| FN-50009-06 | Research Programs: Dynamic Language Infrastructure-Documenting Endangered Languages - Fellowships | Deogratias S. Ngonyani | Documenting Kikisi | 9/1/2006 - 7/31/2007 | $40,000.00 | Deogratias | S. | Ngonyani | | | | Michigan State University | East Lansing | MI | 48824-3407 | USA | 2006 | Linguistics | Dynamic Language Infrastructure-Documenting Endangered Languages - Fellowships | Research Programs | 40000 | 0 | 40000 | 0 |
The proposed project aims at conducting fieldwork on Kikisi, a Bantu language spoken in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The language belongs to the Southern Highlands Language group of Tanzania. The objectives of the project include (a) describing the linguistic features of the language and writing a descriptive grammar; (b) audio and video recording of cultural texts such as folktales, conversations, rituals, songs and language games; (c) compiling folktales and oral traditions for wider readership in the community; and (d) using data from Kikisi to explore the nature of words in language. The documentation and descriptive grammar will generate new data for issues studied by linguists of diverse theoretical persuasions. The study will also add invaluable data to the field of Bantu linguistics, where the genetic classification and sub-classification of languages in southern Tanzania remains unclear. The broader impacts of this study include a significant contribution to the Languages of Tanzania project to document all languages and produce a linguistic atlas. For the Kikisi people the documentation will constitute a rare opportunity to record and preserve the language. (Edited by staff) |