Linguistic Fieldwork Research Articles

Benjamin Lee Whorf and Ernest Naquayouma’s Working Relationship: A Perspective on Linguistic Fieldwork in the 1930s

Benjamin Lee Whorf and Ernest Naquayouma’s Working Relationship: A Perspective on Linguistic Fieldwork in the 1930s

Ground-truth validation of the "earbuds method" for measuring acoustic nasalance.

Among the variety of methodological tools available for quantifying the degree of nasalization, nasometry has remained a popular choice for both academic and clinical research on speech due to its relatively low cost, portability, ease of use, and interpretability. In its simplest form, nasometry involves two microphones that independently capture the acoustic radiation from the mouth and nose. Recently, a method was proposed by Stewart and Kohlberger [(2017). Lang. Doc. Conserv. 11, 49-80] of using earbuds to achieve a similar result. Although the method has been widely used since, most notably in the context of linguistic fieldwork, it has yet to be tested against ground-truth measurements of acoustic nasalance from a commercially established device; the current study attempts to provide this ground-truth comparison. A wide variety of characteristics of the relationship between nasalance measurements created using acoustic data co-registered from a commercial nasometer, silicone earbuds, and flat earbuds are thoroughly examined. The results suggest that the "earbuds method" may provide reliable estimates of nasality when assessed at a global level (i.e., overall averages, relatively high/low nasalance scores coinciding with the presence/absence of nasalization), but that the accuracy of these estimates may decline at more fine-grained levels in different ways that are outlined in the discussion.

Artificial intelligence's role in the realm of endangered languages: Documentation and teaching

With numerous languages nearing extinction, the urgency to preserve endangered languages has become a prominent focus in the linguistic field. This paper delves into the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the domains of documentation and pedagogy for endangered languages, particularly highlighting its innovative applications and the associated challenges. It delves into how AI-powered tools reshape linguistic fieldwork, offering accelerated annotation, consistent data collection, and deeper analytical endeavors. Furthermore, this exploration highlights the potential of AI in revolutionizing the teaching of these languages, ushering in a new era marked by dynamic, scalable, and engaging learning experiences. While AI presents unparalleled efficiencies, its challenges, ranging from data scarcity to the looming digital divide, are addressed critically. As the digital age continues to evolve, merging AIs capabilities with traditional linguistic approaches holds the promise of a more inclusive and comprehensive strategy to rejuvenate and preserve the worlds rich linguistic tapestry. This paper has summarized and provided an outlook on the research topic at hand.

Widening Horizons

The transformation of Maureen Warner-Lewis’s intellectual career from colonial to postcolonial shaping was gradual and sometimes fortuitous. It involved a bifurcation in disciplines, evolving from English literary developments into Afro-Caribbean social and linguistic history. Linguistic fieldwork further led into concerns with religious, culinary, and musical folkways, as well as biographical investigation. Outlines of Warner-Lewis’s writings on the Caribbean and on Caribbean cultures inspired by Yoruba, Igbo, and Kongo matrices are presented.

Melting intestines, red hearts, and scattering eyes: exploring embodiment in the Efik feeling lexica

AbstractLanguages feature labels used to name various feeling states, referred to as emotion lexica. Language-specific linguistic features patterned after culturally-shaped templates such as somatic referencing, make each emotion lexicon unique. This study investigates somatic referencing in the emotion lexicon of the Efik ethnolinguistic group obtained through ethnographic linguistic fieldwork in South-eastern Nigeria. Our analysis revealed that in the Efik language, nearly fifty body-centered lexemes serve as the primary labels for a variety of feeling states. The identified emotion terms incorporated specific body parts, various parts of the face, as well as the generalized body. In each instance, the body referent constituted part of the internal structure of the feeling label. Our findings complement existing emotion research examining the cultural scripting of emotion experiences as well as their expression and communication.

