LING/DISE Indigenous Languages search invited speaker – James Crippen
Speaker: James Crippen (UBC)
Coordinates: November 26th, 3:00–4:30 in EDUC 624 (to be followed by a reception)
Title: Theoretical analysis of Tlingit’s verbs and consequences for language documentation and learning
Abstract:
The Tlingit language is a First Nations language of Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon. It is a member of the Na-Dene family and is distantly related to the Dene languages like Navajo, Kaska, and Dene Sųłiné. Linguistic research has traditionally presented Tlingit’s verbs as large strings of interwoven morphology which require complex and opaque lexical entries. This traditional approach is extremely difficult to internalize and generations of Tlingit language learners have been daunted by its complexity. Crippen’s dissertation work counters the traditional approach, arguing instead that Tlingit’s verbs are more like whole sentences and hence that they can be straightforwardly analyzed with conventional syntactic theory. The system described by this analysis is simple and transparent, and it concentrates most arbitrary phenomena in a single place: the verb root.
Eight previously unexplicated properties of roots are documented and analyzed in Crippen’s dissertation: (i) valency (√, v, Voice) restricts the number of arguments required by default, (ii) qualia structure (√, N) restricts the meaning of patients, (iii) durativity (√, Asp) restricts the temporal structure of the eventuality denoted by the verb, (iv) stativity (√, Ɛ, Asp) determines the dynamicity of eventualities, (v) stem variation (√, V) is the predictable tone (L/H) and length (μ/μμ) of verb stems, (vi) conjugation class (√, Asp) reflects spatial organization and determines many apparently unrelated morphological patterns, (vii) motion status (√, Asp, PP) regulates the location or path argument, and (viii) irrealis status (√, Asp) reflects whether the eventuality denotes a world that is like or unlike the actual world. This presentation will illustrate valency (property i) and a few of the other root properties to show how Tlingit’s verbs are built from roots and other pieces. The aim is to demonstrate that on the one hand that this system is theoretically tractable and on the other that it is straightforward to internalize for language learners and so can radically transform efforts to document and revitalize the Tlingit language.
About the presenter: Dzéiwsh James A. Crippen is a member of the Tlingit nation whose traditional territory (Lingít Aaní) is in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon. He belongs to the Deisheetaan clan in the Kaaḵáakʼw Hít (Basket House), is a child of the Sʼiknax̱.ádi clan, and is from the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan resident in Ḵaachx̱an.áakʼw (Wrangell, Alaska). He has recently defended his PhD dissertation in linguistics at the
University of British Columbia (UBC). He holds an MA in linguistics and a BA in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is part of the TTC-UBC Linguistics Partnership which is a collaboration between citizens of the Teslin Tlingit Council and linguistic researchers at UBC to develop Tlingit language research, documentation, and pedagogy that support community revitalization needs and enrich academic understanding.