Difference between revisions of "User:Zkelly1/Language selection"
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=== Denaʼina === | === Denaʼina === | ||
==== Morphological Typology ==== | ==== Morphological Typology ==== | ||
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| + | Denaʼina is a polysynthetic language with a large amount of possible affixes to a verb, particularly prefixes. | ||
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==== Information ==== | ==== Information ==== | ||
Revision as of 01:30, 20 January 2022
Contents
Possible Pair
I'd love to work with anyone, regardless of their knowledge of either CS or linguistics! Personally, I have a very strong linguistics background, and I've taken CS021 here at Swarthmore, and I'm currently taking CS031. In addition, I have been progressing through a few online CS courses regarding JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL, as well as other languages and technologies.
Languages for Class
I have an interest in the indigenous languages of the Americas, especially so the Athabaskan languages after having taken Structure of Navajo this past semester, so when looking over the suggestions for languages to work on, I found the following three particular interesting:
- Navajo
- Denaʼina
- Jicarilla Apache
Language Information
Morphological Typology
To classify Navajo into one morphological typological category is rather difficult, as it displays traits of fusional, agglutinative, and polysynthetic languages. For example, it has an expansive array of verb affixes, so much so that a Navajo verb has up to 11 possible slots for prefixes, which is a trait of an agglutinative language. However, these affixes may overlap, a trait of fusional languages. Navajo having a high morpheme-to-word ratio, many of which are unable to stand alone, is a trait of a polysynthetic language.
Information
Diné Bizaad (Navajo) is an indigenous language of North America spoken in the southwestern United States, specifically the areas that are now northeast Arizona, southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, and southeast Utah. This is currently where the majority of speakers reside, as the largest Navajo reservation is located within this area, known as the Four Corners Region. However, the Navajo Nation itself only spans across three of the four corners, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Navajo is also a registered language of the Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, spanning Arizona and California. Navajo is an Apachean, southern Athabaskan language and a part of the Athabaskan-Eyak language subgroup, which itself is a part of the Na-Dené language phylum. It uses the Latin script for its orthography, with diacritics and some special characters compared to English to represent tone and certain sounds. Its total speaker population is 167,000 and there are 7,600 monolingual speakers according to the 2015 census. In total, there are roughly 300,000 ethic Navajo people. Because of its declining speaker population, for example, 30% of first graders in 1998 having it as their first language as compared to 90% in 1968, but still present use for communication, it is classified as a threatened language. However, some families retain immense use of the language, and resources for the language are becoming more available. English is the most common language also used by speakers of Navajo and ethnic Navajo people. The ISO code for Navajo is nav.
Resource Availability
Resources for Navajo are widely available, with an available dictionary, grammar, translation of the bible, stories, language immersion programs, courses taught in some universities, and even a Navajo dub of the first Star Wars movie.
Reference Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/nav
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athabaskan-language-family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_grammar
Denaʼina
Morphological Typology
Denaʼina is a polysynthetic language with a large amount of possible affixes to a verb, particularly prefixes.
Information
Denaʼina (Tanaina) is an indigenous language of North America spoken in the areas surrounding the Cook Inlet of Alaska. It is an Athabaskan language that is a member of the Northern Athabaskan languages, differing from a well-known, related language, Diné Bizaad, which is a member of the southern Athabaskan languages. Denaʼina, like Diné Bizaad, is a member of the Athabaskan-Eyak language subgroup and the Na-Dené language phylum. There are four dialects: Upper Inlet, Outer Inlet, Illiamna, and Inland. According to the 2015 census, the speaker population of Denaʼina numbers approximately 90, being mostly adults and older people, and the ethnic population numbers roughly 900. However, revitalization efforts are underway, with archiving underway of Denaʼina materials, catalogs of audio recordings being maintained, books being published on Denaʼina language, as well as culture, and even a class at Kenai Peninsula College, offered as of 2014, which teaches the Cook Inlet dialect. Denaʼina uses the Latin script for its orthography, including a few additional characters, as well as the use of diacritics, not present in English. English is the predominant language additionally used by Denaʼina speakers, as well as ethnic Denaʼina people. The ISO code for Denaʼina is tfn
Resource Availability
Reference Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dena%CA%BCina_language
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tfn
