Linguistic Fieldwork : A Practical Guide

Linguistic Fieldwork Is A Practical Guide To All The Steps In Linguistic Fieldwork, From Planning Where To Work To Applying For Funding, From The First Session On A New Language To Writing Up The Data, From Turning On The Recorder To Depositing The Recordings In An Archive. Claire Bowern Provides A Realistic Account Of The Process Of Linguistic Fieldwork. Doing Field Research Is Not Liking Working In The Lab With Chemicals: Both The Field Worker And Their Consultants Are Real People Who Interact In Complex Ways. This Book Is A Guide To Conducting That Interaction In Order To Produce Research Which Benefits Not Only The Linguistic Community But Also Language Speakers. Given The Rapidity Of Decline In Global Linguistic Diversity, The Next 30 Years Will Be Crucial For Future Knowledge Of Languages All Over The World.--book Jacket. Technology In The Field -- Starting To Work On A Language -- Data Organization And Archiving -- Fieldwork On Phonetics And Phonology -- Eliciting: Basic Morphology And Syntax -- Further Morphology And Syntax -- Lexical And Semantic Data -- Discourse, Pragmatics And Narrative Data -- Consultants And Field Locations -- Ethical Field Research -- Grant Application Writing -- Working With Existing Materials -- Fieldwork Results. Claire Bowern. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 231-241) And Index. Cover......Page 2 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 13 1.1 About this book......Page 15 1.2 What is 'the field' and what is 'fieldwork'?......Page 16 1.4 Fieldwork and 'Theory'......Page 24 1.5 Fieldwork and identity......Page 26 1.6 Summary and further reading......Page 28 2.1 Why make recordings?......Page 30 2.2 Choosing recording equipment......Page 31 2.3 Computers......Page 39 2.4 Pen and paper......Page 40 2.5 Recording practicalities......Page 41 2.6 Checklist for equipment setup......Page 45 2.7 Summary and further reading......Page 46 3.1 What to do at the first session......Page 48 3.2 Discovering a phoneme inventory......Page 51 3.3 More on transcription......Page 53 3.4 Common errors and cues......Page 54 3.5 Data organization......Page 56 3.6 What to record?......Page 57 3.7 Summary and further reading......Page 58 4 Data Organization and Archiving......Page 61 4.1 Before the session......Page 63 4.2 After the session......Page 66 4.3 Software for data processing......Page 68 4.4 Metadata......Page 70 4.5 Processing field data......Page 73 4.6 Archiving......Page 74 4.7 Further reading......Page 76 5.1 Broad and narrow transcription......Page 77 5.2 Research design......Page 78 5.3 Further topics in phonetic research......Page 81 5.4 Suprasegmentals......Page 83 5.5 Further topics in phonology......Page 84 5.6 Further reading......Page 85 6.2 First elicitation of sentences......Page 87 6.3 Types of data collection......Page 91 6.4 Potential problems......Page 98 6.5 Summary......Page 105 7.1 Elicitation of paradigms......Page 107 7.2 Productivity......Page 109 7.3 Selected topics in morphology......Page 110 7.4 Handling unknown morphology......Page 114 7.5 Common problems......Page 115 7.6 Further topics in syntax and semantics......Page 116 7.7 Where to from here?......Page 119 8.1 Getting vocabulary......Page 121 8.2 Lexicon compilation......Page 122 8.3 Specific domains for lexical elicitation......Page 123 8.4 Frequent lexicographic pitfalls......Page 126 8.5 Further reading......Page 128 9.1 Working with texts......Page 129 9.2 What to do with the materials......Page 132 9.3 Discourse data......Page 135 9.4 Topics for investigation in discourse and pragmatics......Page 137 9.5 Further reading......Page 138 10.1 Field-methods classes and the field......Page 139 10.2 Choosing a field site and preparation......Page 140 10.3 Choosing a consultant......Page 144 10.4 Linguist-consultant interactions......Page 150 10.5 Working with semi-speakers......Page 151 10.6 Living in the field......Page 153 10.7 Coming back from the field......Page 159 10.8 Further reading......Page 161 11.1 Preliminaries......Page 162 11.2 Ethics of recording......Page 164 11.3 Ethics and archiving......Page 165 11.4 Acknowledging speakers......Page 166 11.5 Permissions......Page 167 11.6 Other ethical issues in research......Page 169 11.7 Payment......Page 176 11.8 Minority areas and endangered languages......Page 178 11.9 Further reading......Page 183 12.1 Steps to grant writing......Page 184 12.2 What to include in a grant application......Page 185 12.3 Budgets......Page 187 12.4 Human subjects applications......Page 191 12.5 Grant management and record keeping......Page 196 12.6 What if you can't get a grant?......Page 197 13.1 Published resources......Page 198 13.2 Other people's fieldnotes......Page 199 13.3 Recordings......Page 200 13.4 Some further comments about old records......Page 201 13.5 Preparing using others' research......Page 204 13.6 Further reading......Page 206 14.1 General issues......Page 207 14.2 Orthography design......Page 209 14.3 Learners' guides and sketch grammars......Page 212 14.4 Reference grammars......Page 213 14.5 Training community members......Page 214 14.6 Web materials......Page 215 14.7 Talking books......Page 216 14.8 Dictionaries and wordlists......Page 217 14.9 Language revitalization......Page 221 14.10 Summary and further reading......Page 223 Appendix A: Metadata Sheets......Page 225 Appendix B: Suggested Fieldwork Programme for an Undescribed Language......Page 226 Appendix C: A Basic Phonetics/Phonology Checklist......Page 227 Appendix D: A Basic Morphology/Syntax Checklist......Page 228 Appendix E: Sample Consent Form......Page 233 Appendix F: Equipment Checklist......Page 236 Appendix G: Basic Wordlist......Page 237 Notes......Page 239 References......Page 245 B......Page 256 C......Page 257 D......Page 258 F......Page 259 H......Page 260 L......Page 261 N......Page 262 P......Page 263 S......Page 264 T......Page 265 V......Page 266 Y......Page 267 "Linguistic Fieldwork is a practical guide to all the steps in linguistic fieldwork, from planning where to work to applying for funding, from the first session on a new language to writing up the data, from turning on the recorder to depositing the recordings in an archive. Claire Bowern provides a realistic account of the process of linguistic fieldwork. Doing field research is not liking working in the lab with chemicals : both the field worker and their consultants are real people who interact in complex ways. This book is a guide to conducting that interaction in order to produce research which benefits not only the linguistic community but also language speakers. Given the rapidity of decline in global linguistic diversity, the next 30 years will be crucial for future knowledge of languages all over the world."--Résumé de l'éditeur Linguistic Fieldwork is a practical guide to all the steps in linguistic fieldwork, from planning where to work to applying for funding, from the first session on a new language to writing up the data, from turning on the recorder to depositing the recordings in an archive: Claire Bowern provides a realistic account of the process of linguistic fieldwork. Doing field research isn't like working in the lab with chemicals: both the field worker and their consultants are real people who interact in complex ways. This book is a guide to conducting that interaction in order to produce research which benefits not only the linguistic community, but also language speakers. Given the rapidity of decline in global linguistic diversity, the next 30 years will be crucial for future knowledge of languages all over the world This is a practical guide to all aspects of linguistic fieldwork. It not only discusses techniques for working on the phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse of an undescribed language, but also considers field technology, grant application preparation, ethical research methods and problems which might arise when in the field.