Linguistics, an empirical discipline

Prof. Sharon Hargus

LING 200

Spring 2006

Announcements

• When you e-mail me, cc your TA.

• Homework #1 due Thursday April 6 at the beginning of section. Assignment will be posted on class web site immediately after lecture. Synopsis:– Download a sound file and transcribe (sample

provided for you).– Answer some questions about your

transcription.

Overview

• Sources of data in linguistics

• Fieldwork

• Fieldwork and endangered languages

Sources of data in linguistics

Some goals of linguistics

• Description of particular languages

• Search for language universals

• Theoretical linguistics– Development of a universal framework for the

description of language

• Not mutually exclusive goals

How linguists work

• Assemble data

• Qualitative/interpretive approach– inspect data

• possibly with computational tools

– develop an analysis

• Experimental approach– formulate research questions and hypotheses– measure something (collect numerical data)– run descriptive and inferential statistics

Sources of data in linguistics

• Previously collected data

• New data– Own intuitions – Data from others

Previously collected data

• Philology, “the study of written records”– e.g. data in library books

• Latin• Yawelmani: as described by Newman• Klamath: as described by Barker

– as analytical tools improve, revisiting previous interpretations can be fruitful

Previously collected data

• Corpus studies

• Examples of linguistic corpora– database– text or text collection

• e.g. CALLFRIEND corpora (collected for lg identification technology research)

• Many possible uses beyond original purpose

Intuitions

• Is this a possible sentence/word?– Where are you?

• *Where you are? (well-formed in Fort Ware, B.C.)

• *You are where? (except as: you are where?!!)

– (Computer Mices at MSN ShoppingFind deals on a wide selection of computer mices - compare prices.shopping.msn.com ): one mouse, two _________

•a stick of butter (or cube)

Data from others

• controlled experiment

• observation

• elicitation

• observation and elicitation sometimes known as “fieldwork”– sociolinguistics– language documentation/description

Description of particular languages

• Ideally, by native speakers trained as linguists– Eliza Jones, second author of the Koyukon Dictionary

Description of particular languages

• Less ideally, by (non-native speaker) linguists– e.g. Jules Jetté, first author of

the Koyukon Dictionary

• Not all native speakers are interested in lg documentation– 70- and 80-something native

speakers may not have the time and energy

• Not all native speakers have suitable skills for lg documentation

Descriptive linguistics

• Sometimes known as primary linguistics

• Linguistics originally a branch of anthropology

• Pioneering work of Boas– descriptive studies of

W. Greenlandic Eskimo, Kwakiutl

– race culture language

Franz Boas, 1858-1942, anthropologist

Boasian research program• Goals for description of a language

– Texts– Grammar– Dictionary

• Texts: examples of the language as actually used– Audio and/or video recordings, transcribed and

translated

• Grammar: linguists’ deductions about the rule system

• Dictionary: provides depth for the description; including source data for rule system

Summary: sources of data in linguistics

new data previously collected data

from self tapping into intuitions ?

from others fieldwork

experiments

philology

corpus studies

Fieldwork

Typical linguistic fieldwork methodology (grammar)

observation

formation of questions, hypotheses

hypothesis testing (elicitation)

Observation

• Inspection of texts

• Translation

• Eavesdropping (after language learning)

• Examination of closely related languages– Most languages are not isolates

Hypothesis testing

• Question and answer

• Typical fieldwork questions– If you can say X, can you also say Y?

• Is there a word/sentence like Y?– Deliberate mispronunciation sometimes useful

• Danger of leading the witness

– Which do you prefer, X or Y?– What is the meaning of X?

• X vs. Y: meaning dif.?

Interpreting answers

• “No, I would never say that.”

• Why not? Some possible reasons:– What you just said is ill-formed/ungrammatical.

• If a sentence, which of many factors is responsible?– One word is ill-formed?– Something mispronounced?

– There is no conceivable context in which I would ever say that.

• Can grammaticality judgements always be trusted?

Other difficulties with fieldwork

• Language documentation is a long, slow process– languages are very tricky– R.M.W. Dixon (Australianist)

• a responsible linguist should not publish on a language for which there is no reference grammar

• Intellectual property rights issues

• Gaining acceptance by community

An example of fieldwork (ethnomusicology)

• A clip from Songcatcher

• Ethnomusicologist Dr. Lily Penleric in rural North Carolina in 1907

• (similar to linguist recording texts)

Fieldwork and endangered languages

Some linguistic fieldworkers

• Krauss: Irish Gaelic, languages of Alaska

• Ladefoged: (everywhere)

• Dorian: Scottish Gaelic

• Your professor: Tsek’ene, Witsuwit’en, Deg Xinag, Sahaptin

Tsek’ene (Sekani) language area

Tsek’ene

• A moribund language. About 20 native speakers remaining.

