A query...

[Claire Bowern]

> 
> I have read many grammars that I am skeptical about at points. But I 
> have no way of checking it out, unless I actually visit the people and 
> do my own field research (which in phonology I have done - i.e. I have 
> visited villages and spent a few days recording and analyzing 
> phonological data, especially prosody, because the claims I had read 
> seemed unlikely. For example one language/people that I still want to 
> visit or would like sound files of is the Arawan language, Culina, for 
> which Pike - many, many years ago - claimed that there were no 
> syllables. Since the dictionary of Culina has words that look like all 
> the other Arawan languages (and I have done fieldwork on all of those) I 
> am betting that Culina has CV and CVV syllables (not the V and CV that 
> some claim) like all the other Arawan languages. If the data were 
> on-line, it would help resolve this mystery - just to take a random 
> example).
> 

You could also email the author of the grammar. For many people (and 
speech communities) there's a big difference between making large 
amounts of raw data generally available and discussing and sharing it 
with colleagues.

Claire