Necessary and sufficient data collection
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Laura Buszard-Welcher
Abstract
In documenting an endangered language, one hopes to create a record that gives a good overall picture of the language in use, can serve as the basis for a well-rounded linguistic description, and that can be used for language revitalization, should that be desired. This paper presents an example from historical documentation of the Potawatomi Language, and illustrates a common choice by linguists to collect narrative text as the basis for grammatical and lexical description. Given limited time to be in the field, this practice is understandable. In this case, however, it created a gap in our knowledge that is difficult to fill today given the size of the extant speech community, and biases even the most basic grammatical description.
Abstract
In documenting an endangered language, one hopes to create a record that gives a good overall picture of the language in use, can serve as the basis for a well-rounded linguistic description, and that can be used for language revitalization, should that be desired. This paper presents an example from historical documentation of the Potawatomi Language, and illustrates a common choice by linguists to collect narrative text as the basis for grammatical and lexical description. Given limited time to be in the field, this practice is understandable. In this case, however, it created a gap in our knowledge that is difficult to fill today given the size of the extant speech community, and biases even the most basic grammatical description.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Preface xiii
-
Part 1. Praxis and values
- Language documentation 3
- The linguist’s responsibilities to the community of speakers 25
- Language documentation 37
-
Part 2. Adequacy in documentation
- Adequacy in documentation 51
- Necessary and sufficient data collection 67
- Documenting different genres of oral narrative in Cora (Uto-Aztecan) 75
- Constructing adequate language documentation for multifaceted cross-linguistic data 89
-
Part 3. Documentation technology
- Valuing technology 111
- Using the E-MELD School of Best Practices to create lasting digital documentation 133
- Sharing data in small and endangered languages 147
- Representing minority languages and cultures on the World Wide Web 159
-
Part 4. Models of successful collaborations
- Beyond expertise 173
- Models of successful collaboration 193
- Working with language communities in unarchiving 213
- Saving languages, saving lives 221
- Language documentation in the Tohono O’odham community 231
- Documentation of pragmatics and metapragmatics 241
-
Part 5. Training and careers in field linguistics
- Training graduate students and community members for native language documentation 255
- Native speakers as documenters 275
-
part 6. Conclusion
- Language documentation and field linguistics 289
- Selected online resources 311
- Name index 315
- General index 337
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Preface xiii
-
Part 1. Praxis and values
- Language documentation 3
- The linguist’s responsibilities to the community of speakers 25
- Language documentation 37
-
Part 2. Adequacy in documentation
- Adequacy in documentation 51
- Necessary and sufficient data collection 67
- Documenting different genres of oral narrative in Cora (Uto-Aztecan) 75
- Constructing adequate language documentation for multifaceted cross-linguistic data 89
-
Part 3. Documentation technology
- Valuing technology 111
- Using the E-MELD School of Best Practices to create lasting digital documentation 133
- Sharing data in small and endangered languages 147
- Representing minority languages and cultures on the World Wide Web 159
-
Part 4. Models of successful collaborations
- Beyond expertise 173
- Models of successful collaboration 193
- Working with language communities in unarchiving 213
- Saving languages, saving lives 221
- Language documentation in the Tohono O’odham community 231
- Documentation of pragmatics and metapragmatics 241
-
Part 5. Training and careers in field linguistics
- Training graduate students and community members for native language documentation 255
- Native speakers as documenters 275
-
part 6. Conclusion
- Language documentation and field linguistics 289
- Selected online resources 311
- Name index 315
- General index 337
