24.3135, Review: Discipline of Linguistics: Sakel and Everett (2012)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-24-3135. Fri Aug 02 2013. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 24.3135, Review: Discipline of Linguistics: Sakel and Everett (2012)

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Date: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 12:15:15
From: Christopher Sams [samsc at sfasu.edu]
Subject: Linguistic Fieldwork: A Student Guide

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/23/23-5077.html

AUTHOR: Jeannette  Sakel
AUTHOR: Daniel L. Everett
TITLE: Linguistic Fieldwork
SUBTITLE: A Student Guide
SERIES TITLE: Cambridge Textbook in Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2012

REVIEWER: Christopher D. Sams, Stephen F. Austin State University

AUTHORS: Jeanette Sakel and Daniel L. Everett
TITLE: Linguistic Fieldwork
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2012

Christopher D. Sams, Department of English, Stephen F. Austin State University

SUMMARY

'Linguistic Fieldwork' is intended for any linguist who needs a manual for
doing fieldwork; the authors state that the book is a “manual rather than a
textbook” (xi), which is evident in its informal approach to writing and
excerpts of personal advice from the authors (and, at times, from other
linguists who have worked in the field). The book could be used in conjunction
with a field methods course but is also helpful for linguists wishing to know
more about the field outside of any course or formal study. The information in
the book is kept to a general discussion so that it could be applied to the
linguist doing fieldwork in his/her hometown and to the linguist doing
fieldwork in a remote village in the Brazilian jungle. As such, no specific
theoretical framework for analyzing fieldwork data is used or promoted in the
book; however, the authors assume the readers are already familiar with
linguistic study (and so do not offer detailed explanations of linguistic
data/phenomena).

The book is divided into seven chapters, which represent three major areas of
fieldwork: the first two chapters provide an overview of the book and the
field (including examples of different types of fieldwork projects); the next
three chapters provide information for linguists to prepare for doing
fieldwork; and the final two chapters provide information for linguists in the
field and for linguists ready to interpret data from the field. Each chapter
is neatly divided into more specific subtopics, which are conveniently listed
in the table of contents, and ends with a section for further
reading/research. The book also contains two appendices, notes to the
chapters, references, and a rather comprehensive index.

Right from the beginning, the authors set out to define specifically how they
operationally define 'linguistic fieldwork.' Chapter 1, the introduction,
focuses on defining the scope of linguistic fieldwork and provides reputable
citations. Chapter 2 provides students with two excellent examples of
fieldwork projects which allow them to focus on certain aspects of fieldwork.
The first example is Sakel's study of Mosetén in Bolivia. Her aim was to
''write a grammar of this language'' (p. 10). What follows next are the
methods she used (and accompanying exercises). Students are exposed to
text-collection, IPA transcription, translation, analysis, and elicitation.
The authors refer to these as the ''cornerstones'' of '''prototypical
fieldwork''' (p. 10). The second study examined in chapter 2 is a study by
Sakel of language contact between Somali and English. The authors made an
excellent choice here by selection two entirely different fieldwork scenarios.
The subtopics in this section are indispensable topics for all field
linguists. They discuss funding, ethics approval, finding speakers, and
setting project goals.

Chapter 3 addresses a topic that I find students very often take for
granted--monolingual versus bilingual fieldwork. In some field methods
classes, students are shocked to find out that our speaker (I had originally
written 'informant' here, but as one will see below, I have adopted the term
'speaker') has little to no command of English. Dan Everett addresses the
advantages to learning the target language in order to communicate with
informants. The latter part of the chapter addresses ''small'' versus
endangered languages, well-described versus little-studied languages, and
finally the seemingly obvious question of how to find a language to work on.

In Chapter 4, the authors turn their attention to the people who speak the
languages. Sakel and Everett write, ''Not all speakers are equally suited for
fieldwork'' (p. 44) and then continue to describe the different types of
speakers linguists can work with. They make the point that researchers should
strive to include “a diverse group of speakers,” but also acknowledge the fact
the sometimes all the fieldworker has is one speaker with whom to work (p.
45).

Chapter 5 is dedicated the fieldwork preparation--the experience of Sakel and
Everett can save future linguists working in the field a lot of time and
frustration. At this point in the book, the exercises in the book shift toward
the student working on one specific fieldwork project; they cover defining
research questions, choosing a mentor, performing a prefield literature
review, dealing with technology, and funding the research. The authors cover
the procedure from inception to the field, which includes researching the
culture of the speech community which will be studied. They advocate for basic
medical preparedness and concerns with software and equipment--something that
must be taken into account in fieldwork situations.

