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Language DocumentationWhat is it and what is it good for
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What is a LANGUAGE
DOCUMENTATIONA lasting, multipurpose record of a language
Should strive to include as many and asvaried records as practically feasible,covering all aspects of the set of interrelated
phenomena commonly called LANGUAGE.
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What is it
LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION could serve alarge variety of different uses in, for
example:Language planning decisions
Preparing educational materials
Analyzing a set of problems in syntactic theory
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What is it
The goal is a not short-term record for aspecific purpose or interest group, but a
record for generations and user-groupwhose identity is still unknown and who maywant to explore questions not yet raised atthe time when the language documentation
was compiled.
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What is it
This rests on the assumption that it ispossible and useful to compile a database
for a very broadly defined subject matter (alanguage) without being guided by aspecific theoretical or practical problem inmind.
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What is it
THE GOAL: to create a record of a languagein the sense of comprehensive corpus of
primary data
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What is a LANGUAGE
DOCUMENTATION good for There are three reasons for engaging inlanguage documentation:
Language endangermentEconomy of research resources
Accountability
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Language Endangerment
A substantial number of the languages stillspoken today are threatened by extinction
Creating lasting multipurposedocumentations is one major linguisticresponse to the challenge of thedramatically increased level of languageendangerment observable in our times
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Research economy
It is in the interest of research economy (andaccountability) to feed all the primary datacollected in the project work into an openarchive and not to limit itself to publishingthe analytical results plus possibly a smallsample of primary data illustrating their
basic materials
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If it were a common practice,comprehensive documentations for quite anumber of little-known languages couldgrow over time
This would, in turn, strengthen the empiricalbasis of all disciplines working on and withsuch languages and cultures
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Accountability
Establishing open archives for primary datais also in the interest of making analysesaccountable
Many claims and analyses for which nodocumentation is available remainunverifiable as long as substantial parts ofthe primary data remain inaccessible tofurther scrutiny
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A basic format for language
documentation
Primary data
Apparatus
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Primary Data
A language documentation should contain alarge set of primary data which provideevidence for the language(s) used at a giventime in a given community (in all of thedifferent senses of language)
Of major importance to this regard are
specimens of OBSERVABLE LINGUISTICBEHAVIOR
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ISSUES
Theoretical: There is no principled way for
determining a temporal boundary for such arecording of all communicative events
There is a need to sample the kinds ofcommunicative events to be documented
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METALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
It is the tacit knowledge speakers have
about their language
It refers to the ability of native speakers to
provide interpretations and systematizationsfor linguistic units and events
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It includes all kinds of linguistically basedtaxonomies:
Kinship systemsFolk taxonomies
The documentation includes much of thebasic information that is needed for writingdescriptive grammars and dictionaries
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Corpus of primary data
Shorthand for corpus of recordings of
observable linguistic behavior andmetalinguistic knowledge
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Apparatus
To be accessible to a broad range of users,the primary data need to need to beaccompanied by information of various kinds- this could be called APPARATUS
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METADATA
Cataloguing function
They facilitate access to a documentation or specific record within a documentation byproviding key access information in astandardized format
Organizational functionThey define the structure of the corpus
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Annotation
A transcription and a translation so that
users not familiar with the language are ableto understand what is going on in therecording
General access resources
Information accompanying the primary dataset other than metadata
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Whats new
Focus on primary data
Explicit concern for accountability
Concern for long-term storage andpreservation of primary data
Work in interdisciplinary teams
Close cooperation with and directinvolvement of speech community
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Limitations
A language documentation has the potentialto profoundly change the social structure ofthe society being documented
On a more profound level, documentationgenerally introduces a new way for accessing information and thereby may
change the whole psychosocial fabric of thesociety
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Other formats
Grammar-dictionary format
This format of language description targets
the languageThis essentially involves compiling a:
Grammar = set of rules for producing utterances
Dictionary = a list of conventional form-meaningpairings using in producing these utterances
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Extended format
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