Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Grammar and Social Practice of Arapaho Storytelling: Stories in Conversational and Social Context

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project builds on the extensive linguistic research of the Arapaho language of the Algonquian family in North America to examine the role of grammar in the social practice of storytelling and story initiations. Previous studies in this and other Native American languages demonstrated value in exploring the conversational data for understanding the language and its social role. Such conversational habits as telling a story, complaining, reminiscing are the core principles of the linguistic repertoires observed in the Arapaho speech community. Thus, the proficiency to correctly tell a story or to produce a complaint without outing the main offender is as important as knowing one's relations. By examining the contemporary conversational practices of the native Arapaho speakers, the research asks how stories are initiated and what these initiations entail for the conversation. This research analyzes data collected in previous studies of the language, relying on the video recordings. The analysis will create a model of story initiations by annotating the grammatical nuances, auditory cues, and conversational patterns in the corpus. To test the viability of the model and the quality of annotations, the researchers will interview the native Arapaho speakers in the Wind River Indian Reservation. The interviews will be conducted using real-time communication technologies on mobile devices with cellular internet, which is the main reliable internet service available on the reservation. The inclusion of the native community is crucial for this project. It emphasizes the value of the language to the indigenous traditions. Lastly, this research will contribute to the language reclamation efforts in which this community is engaged. The grammatical and interactional aspects relevant to story initiations will inform the creation of language learning materials. 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.