Varietà di lingua nel romanzo di “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana” di Carlo Emilio Gadda

”. The novel is an exceptional example of plurilingualism, therefore Gadda mixes technical terms, literary elements, Latinisms, Greek terms, new forms, and foreign words and phrases (English, French, German, Spanish). Further the collection of Italian dialects (Roman, Milan, Neapolitan, Venetian), the study intends to provide a stylistic analysis of the innovation of Gadda’s expression in the lexicon. The results of this linguistic fieldwork sets out to demonstrate also the lexicon and terms of the technical-scientific language of Gadda: for example terms and phrases of physics, engineering, mathematics, medicine, chemistry, biology, mechanics, geology, geography, astronomy, philosophy, theology, linguistics and rhetoric; as Gadda has a competence of the technical terms because of his studies as an electrical engineer at the Polytechnic and later his practical experience. It is an analysis, even elementary, of the linguistic composition of Gadd’s prose that can be used to understand the technique of his experimentalism, and how much he knew how to treasure every experience to enrich it and vary it on wider stylistic networks. This linguistic material mixes many ingredients such as: technical and scientific languages, various registers of speech, vernacular, jargons, archaisms, Latinisms, mixed with words of Gadda’s creativity, creating what the French called

Varietà di lingua nel romanzo di “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana” di Carlo Emilio Gadda

This article focuses on the lexical components active in Gadda’s novel “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana”. The novel is an exceptional example of plurilingualism, therefore Gadda mixes technical terms, literary elements, Latinisms, Greek terms, new forms, and foreign words and phrases (English, French, German, Spanish). Further the collection of Italian dialects (Roman, Milan, Neapolitan, Venetian), the study intends to provide a stylistic analysis of the innovation of Gadda’s expression in the lexicon. The results of this linguistic fieldwork sets out to demonstrate also the lexicon and terms of the technical-scientific language of Gadda: for example terms and phrases of physics, engineering, mathematics, medicine, chemistry, biology, mechanics, geology, geography, astronomy, philosophy, theology, linguistics and rhetoric; as Gadda has a competence of the technical terms because of his studies as an electrical engineer at the Polytechnic and later his practical experience. It is an analysis, even elementary, of the linguistic composition of Gadd’s prose that can be used to understand the technique of his experimentalism, and how much he knew how to treasure every experience to enrich it and vary it on wider stylistic networks. This linguistic material mixes many ingredients such as: technical and scientific languages, various registers of speech, vernacular, jargons, archaisms, Latinisms, mixed with words of Gadda’s creativity, creating what the French called pastiche.

Bibi Hajar, Izmam and Zamzam: Myth and Ritual Among Qashqadarya Arabs

The present article analyses the preserved and recorded narratives of the Qashqadarya Arabs, obtained through the linguistic fieldwork of I. Vinnikov and G. Chikovani from the 1930s to the 2010s. The study sheds light on the ancient beliefs about the origin of the Qashqadarya Arabs. The meaning behind the terminology, together with references to tangible culture, has made it possible to trace a series of ancient myths. These were reborn as a female rite of passage and as an example of female adornment — the septum nose ring (izmam) — which remains the most important symbol of local Arab identity to this day. The traditional legends provide important material for dialectological research, while serving as an autonomous source of historical and cultural information. The study opens up new perspectives for further research into the cultural heritage of the Arabs of Uzbekistan and for maintaining the Russian academic tradition of Arabic studies.

Linguistic fieldwork at the end of empire: British officials and American structuralists in Anthony Burgess’ Malayan trilogy

ABSTRACT In 1959 Anthony Burgess published Beds in the East, a novel set in Malaya in 1957, the year the Federation of Malaya achieved independence. Towards the end of the book, Burgess introduces a new character, Temple Haynes, a professional linguist from a US university who is studying the phonology of Temiar, the language of one of Malaysia’s indigenous ethnic minorities. This paper examines Burgess’ depiction of Haynes and his sometimes fractious relationship with the British ‘Assistant Protector of Aborigines’, Moneypenny (also a speaker of Temiar). It is interesting to examine this fictional representation because it uses material familiar to students of the History of Linguistics to develop a certain picture of imperialism and decolonisation, one that shifts questions about the politics of western intervention onto the US but also worries about the personal investments of British representatives in colonised and decolonising space. Thus Burgess’ text offers the reader a dramatic portrait of the practice of linguistic fieldwork as part of a particular vision of Malaya at the ‘end of empire’.

