Linguistic Fieldwork and Language Description (U02536)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : PPL-3-LFLD-LI

This course prepares the participants to collect and analyse data on previously undocumented language phenomena, both in the sound system and in the morphosyntax. These issues are explored through lectures (1 hour per week), elicitation sessions with a native speaker of a language that is completely unfamiliar to the participants (2 hours per week), and weekly readings.

The coursework is relatively demanding: the students themselves are interviewing the native-speaker in the elicitation sessions. This requires a consistent effort in processing elicitation notes of the preceding session and preparing questions for the following session.

The incomplete reading list below gives some insight into the course content:
Gil, David (2001). Escaping Eurocentrism: fieldwork as a process of unlearning. In Paul Newman & Martha Ratliff (eds.). Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge University Press, 102-132.
Kutsch-Lojenga, Constance (1996). Participatory research in linguistics. Notes on linguistics 73:13-27. [available from LinguaLinks]
Payne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge University Press.
Vaux, Bert & Justin Cooper (1999). Introduction to linguistic field methods. Lincom Europe.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : - Linguistics 2A + 2B or Linguistics 2A + 2L This course has a named level 11 version, if you are a Postgraduate Student you must take the PG version.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Language Sciences, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 9 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
12/01/2009	09:00	10:00	Room 4.18, David Hume Tower	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	09:00	09:50	Central
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	09:50	Central
Lecture	Wednesday	09:00	09:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : Class locations:
Monday 4.18 DHT
Tuesday 4.18 DHT
Wednesday G06 DSB

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The course aims:
(1) to familiarize the participants with the practice of controlled elicitation and other fieldwork data collection techniques;
(2) to prepare them to independently collect and analyze previously unavailable linguistic data, and to write up the resulting findings.