A query...

[Mark P. Line]

Daniel L. Everett wrote:
> That is not a good solution. You need independence when you are
> verifying people's claims. You cannot let them pick and choose the
> data, etc. on a question by question basis.

(You can't even do that if they're dead.)


> Because I didn't have Piraha data on line or the right kind
> available, Peter Ladefoged came to the field to check it out. The
> first thing he said when I picked him up at the airport was that he
> was skeptical about my analyses. I said that then it would be nice to
> see him return to UCLA supporting my analysis, which I predicted that
> he would. But more seriously, when it came time to do the
> experiments, I helped him set them up and then left the area and went
> swimming. Investigators have a vested interest in the checking of
> their analyses so the data should be available, all of it, for
> perusal without going through them as middle-people.

If I wanted to wax sarcastic, I'd point to medical researchers,
economists, sociologists and others who have been caught cooking up their
own data, and claim "Oh, but no *linguist* would *ever* do *that*."

It's best to simply fail to leave open the opportunity. (In other spheres,
this is called "accountability" and considered a good thing by all but
those who are in greatest need of more of it.) But of course I'm one of
those people who locks his house and car when he's not inside it, and
keeps his cash in a bank.


> I can't really see any excuses for not doing this. Except senility. I
> will claim this if anyone looks for data that I collected 30 years ago.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

Dan, could I see the data you collected 30 years ago?

While you're at it, could I see the data I collected 30 years ago?

-- Mark

Mark P. Line
Polymathix
San Antonio, TX



> On Oct 24, 2006, at 11:49 AM, Claire Bowern wrote:
>
>>> 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
>
> **********************
> Daniel L. Everett, Professor of Linguistics & Anthropology and Chair,
> Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
> Campus Box 4300
> Illinois State University
> Normal, Illinois 61790-4300
> OFFICE: 309-438-3604
> FAX: 309-438-8038
> Dept: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/default.asp
> Recursion: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/rechul/
> Personal: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/
>
> and
>
> Honorary Professor of Linguistics
> University of Manchester
> Manchester, UK
>
>
>
>


-- Mark

Mark P. Line
Polymathix
San Antonio, TX