2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The origins of 'yes' and 'no'
| Project/Area Number |
19K00698
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| Research Institution | Fukuoka University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | yes / no / particle / language / vocalization / gesture / linguistics / English dialect |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I conducted fieldwork in New York and New England in summer 2019. To publicize my research, I was also featured in a New England newspaper and gave a short podcast on my research on US public radio. I also set up a website (yesandno.info) to gather responses.
I recorded jess and/or dow in all states of New England (except Connecticut) and in New York State. These are new findings. Jess and dow are probably obsolescent in the Northeast USA (now most common in rural areas), meaning that this research is timely.
I gave a poster presentation on my research at the conference of the American Dialect Society (January 2020, New Orleans).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
My fieldwork in the US in summer 2019 proceeded smoothly, as did my presentation of my initial findings in January 2020 at the American Dialect Society conference in New Orleans.
However, because of the coronavirus pandemic, I was unable to travel to Cambridge (UK) for research in March 2020.
At the time of writing (June 2020), it seems that it might not be possible to travel overseas for research or conferences in summer 2020.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
My initial plan was to conduct fieldwork in western USA in summer 2020. However, as jess and dow are likely obsolescent in New England (their original location in North America), I predict they will be relatively rare in western USA by now.
I am therefore considering moving on to examine yes and no more universally in year 2 (rather than year 3). This means the origins of yes and no in language, vocalisation and gesture.
I would then decide my year 3 research - western US dialects or yes and no more universally - depending on the results of my year 2 research and publication of my year 1 findings.
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| Causes of Carryover |
In addition to researching and publishing a unified theory for the development of forms of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in English, I also plan to conduct research internationally on the development of forms of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ more widely in human language.
I will therefore undertake a number of research visits overseas for fieldwork and consulting with international colleagues and institutes.
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Research Products
(4 results)
