[Lingtyp] A terminological quandary: 'library studies'

[David Peterson]

While I think the term Juergen suggested ("library work", I believe,)
sounds fine, I've always thought of this as "bookwork". As opposed to
"fieldwork", or "consultant-work", if you're not actually in the field.
Best, Dave

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 12:42 AM Johanna Nichols <johanna at berkeley.edu>
wrote:

> I don't know -- to me both "grammar mining" and "armchair linguistics"
> sound derogatory.  We all want grammar writing to be taken seriously
> in the linguistics reward system, so use of those grammars is an
> honorable undertaking and deserves an honorable label.
>
> Johanna Nichols
>
> On Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 9:17 PM Ian Maddieson <ianm at berkeley.edu> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> > 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)
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lingtyp mailing list
> > Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
> >
> >
> > Ian Maddieson
> >
> > Department of Linguistics
> > University of New Mexico
> > MSC03-2130
> > Albuquerque NM 87131-0001
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
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