Comprehensive Documentation of Mewahang

The Mewahang language belongs to the Kiranti branch of the Tibeto-Burman family and is predominantly spoken in Sankhuwasabha district of eastern Nepal. No linguistic fieldwork has been undertaken so far and the language remains undescribed. The paper characterizes a first comprehensive documentation of Mewahang, and presents data collection and ethnography.

Color terminology, sensory stimuli, and the semantics of the questionnaire

ABSTRACT This article attends to “questionnaires” in linguistic fieldwork defined by the inclusion of sensory stimuli. It shows that such non-verbal protocols have been used to help elucidate and compare semantic content, which has generally been subordinated to formal analysis in the history of linguistics. To explain and exemplify this relationship, I target the color questionnaire developed by Hugo Magnus, which included ten standardized color chips and a long list of interview questions on language use. Magnus’s questionnaire (Fragebogen) decoupled perception and denotation in its day, though similar protocols have recently been employed to restore the connection between meaning and form.

Socially distanced but virtually connected: pandemic fieldwork with Black Bostonians

Abstract The Eastern Massachusetts Life and Language project was in its planning stages when the COVID-19 pandemic began to make headway in the United States in 2020. We contribute to the conversation about conducting linguistic fieldwork during a major social upheaval by providing a description of our shift to virtual methodologies, which include utilizing Instagram for participant recruitment and Zoom for conducting sociolinguistic interviews. Virtual data collection remains underexplored, as there has never been a widespread need for such practices until the recent lockdowns resulting from the pandemic. Likewise, social media appears to be underutilized as a recruitment tool in linguistic fieldwork. Nevertheless, it is effective in producing a heterogeneous participant sample in a short amount of time. We are delighted to engage in discussions about the effects of virtual recruitment and data collection on linguistic fieldwork and the data itself. We offer a description of our pivots to virtual recruitment and interviewing and the racial justice initiatives that become achievable because of these changes. We hope this contribution is beneficial to researchers looking to incorporate virtual methodologies into their research program.

Vowel allophony in Ness Gaelic: Phonetic and phonological patterns of laxing and retraction

The vowel system of the dialect of Scottish Gaelic spoken in Ness, Lewis differs from that of other dialects in several important ways. In particular, several vowels display patterns of allophony that have not been investigated instrumentally and, in some cases, have not been reported before for Scottish Gaelic. This paper documents the Ness system in detail, focusing in particular on the tense–lax opposition in /i e/ and retraction of /a(ː)/ next to velarised consonants. The results of a traditional linguistic fieldwork study are presented first, followed by a detailed acoustic study of nine speakers. The acoustic reality of these allophonic patterns, reflected in F1 and F2 values, is verified statistically using LME modelling. Bimodality in the distribution of tokens in acoustic space, confirmed statistically with Hartigan’s Dip Test, is taken as evidence for the existence of discrete phonological categories (Bermúdez-Otero & Trousdale 2011). It is found that speakers vary as to whether these allophonic oppositions are restricted to the phonetic grammar, or have undergone stabilisation and advanced into the categorical phonology (Bermúdez-Otero 2007, 2015). It is observed that laxing of /i e/ in Ness Gaelic occurs in exactly those contexts where there is a direct transition between the vowel and a following supra-glottal consonant. It is therefore proposed that this tense–lax opposition is grounded in conflicting strategies of contrast enhancement, whereby laxing increases the perceptual distinctiveness of a following consonant by allowing for more distinctive formant transitions, at the expense of the distinctiveness of the vowel itself (Storme 2019).

