[Lingtyp] A terminological quandary: 'library studies'

[Ian Maddieson]

Perhaps the term ‘armchair linguistics’ would have won the poll.


> On Nov 22, 2020, at 20:15, Bohnemeyer, Juergen <jb77 at buffalo.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear all — Many thanks to everyone who participated in my poll! 
> 
> There were 39 responses. Exactly one third, 13, recognized ‘library study’ as an established term. However, nearly half of those who did proposed what they considered better alternatives. Meanwhile, two thirds of respondents did not recognize ‘library study’ as a technical term.
> 
> Of the suggested alternatives, the one that stood out for me is ‘grammar mining’. Setting aside my lack of enthusiasm for ‘grammar’ as a term for language descriptions, ‘grammar mining’ seems to invoke just the right concept and has the edge of pizzaz/sexiness. 
> 
> Best — Juergen
> 
>> On Oct 21, 2020, at 7:40 PM, Bohnemeyer, Juergen <jb77 at buffalo.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear colleagues — The purpose of this message is not to start another debate on terminology. Rather, I’d simply like to gather data on how this community views a particular terminological choice. I created a survey that people can take anonymously, which should take them all of 60 seconds. I’ll be happy to report the results on this board. Here is the link to the survey:
>> 
>> https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G953WP7
>> 
>> The issue concerns the term ‘library study’, when used to designate any typological research design that draws primarily on existing language descriptions. I have long considered ‘library study’ to be a well-established technical term for this concept, and I’m unaware of equally well-established terminological alternatives.
>> 
>> Within typology, ‘library studies’ in this sense would contrast with studies based on 
>> 
>> * typological databases such as WALS and AutoTyp; 
>> 
>> * primary data (prevalent in semantic typology; occurs more marginally elsewhere);
>> 
>> * expert questionnaires (as opposed to questionnaires administered to speakers and designed for primary data collection; e.g. Comrie & Smith 1977, as opposed to Dahl 1985);
>> 
>> * anything else? 
>> 
>> I’m just trying to find out whether I’m an outlier. 
>> 
>> Note, this is not about whether one finds the label fitting or unfortunate. All I’m trying to determine is whether to an audience of typologists it gets the intended meaning across. 
>> 
>> Thanks! — Juergen
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
>> Professor, Department of Linguistics
>> University at Buffalo 
>> 
>> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
>> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 
>> Phone: (716) 645 0127 
>> Fax: (716) 645 3825
>> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu
>> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/ 
>> 
>> Office hours will be held by Zoom. Email me to schedule a call at any time. I will in addition hold Tu/Th 4-5pm open specifically for remote office hours.
>> 
>> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In 
>> (Leonard Cohen)  
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo 
> 
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 
> Phone: (716) 645 0127 
> Fax: (716) 645 3825
> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu <mailto:jb77 at buffalo.edu>
> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/ <http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/> 
> 
> Office hours will be held by Zoom. Email me to schedule a call at any time. I will in addition hold Tu/Th 4-5pm open specifically for remote office hours.
> 
> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In 
> (Leonard Cohen)  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <mailto:Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp>
Ian Maddieson

Department of Linguistics
University of New Mexico
MSC03-2130
Albuquerque NM 87131-0001




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20201122/b6d61833/attachment.htm>