Linguistic Fieldwork

✍ Scribed by Paul Newman, Martha Ratliff (Editors)

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 304
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This collection of original essays on the practice of linguistic fieldwork and language documentation by twelve leading field linguists considers the study of languages in a natural setting. Drawing on extensive research experience, the authors review those techniques that work best in practice, and discuss a variety of relevant topics, including the attitude of the linguist, the structure and content of the work session, the varied roles of native speakers, and the practical and personal challenges of doing research in an unfamiliar environment.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
List of Figures......Page 9
List of Tables......Page 10
Notes on Contributors......Page 11
Introduction......Page 15
1. Fieldwork as a state of mind......Page 29
2. Who shapes the record: the speaker and the linguist......Page 48
3. Places and people: field sites and informants......Page 69
4. Ulwa (Southern Sumu): the beginnings of a language research project......Page 90
5. Escaping Eurocentrism: fieldwork as a process of unlearning......Page 116
6. Surprises in Sutherland: linguistic variability amidst social uniformity......Page 147
7. The role of text collection and elicitation in linguistic fieldwork......Page 166
8. Monolingual field research......Page 180
9. The give and take of fieldwork: noun classes and other concerns in Fatick, Senegal......Page 203
10. Phonetic fieldwork......Page 225
11. Learning as one goes......Page 244
12. The last speaker is dead - long live the last speaker!......Page 264
Index......Page 296