Phonological Processes in Ekegusii Borrowing: A Constraint-based Approach

Phonological processes are at the heart of linguistic borrowing as it has varied phonological systems. It could be seen that the loan words entering the loan language from the source language can hardly be separated from the phonological process because they must be modified to suit the phonology of the loan language. This article analysed the phonological processes realized in Ekegusii borrowing from English using Optimality Theory’s constraint approach. Since this was a phonological study, descriptive linguistic fieldwork was used. The data used in this article was extracted from Mose’s doctoral study, whereby purposive sampling was used to obtain two hundred borrowed segments from the Ekegusii dictionary, then supplemented by introspection. Further, three adult native proficient Ekegusii speakers who were neither too young nor too old and had all their teeth were purposively sampled. The two hundred tokens were then subjected to the sampled speakers through interviews to realize the sound patterns in the Ekegusii borrowing process overtly. The findings revealed that Ekegusii phonological constraints defined the well-formedness of the loanwords by repairing the illicit structures. To fix, various phonological processes were realized. They included: epenthesis, deletion, devoicing/strengthening, voicing/ weakening, re-syllabification, substitution, monophthongization, and lenition. The article concludes that borrowing across languages (related or unrelated) reports similar if not the same phonological processes only that the processes attested in one language are a subset of the universally exhibited phonological processes.

Computational Morphology for Language Documentation and Description

During this time of heightened interest in computational methods for low-resource languages an important question needs to explored: What [computational] methods...can detect [morphological] structure in small, noisy data sets, while being directly applicable to a wide variety of languages?” (Bird, 2009). This paper provides an overview of common natural language processing (NLP) methods and how those methods have been applied to the study of morphology, particularly in low-resource languages (LRL). For NLP, work with LRL is still uncharted territory. This paper explores the possibilities of training computational morphological models on data produced by language documentation and description (LDD) field projects. Models and techniques are identified that seem likely to be successful if integrated into linguistic fieldwork.

The interaction of age, second language, types of code-alternation and multilingualism in the Zauzou community

Aims and objectives: This paper describes the multilingualism patterns practiced in the Zauzou community, a small ethnic group in Southwestern China. Zauzou is in contact with Lisu, Bai, Lama, and Mandarin Chinese. The present study aims to characterize the relationship between the social/linguistic factors including age, second language (L2), types of code-alternation, and the multilingualism patterns in this community. Design/methodology/approach: Self-reports and participant observation were used to discover any recurrent multilingualism patterns regulated by social/linguistic factors. Data and analysis: Self-reported data on Zauzou speakers’ language repertoire and language use were collected by means of demographic survey. Code-alternation between Zauzou and different L2s were collected from systematic linguistic fieldwork. Findings/conclusions: Zauzou is the dominant language in intragroup multilingualism, while intergroup multilingualism is dominated by Zauzou speakers’ L2s. Zauzou speakers exhibit a shift from the local multilingualism toward Mandarin-Zauzou bilingualism. The two patterns can be characterized by speakers’ age, L2, and the type of code-alternation. Zauzou-Mandarin bilingualism is realized as both code-mixing and code-switching, and is pervasive among the younger generation, while multilingualism is realized as code-switching and is dominant among older speakers. This shift is due to the new market economy and the language policy that promotes Mandarin in the whole area. Originality: This study presents naturalistic data on multilingualism practices in a small minority group in China, which is overlooked by most linguistic descriptions and sociolinguistic studies of lesser-studied languages in China. Significance/implications: This paper discovers three parameters to define two cross-linguistic multilingualism patterns in small indigenous societies: the local multilingualism and the national bilingualism, and the shift toward bilingualism that directly results from language policy and economy.

