| dc.description.abstract | A member of the Caddoan language family, Pawnee is a nearly extinct language with few living fluent speakers. However, there is an active, community-led revitalization movement. Community members involved in revitalization of Pawnee have a need for materials that support their efforts. This thesis demonstrates an innovative repurposing of the comparative method that is directly applicable to language revitalization.
Traditionally, the comparative method is used in linguistics to establish genetic relationships and reconstruct proto-forms. In this thesis, the author uses the comparative method to establish sound correspondences between two Pawnee dialects, Skiri and South Band, and Arikara, a closely related language. These correspondences are used to propose new Pawnee words based on documented Arikara forms. Constructing new terms based on existing documentation of a related language ensures that the proposed forms are consistent with what is known about Pawnee phonology and morphophonemics. Furthermore, repurposing the comparative method makes Arikara and Pawnee linguistic material more accessible to both tribal communities for language revitalization purposes.
The thesis includes extensive appendices illustrating sound correspondences, cognate forms, and new Pawnee terms as proposed by the author. | en_US |
