Field Methods and Linguistic Analysis

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/L_TAMATWS016

Course Objective

In this course, students learn about an unfamiliar language by working with a native speaker. The aim is to document and analyse linguistic data, ranging from segments, to words, to utterances. In the classes, students learn tools and techniques for eliciting, recording, transcribing, archiving and presenting linguistic material, including the creation, use and archiving of digital audio and video data. Students learn the skills to:
- find and interact effectively with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language for the purpose of language documentation
- collect and annotate primary linguistic data on an unfamiliar language from language speakers
- manage linguistic data using state-of-the-art methods and technologies of data management and archiving
- analyse structures of an unknown language on the basis of spoken linguistic data

Course Content

This course provides practical, hands-on training in describing the grammar of a language. The course will introduce general issues relevant to language description and grammar writing, and consider approaches to analysing the structure of a language. In this class students learn the principles of data collection when starting out in the analysis of a language from scratch. Instruction is given in the methodologies and technologies of linguistic fieldwork, including collection, analysis and organisation of data, and the social dimensions of linguistic work with speakers. The analysis of primary linguistic data will deepen the understanding and extend the skills that students have acquired in earlier linguistic coursework. This course is designed for students interested in descriptive linguistic work and those interested in incorporating linguistic data into research in theoretical linguistics. An exciting part of studying linguistics is learning about a language from speakers and contributing to documenting the world's many languages. Students are required to find a speaker of a language that they do not know and work with that speaker on the documentation of their language.

Teaching Methods

The class meets fortnightly for seven sessions over two periods. In weeks between classes, students are expected to work on collecting and analysing data from the languages they have elected to work on. In each class, students discuss what they have discovered and what difficulties they have encountered in their analysis for group problemsolving. Each class new concepts, techniques and software will be introduced to help the students with their analysis.

Method of Assessment

Students will be assessed on their data management, corpus development, their descriptive “sketches”. The breakdown is as follows:Corpus development 25% – students will use ELAN files and FLEX to create a corpus of the language. Students will learn how to create time-aligned texts, gloss them and build a lexicon. The corpus that the students develop will be the basis for their sketches.Introduction to the language and data 10% – students will give background information on the language, the speaker they worked with, and the data they collected for the sketch. This will include information about the number of sessions they conducted, the total minutes of recording, the number of words collected, the number of sentences elicited and the length of their short text. (About 5 pages).Phonology sketch 25% – students will show that they can listen to and analyse language materials, such as identifying minimal pairs, word stress, phonological processes, conduct a vowel formant analysis in PRAAT, etc. (About 10 pages).Morphosyntax sketch 40% – students will show that they can analyse morphosyntactic structures, such as word order, verb agreement, possessive structures, etc. (About 20 pages).All components must be graded 5.5 or higher in order to pass the course

Literature

Selected readings from the following texts books will be used: Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic Fieldwork. A Practical Guide. Palgrave MacMillan.Dixon, R.M.W. 2009.Basic Linguistic Theory. Volume 1. Oxford University Press.Payne, Thomas. 1997. Describing Morphosyntax. A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge University Press.Sakel, Jeanette and Daniel L. Everett. 2012.Linguistic Fieldwork: A Student Guide. Cambridge University Press.

Target Audience

Students in one of the following MA programs: Research Master Humanities (track Linguistics); Master Linguistics (in particular, track Language Description and Comparative Linguistics).

Recommended background knowledge

If you are interested in taking this course but do not have the approriate linguistics background, please contact the course coordinator to discuss if the course is right for you.

Explanation Canvas

Canvas is used in this course.