33.3184, All: Fun Fact: Field Linguistics

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3184. Wed Oct 19 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3184, All: Fun Fact: Field Linguistics

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillen at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2022 21:37:19
From: Billy Dickson [billy at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Fun Fact: Field Linguistics

 
The first ever job ad posted on The LINGUIST List to mention field linguistics
explicitly was posted Wednesday, October 14, 1992. It was a submission from
Timothy Montler of the University of North Texas, advertising an opening for a
tenure-track assistant professor who might be able to teach, among other
things, a linguistic field methods course
(https://old.linguistlist.org/issues/3/3-781.html#2). (If you are the person
who ended up accepting this position, we’d love to hear from you!) 

As the Editor in charge of Jobs, I encounter numerous advertisements in search
of linguists every day. While relatively few of them specifically mention
field linguistics, fieldwork is the backbone of all of our jobs as linguists.
For one thing, fieldwork provides invaluable naturalistic data, without which
no theoretical work could be done. For another, fieldwork forces us to look at
the big picture; we must consider how all of the “sub-disciplines” of
linguistics work together when understanding a language that is new to us. 

But fieldwork as we traditionally conceive of it (working with undocumented or
underdocumented languages) is not the only time that linguists can be said to
be “in the field.”  Psycholinguists running eye-tracking and EEG studies,
sociolinguists doing language attitude surveys, computational linguists
testing new NLP methods – these are just a few of the linguists who can be
said to be doing fieldwork. After all, what is fieldwork at its core, if not
gathering data with the goal of better understanding how language works and
benefiting communities of speakers? And don’t we, as linguists, all do that to
some extent? 

The theme of the Fund Drive this year is The Return of the Field Linguist, and
many of the stories that we feature will focus on traditional forms of
fieldwork. But I want to encourage us to take time to meditate on how each of
our (field)work benefits the field and our communities. By supporting the Fund
Drive, you are supporting fellow linguists and aiding linguistic work –
fieldwork and otherwise – all over the world. Please consider a donation if
you’re able. If each of our subscribers gave $5, we would reach our annual
goal and then some!

Sincerely, 

Lauren Perkins
Managing Editor
Careers Editor
Social Media Lead
The LINGUIST List
 


Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2022 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
                   https://crowdfunding.iu.edu/the-linguist-list

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3184	
----------------------------------------------------------