Developing the next generation of researchers investigating Khoisan languages

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Click sounds are some of the most complex and difficult to produce sounds of all the languages of the world. Most scientific research on the Khoisan languages (the non-Bantu click languages of Africa), has focused on their sound systems because this complexity illuminates cognitive patterns and physiological mechanisms relevant for human language. However, because far less attention has been paid to their grammatical systems, Khoisan languages have had little or no impact on current syntactic theories. To achieve a deeper scientific knowledge of the Khoisan languages, this project will study morphosyntactic aspects of two completely undescribed languages: Cua and Tshila (classified as central Khoisan or Khoe-Kwadi languages). Such data sets will also clarify the linguistic classification of the central Khoisan languages, and their historical connections to other Khoisan languages. The project's training component will bring advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students to Botswana for hands-on training in linguistic research on the Khoisan languages. This will increase the number of researchers working on the highly endangered Khoisan languages while simultaneously increasing scientific knowledge about the linguistic properties possessed by these languages. The team will work closely with the language communities in developing materials and resources, of value to the communities and in educating participating students about broader impacts and community-academic collaborations. Also, because the U.S. State Department notes the importance of Botswana as a partner and as a model of stability in Africa, the national interest is served by strengthening on the ground connections and partnerships with the country and enhancing an international collaboration with the University of Botswana. The project will investigate the unique syntactic and morphological structures of Cua and Tshila, important for theoretical and typological syntactic work. For example, the grammatical sketch will cover the complex system of pronouns. English has handful of pronouns. In subject position, these are: I, you (singular and plural), he, she, we, they. Central Khoisan languages have far more pronouns. Kua (a related Khoisan language) has 31 subject pronouns (factoring in person, number, gender). The same morphological features that characterize pronouns also characterize the person-gender-number (PGN) markers found on noun phrases. For example, in Kua χam=ǁoe includes two morpheme and is glossed "lion=3MPS"; it means "male lions". The clitic (ǁoe) encodes both the notion of plurality (more than two) and masculine reference. Understanding the structure of pronouns and PGN markers and how they vary across the Kalahari Khoe languages is one of the central scientific goals of the project. The project will result in a dictionary, linguistically annotated recordings of texts, literacy resources, and a grammatical sketch, as well as disseminating results in journal articles. The project will also help to document the rich cultural heritage of Botswana, and southern Africa more generally. All the documentation and related materials will be archived in a public digital collection at ELAR, the Endangered Language Archive. 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.