In Chapter 6, the authors turn their attention to fieldwork methods. They
define the important distinction between qualitative and quantitative methods
and also address organizing data for storage and efficiency. An important
feature of this chapter is section 6.3.3. which covers glossing; they direct
students to the Leipzig glossing rules. The remainder of the chapter is
dedicated to elicitation methods, questionnaires, and structured interviews.
The final chapter examines the outcomes of fieldwork, again taking into
account the differences between qualitative and quantitative data. The authors
cover building corpora, archiving, and presenting methodology and results and
also address the creation of grammars and dictionaries.

Appendix 1 provides a brief history of fieldwork, beginning with fieldwork in
Brazil during the colonial era (as early as the 16th century) and ending with
contemporary fieldwork. The history is brief but provides students with an
idea of the scope of the field and how it began. Of particular note is
Appendix 2, where Daniel Everett has developed a questionnaire for field
linguistics dealing with phonology. It is literally a step by step guide for
students working with the phonology of a language.


EVALUATION

The book is very well organized and flows well from topic to topic; its
organization is chronological in nature, taking readers from preparatory
stages to being in the field to analyzing the data. The book does not need to
be read from beginning to end--readers can jump into the book to focus on
particular areas of interest. If they choose to do that, the index and table
of contents are nicely organized so that can easily find a specific topic. The
organization of the book also points to its emphasis on preparation for
fieldwork; in fact, the majority of the book is devoted to preparation (as
opposed to an emphasis on what to do when already in the field), which is
helpful because many of the topics provided in the book are often overlooked
in field methods courses due to time constraints. For example, the authors
include information on paperwork that needs to be completed and medical issues
that need to be taken care of before fieldwork ever begins. Sakel and Everett
point out why they focus on preparation when they write that “careful
preparation is the backbone of any type of fieldwork” (p. 79). One of the
things I appreciate about the book is that the authors provide answers to
questions that students/linguists are often afraid to ask or don’t think to
ask until they are already in the field, including integral questions about
sources for funding projects and the ethics of working with speakers and
language data.

Another key feature of the book is its exercises, which are integrated into
the text. For example in Chapter 2, the authors ask in Exercise 2.10, “How
would you thank the speakers for taking part in the study? Would payment be
appropriate, and in which case how much? What about the work done by research
assistants?” (p. 24). Exercises like these are not only a great tool for
instructors and students to facilitate discussion but are also a great tool
for linguists using this book outside the classroom to reflect on preconceived
notions, plans for fieldwork, and so on. There is also a companion website to
the text with answer keys and data for students to practice analysis.
Furthermore, probably one of the most unique and helpful features of the book
are boxes throughout the book where the authors and other experienced field
linguists tell of their personal experiences in the field; the information
provided in those boxes are invaluable for linguists going into the field.
Both the exercises and commentary boxes are very well woven in to the book; I
never felt as if they interfered with the flow and delivery of the text. These
exercises and the overall organization of material set the book apart from
other, similar titles like Bowern (2008) and Crowley (2007).

Sakel and Everett are practical in their advice to readers, including the
advice that researchers don’t necessarily need to use IPA when transcribing
data--especially if an established orthographical system exists for the
language (pp. 11-12, 107). Advice like this could be controversial, yet the
authors fully explain why they provide such advice and are quick to point out
that the goals of the research will dictate the methods used in the field; for
example, they state that if the fieldwork is being conducted in order to
analyze the phonetics of the language, using orthography would not be the best
method.

With its focus on the field in general, the book is applicable to linguists
studying in different types of fieldwork situations, which sets this book
apart from texts that focus on particular languages or families of languages
(e.g., Everett 2008). Furthermore, its approachable style and practical, yet
general advice separate this text from more comprehensive ones like Chelliah
and de Reuse (2011). These texts--and others--are cited and included as
further reading in the book to point readers to sources for more information.

Without a doubt, the authors have created an indispensable resource for any
linguist who plans to work in the field. The text is authoritative, clear,
concise, and based on actual data. The best feature of the book is best summed
up with the authors’ words: “Many of the suggestions included within this
guide are ones we wish someone had made to us before we began our field
research careers” (p. xi). The advice is practical and useful for any linguist
already involved or wanting to be involved in fieldwork.

REFERENCES

Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic fieldwork--a practical guide. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.

Chelliah, Shobhana L. and Willem J. de Reuse. 2011. Handbook of descriptive
linguistic fieldwork. Dordrecht: Springer.

Crowley, Terry. 2007. Field linguistics -- a beginner’s guide. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Everett, Daniel. 2008. Don’t sleep, there are snakes: life and language in the
Amazonian jungle. London: Profile Books.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Chris Sams is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Stephen F. Austin State
University in Texas. His research and teaching interests are in linguistic
typology, language description and documentation, second language acquisition,
forensic linguistics, and historical linguistics. His current fieldwork is on
Haya, a Niger-Congo language spoken in Tanzania.








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