[Lingtyp] How do typologists use examples in grammars?

[Marianne Mithun]

Thanks Francoise and Lena! I heartily agree!

(And now that we're not buying so much paper and ink, this really doesn't
increase the cost so much.)

Marianne

On Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 3:15 AM Françoise Rose <francoise.rose at univ-lyon2.fr>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
>
> I will send my answers to Eline in a private message, but I would like to
> share a recent experience regarding examples in grammars.
>
>
>
> I am presently reviewing Lena Terhart’s grammar of Paunaka (a PhD thesis).
> The author gives this notice regarding how examples are introduced in the
> grammar:
>
>
>
> “One peculiarity of this work is that most examples are introduced by
> briefly providing
>
> the extralinguistic context. This is usually not done in grammatical
> descriptions. I
>
> started with this at some point, when I felt that context was necessary
> for understanding
>
> and then extended it further and further. Thus, the reader will not only
> learn about
>
> Paunaka, but also gain knowledge about the narratives and personal life
> stories of the
>
> speakers throughout this work. Whoever is irritated by this is kindly
> asked to simply
>
> overlook it. »
>
>
>
> I generally appreciate a lot when authors add important information on the
> context of the extract (usually in brackets before the free translation). I
> was yet planning to be one of the readers who would just overlook these
> example introductions because my sense was that these introductions would
> be useful sometimes only (in my view, mainly in sections concerning
> discourse issues). Actually, it turned out that I appreciate this practice
> very much: knowing the context very often gives a very clear interpretation
> to the sentence and strong indications on how the linguistic features under
> scrutiny works. Also, this is a very strong indication that the linguist
> perfectly understands what the sentence is about. I can attest that, as a
> fieldworker on culturally very distinct cultures from mine, I do not always
> understand the contribution of every sentence to the
> conversation/narration. Finally, this gives also a sense of familiarity
> with the culture involved in the grammar, which is extremely pleasant.
>
>
>
> Here are two randomly-picked examples from the grammar:
>
>
>
> Consider (516), which is about making something fall, just like (510)
> above. It also comes from a description of the frog story,
>
> but this sentence was produced by Miguel and referred to another picture,
> the one on which the dog has made the beehive (or: wasp nest) fall.
>
>
>
> A similar example comes from María S. who had just stated that smoking is
> bad
>
> and now provides the reason:
>
>
>
> Best to you all,
>
> Françoise
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *De :* Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> *De la part de*
> Eline Visser
> *Envoyé :* lundi 31 mai 2021 15:15
> *À :* lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> *Objet :* [Lingtyp] How do typologists use examples in grammars?
>
>
>
> Dear typologists,
>
>
>
> I’d like to learn more about how you use the examples given in grammars. I
> have just finished a grammar myself, and will continue to do descriptive
> work in the future, and this is a topic that fascinates me. I'm especially
> interested in knowing if one can discern the traits of a good example (for
> typological use). I’d be glad if some of you could take the time to answer
> the questions below, either briefly or elaborately. You can email me the
> answers. Also, if there’s is anything published on this topic please do let
> me know.
>
>
>
> 1. In general, do you prefer short (let’s say <1 line) or longer (> 1
> line) examples? Elaborate if you wish.
>
>
>
> 2. In general, do you have a preference for examples from a certain genre?
> Which? You can interpret genre broadly or narrowly, in which ever way you
> like: monologue, dialogue, anecdotes, recipes, hymns, picture-matching
> tasks…
>
>
>
> 3. In general, do you have a dispreference for examples of a certain genre?
>
>
>
> 4. Say you have two examples that illustrate your point equally well. What
> could be a deciding factor for choosing one over another?
>
>
>
> 5. Say you can’t find an example that illustrates your point well. On a
> scale from 1-5, how likely is it that you will go to the language’s corpus
> or the attached texts in the grammar to find one yourself? (1= very
> unlikely, 5 = very likely)
>
>
>
> 6. Anything else you’d like to share about examples in grammars? Feel free
> to rant.
>
>
>
> Eline
>
>
>
> P.s. For those who ordered a Kalamang grammar hard copy - they’re in
> Sweden, I’m in Norway, traveling isn’t as easy as I thought yet, so this
> takes a bit longer than I thought, sorry!
>
>
>
>
>
>
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