NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: Dogrib, linguistics, educational development

Project Description: The Dogrib Verbal Paradigms Project will be to collect lists of verb-forms in the Dogrib language. These lists (Paradigms) will be used both by linguists to construct a formal analysis, and by teachers of Dogrib to promote literacy and language maintenance. The researcher will pay particular attention to the dialect spoken in and around Yellowknife, which has to date received less attention than the dialect of Rae. The principal investigator will work with a small number (2-5) of native speakers of the variety of Dogrib spoken in and around Yellowknife, who reside in Yellowknife, to collect verb forms in elicitation sessions / interviews. Sessions will be recorded on CD. The technology used will be a Marantz CDR300 recorder and laptop computer. Some stories/texts may also be collected in order to see how verb forms are used in a natural context. The principal investigator will work with the Goyatiko Language Centre to determine the form in which these data should be made available to the Dogrib community. The goal of this project is to produce a non-technical reference book on Dogrib verbs which will be useful both to linguists and to members of the Dogrib community. Ideally the book will be useable by teachers of Dogrib in constructing lesson-plans to teach both speaking and literacy skills. The study will be conducted in Yellowknife, NWT.