Ottoman Language Learning in Early Modern Germany

AbstractThis article presents new evidence on the authorship and readership of the earliest printed Ottoman language materials that details the extent to which sixteenth- and seventeenth-century inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire actively engaged in learning Ottoman. Such findings open up a new field of inquiry evaluating the Ottoman impact on the German-speaking lands reaching beyond the so-called “Turkish menace.” Presenting the variety of Ottoman language students, teachers, and materials in central Europe, as well as their connections with the oral world(s) of linguistic fieldwork in the Habsburg-Ottoman contact zone, this article argues that Ottoman language learning is an important but thus far neglected element in understanding the cultural and intellectual landscape of early modern central Europe. What may appear to be experiments with linguistic riddles on first glimpse was in fact grounded in deep enthusiasm and fascination for Ottoman language learning shared among a community of Protestant semi-scholarly aficionados.

Phonology and Phonetics of L2 Telugu English

The paper provides a partial phonological and phonetic description of the segmental structure of L2 Telugu English (TE). Previous research on the subject has been carried out in the context of a more general notion of Indian English (IE), so the properties of TE as distinct from other varieties of IE (e.g., Gujarati English) have largely remained unexplored. We have primarily focused on areas that previous research identified as prominent issues in the study of IE: vowel inventory and production, representation and realization of liquids, word-final obstruent phenomena, and allophones of /w/. To account for these aspects of TE, we have combined a generative approach to the study of an individual’s linguistic competence with linguistic fieldwork as a means of collecting first-hand data. On the basis of collected data, we have conducted a spectrographic analysis of TE vowels and a distributional analysis of TE consonants. The paper provides the first description of the acoustic spaces of TE vowels. We found that all vowels except [?] and [i] are more central in TE than in General American English. /r/ was realized as either [r] or [?] without a specific pattern, and occasionally as [?] in the intervocalic position. /l/ was realized as [?] in word-final position and as [l] elsewhere. TE displayed word-final obstruent devoicing for all obstruents except for /b/, which was consistently unreleased. /w/ was realized as [?] before front vowels and as [w] elsewhere. While previous research that concentrated on the broad notion of Indian English recognized the issue of /w/-allophony, it has not provided a principle that governs the exact distribution of /w/’s allophones. By combining the generative framework with linguistic fieldwork, we have accounted for this long-standing puzzle with a single rule: /w/ ? [?] / __ [–CONS, –BACK].

The monolingual approach in American linguistic fieldwork

Summary In the first decades of the 20th century, fieldwork — collection of language data through direct interaction with a native speaker — was foundational to American linguistics. After a mid-century period of neglect, fieldwork has recently been revived as a means to address the increasing rate of language endangerment worldwide. Twenty-first century American fieldwork inherits some, but not all, of the traits of earlier fieldwork. This article examines the history of one controversial issue, whether a field worker should adopt a monolingual approach, learning and using the target language as a medium of exchange with native speakers, as opposed to relying on interpreters or a lingua franca. Although the monolingual approach is not widely practiced, modern proponents argue strongly for its value. The method has been popularized though ‘monolingual demonstrations’ to audiences of linguists, which, curiously, are not wholly consistent with the character of 21st-century fieldwork.

Rif Berber: From Senhaja to Iznasen. A qualitative and quantitative approach to classification

Abstract By combining qualitative (synchronic and diachronic) and quantitative (algorithmic) approaches, this study examines the nature, structure, and dynamics of the linguistic variation attested in Berber of the Rif area (North, Northwest, and Northeast Morocco). Based on a cross-level corpus of data obtained from the Atlas linguistique des varieties berbères du Rif (Lafkioui 2007) and from numerous linguistic, sociolinguistic, and ethnographic fieldwork investigations in the area since 1992, this study shows that these Berber varieties form a language continuum with the following five stable core aggregates, which cut across administrative and political borders: Western Rif Berber, West-Central Rif Berber, Central Rif Berber, East-Central Rif Berber, and Eastern Rif Berber. Furthermore, data mining studies made it possible to objectively identify the principal aggregate discriminators of the Rif Berber continuum, which are dealt with in the study. A special focus in the article is put on the interplay between system-internal and system-external parameters for the selection, diffusion, and transformation of variants in Rif Berber.