LSA 115: Language documentation and language communities

Siri G. Tuttle | session 1 | TuTh 8:30 – 10:15, 370 Dwinelle Hall

This class will attempt to define principles for navigation between the demands of linguistic documentation and the realities of linguistic communities, with special emphasis on relating to communities where languages are highly endangered. Time will be devoted to the following topics:

• the analysis of historical cases of linguist-community interaction with different outcomes, such as the production of published documentation, the production of community-driven materials or programs, or complete failure.
• the identification of documentational and community needs relevant to documentation project planning, and where the two types of needs intersect or are opposed.
• the composition of a project proposal (which may be a draft of a real proposal, or a proposal for an imaginary project) that includes strategies for dealing with multiple problems arising from the needs of documentation and the needs of the target community.

Reading: Selected materials available online.

Prerequisites: Field experience or a field methods course are desirable, but not necessary.

Areas of linguistics: Fieldwork and language documentation