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Methodology (:three: Language documentation and description (Description (…

- - - - advantages :heavy_plus_sign:
        
        are organised according to similar principles --> cross-compatible
        
        major: comprehensive analyses done by native speakers or fieldworkers that are also trained linguists
      - disadvantages :heavy_minus_sign:
        
        not all languages have the same categories
        
        are of varying quality
        
        language attitudes and the socio-political context of the language (e.g. stigmatized lang-s)
        
        are approximations (due to length)
        
        theoretical bias
        
        different terminology used by different authors
    - - :pencil2: the linguist asks native speakers or experts with native-like competence pointed questions to obtain information about a language
      - advantages :heavy_plus_sign:
        
        allows to ask about the particular features one is investigating
      - disadvantages :heavy_minus_sign:
        
        time-consuming for both the linguist and the language consultant / informant
        
        problematic: not a natural along situation, isolated question out of context, answers often reflect the given situation
        
        Observer’s Paradox (Labov): the presence of the linguist makes the native speaker more self-conscious of his or her language, which will affect the naturalness of the language
        
        depends on the questions the linguist can think to ask: patterns and features that the linguist is not aware of are not likely to be captured --> selective data
        
        questions not asked in the consultant's language --> have to be translated
      - form of elicitation - questionnaires
        
        :heavy_plus_sign: allow to conduct multiple parallel investigations
        
        :heavy_minus_sign: same problems as with elicitation
        
        :heavy_minus_sign: frequent misunderstanding of questions and answers
        
        :heavy_minus_sign: difficult to find enough consultants
    - - :pencil2: written records + recorded and transcribed passages of spoken language
        
        disadvantages :heavy_minus_sign:
        
        the most time-consuming
        
        Observer’s Paradox (to a lesser degree)
        
        solution: include native listeners in the recording session, or train community members in documentation practices
        
        many languages lack a written tradition
        
        with written: not facing the addressee
        
        not all linguistic phenomena emerges in a conversation or a narrative, esp. rare or specialized ones
        
        a text may not be properly interpreted or various features and nuances through interlinear glossing not captured
        
        influenced by his or her theoretical background (see elicitation)
        
        Analysing the text outside its original context
        
        advantages :heavy_plus_sign:
        
        more natural language language than in elicitation
        
        a larger amount of data --> quantitative analyses possible
- - - - united several databases
      - the 1st world-wide collected mapping of language systems
      - inclusion of two chapters on sign languages
      - a minimal core sample of 100 languages - investigations of correlations between features
      - metadata for each language included (its location and genealogical classification)
      - 2678 lang-s, 144 features, but he range of overlap between chapters can vary considerably
    - - the authors - language (only 76 languages) , features predefined by the editors
      - the cross-compatibility between languages is absolute (all the features for each language)
      - the 1st large-scale typological project for pidgin and creole languages
      - many of the APiCS features overlap partially or even fully with features in WALS
      - is biased towards English-lexified contact languages (>1/3 of the sample)
    - - provide an objective classi cation of the world’s languages by means of lexicostatistical analysis.
        
        Lexicostatistics is a technique used to quantitatively compare the rates of change within a set of words in different languages in order to try to establish in how far they are related and, if they are, when they separated from each other.
      - uses a fixed algorithm --> objective and consistent method across the board
      - task for each contributor - to enter a set of 40 lexical items for as many languages as possible
      - Some macro-data is included (genealogical affiliation, location and number of speakers)
      - 5751 languages, dialects and proto-languages
        
        transcribed data - not much use outside of the project
- - - - A probability sample - to check for statistical tendencies and correlations of various features
        
        The presence or absence of variables / features / characters / parameters (on the map)
        
        important to have genealogical and areal balance
      - A variety sample - mainly for explorative research, includes all possible variables
        
        crucial is to capture all (possible) values for the feature under investigation
      - A convenience sample - based on what kind of data one has access to
        
        if there is no information available for the desired language, it cannot be included in the sample
- - - - e.g. interviewing a colleague in the office
      - e.g. prototypical fieldwork - going to a small community in a remote place to interview speakers from a small, possibly endangered, language
      - Considerations
        
        consent of consultants
        
        compensation (sensitive issue in some cultures)
        
        what one wishes to investigate
        
        how one will be accepted into the community etc.
        
        practical and logistical issues
  - - - may also serve as the basis for awareness and revitalization programs
  - - - specific enough to capture the uniqueness of the language
      - general enough to allow cross-linguistic research
- - - - more than 70% - only sporadic attention or none at all
        
        "safe" / stable language vs endangered language
        
        Stable: has official state support, is used for teaching, in media, probably also in written communication
        
        Endangered: decreasing number of speakers, fewer speakers transmitting the language to the next generation
        
        Moribund language - a language destined to go extinct when the last generation of speakers dies
    - - if like now - roughly half of the languages extinct by the end of this century
      - a host of human knowledge is lost
    - - genocide, the mass extinction of an entire culture
      - displacements of a community
        
        more or less forced urbanization due to socio-economical factors
      - discrimination
        
        forced monolingualism
        
        forced assimilation - a language is actively suppressed
        
        assimilatory education - only the preferred languages are taught and promoted
      - Note: lang shift can be voluntary (better opportunities, etc.)