LL-L "Code switching" 2005.02.18 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 18.FEB.2005 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or
   lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net Server Manual:
http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request. To
unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or sign
off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Code switching" 2005.02.17 (02) [E] ]

I think that one major contributing factor that you have left out is
that the interviewer uses entirely Japanese.

It is not as easy to respond to English-language questions in Japanese
as it is for me to respond to Japanese-language questions in English.
When asked questions in Japanese, I often revert to English, but there
is code-switching involved.

If English were in the situation of Ainu, ie an endangered language of
Japan, and I were being interviewed by a woman who asked me questions
in Japanese expecting an English response, I know that my answers
would be very far from pure English. HOWEVER, if she asked me
questions in English I would answer completely in English.

The problem with that though is if her fluency in English is not "up
to snuff", I will often reply in "Engrish", something I often find
myself doing automatically, even in e-mails and chatrooms, and this
could be a serious problem with sample collecting.

In Ainu there is no concept of "aizuchi", Ainu literary and cultural
traditions involve many things where the speaker goes on and on for
sometimes hours on end with fabulously intricate oratory, while the
listeners sit there giving no indication they are listening other than
staring intently and appearing to be caught in the net of the words.

Thus it would be more appropriate of Ms Murasaki (I am familiar with
her work, but I don't recall her full name) to ask "open questions" -
"Tell me about your childhood" - and let the answers come as they do
and to let the interviewée keep talking until she just stops talking,
perhaps nodding but providing no verbal interruptions that might jar
her back to Japanese thinking.

This is the method I have seen in most extensive recordings of
endangered languages - the interviewer asks something like "Tell me
about your family" and the interviewée goes on and on and on for a few
minutes with relatively little L2 pollution (usually 5% but sometimes
higher depending on the specific situation) and sometimes will go off
on a tangent and begin talking about another subject for minutes on
end. When they come to a complete verbal stop, have nothing more to
say about their family or whatever, then another question is asked
such as "Tell me more about your grandmother" or "Tell me more about
the old lifeways".

These questions may be asked in either language, but either way the
answers to such open questions will be very long and relatively pure
because the speaker gets to the point where they are talking more from
their heart and responding to imagined questions in their native
language than to questions asked by the interviewer.

Mark

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Code switching

Thanks a lot, Mark!

This is precisely the argument I had aimed at making. I feel you made it
far more skillfully and convincingly than I did.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================