated to have around 50 distinct languages from six different language families. The project brings together a team of linguists from the U.S. and Pakistan, building on an existing partnership between San José State University and the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The momentum of this partnership, started through a U.S. State Department program, will enable the creation of a publicly-accessible digital corpus of the language. The corpus will consist of audio and video recordings from speakers in both villages in a variety of contexts, such as ceremonies, folk stories, spontaneous conversation and songs. The recordings will be transcribed, annotated and translated into English and Urdu, which will allow for in-depth analysis of Domaaki's grammatical structures. Although much is yet to be learned about the language, constructions involving aspectual auxiliaries, split ergativity and switch-reference converbs will be rich areas of scientific investigation, especially with regard to how they are used in spontaneous discourse. These data will shed further light on the Indo-Aryan family and Domaaki's place within it, including its similarity to close relative Romani. The resulting corpus and annotations will be of use to linguists, anthropologists and NGOs in the region and beyond.