• 3 communities: McLeod Lake, Tsay Keh, Fort Ware

• Belongs to Athabaskan family of languages

• Research goals: grammar, dictionary, texts

Working with Mike Abou in Ft. Ware

July 2005

Working with Mary Charlie in Ft. Ware

Dec 2002

Kusk’eh zoh khutawnuyehii. It’s just how we were raised.

Uwute’e khutawoonehyheh.They raised us well.

Ii èh usk’ookàn yhdze khuch’ò didùsdetl. Then the white people started getting in our way around here.

Kooye la udoo wukaynuszude.I didn’t like that when [it happened].

Uyii mun cho ìdàde mudaghdniih’ùlh, uyii joo udoo kaynuszu.

I also don’t like that big lake they dammed up just down there.

Text excerpt (Mike Abou)

P+ta#w+n+h+yhov. (n) raise pl. P.mom sits’òòdawa tawnìniihyho I raised my kids

Tsà’ lhutawiihyhode pn. Beaver Path, Beaver Pass. (lit. where beavers raised each other) (trail to Fox R. at 27-mile on the Aatse Davie trail)

Sample dictionary entry:Tsek’ene-English

rainbow: nàhtunii tl’oolh (<tl’oolh).Rainbow L.: Duk’àyii munè’ (<k’àyii), Mun zoza (<zoza).Rainbow R.

Rainbow R., Caribou Mt. Cr.: Wudze tl’ow ts’elè’ (<dze).rainbow trout: duk’àyii (<k’àyii).raise

raise pl. P: P+ta#w+n+h+yho (<yheh, yho).rake

broom, rake: mu’èh nawts’udzowii (<zow2).raspberry: dahkàdlè’ (<kàtl).rat

pack rat: dlecho (<dle).rather

rather, almost: k’ula (<k’ula).Rats L.: Tehk’a k’ùsgè’ (<k’ìs, k’ùs).

Sample dictionary entries:English-Tsek’ene

Why is Tsek’ene moribund?

• Probably never a large number of speakers to begin with (traditional hunter-gatherers, relatively scarce food resources)

• Language suppression in primary education– many children sent to Lejac Residential

School

Lejac Residential School

in operation 1922-1976

children punished for speaking languages other than English

Fort Ware

Speech community destruction: Fort Grahame

Founded 1870, Hudson’s Bay Co.

Finlay R.

Peace R.

Parsnip R.

Map by A.G. Morice, ca. 1906

W.A.C. Bennett dam• Construction on Peace R. finished 1968

Williston Lake• Formed from Peace, Finlay, Parsnip rivers on completion

of Bennett dam

• Fort Grahame submerged

Fate of Fort Grahame

• Where did Fort Grahame people go?– Mackenzie and Prince George– Fort Ware– lower mainland of B.C.– many Ingenika Tsay Keh

Responsibilities of linguists to endangered languages

• Krauss, Ladefoged, Dorian: all agree that documentation is important

• Difference of opinion concerns advocacy– Ladefoged: documentation only– Krauss, Dorian: speak up for them– Dorian: phonetics research (Ladefoged)

requires relatively little fieldwork time commitment (compared to syntactic documentation, preparation of text collection, lexicography)

Languages with small numbers of speakers

• Special problems for documentation– availability of speakers– representativeness of remaining speakers– effect of linguistic isolation (bombardment by

dominant language)– variation among remaining speakers– possibly dwindling competence

• E.g. lending expertise to pedagogical projects• Ken Hale: “Instead of addressing our

grammatical writings to a narrow audience of professional linguists, we might write them...to make them of maximum use to native speakers of the languages involved.”

• Dan Everett: “When one makes a decision to do fieldwork...this decision entails a responsibility to aid the community in which the research is being conducted.”

Another issue: “community based research”

The opposing view

• Paul Newman (W. Africanist)– Community-based language research as

“linguistic social work”, “ethnic awareness/cultural heritage projects”

– “language preservation projects drain resources from the important linguistic task of primary documentation, both in terms of personnel and in terms of funding”

A middle ground• Accountability to the community may

slow down research output, but helps ensure data accuracy

• Community involvement can speed up certain projects– e.g. investing time in training native

speakers in literacy

Summary

•Linguistics is an empirical discipline. Linguists work with data.

•There are various sources of data in linguistics.

•Many endangered languages are currently being documented via fieldwork.

Next time

• Language and the brain, implications for language universals