Linguistics in the Pub July

[Ruth Singer]

Announcement: Linguistics in the Pub, July 2011

Topic: Philology in Language Documentation and Description

Discussion led by Willem de Reuse, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology,
La Trobe University, and Dept. of Linguistics and Technical Communication,
University of North Texas

Philology has been defined by Goddard (1976:72) as, “part of the discipline
of linguistics that is concerned with getting from texts and other recorded
attestations of languages systematic information that is not directly conveyed
by such records as they stand.” Goddard further distinguishes a branch of
philology that is concerned with gathering information on cultures, and a
branch of philology which is concerned with gathering information about the
languages themselves. As descriptive and documentary fieldworkers, we are
primarily concerned with the second branch.

Why is philology relevant to descriptive and documentary fieldwork? A
substantial portion of records in lesser known, or generally unwritten
languages, or endangered languages, consists of word lists, fieldnotes,
unpublished grammars, dictionaries, text collections, and religious materials
written by a variety of people. Fewer and fewer languages of the world have
absolutely nothing written about them, so part of fieldwork preparation is to
be able to read and use the old records, if they exist.

In this discussion, we will focus on advice on how to use older records. For
example, a fieldworker can study them to see what is missing, so that s/he can
reelicit and/or build on the old documents.

Background Readings
(some of these will be made available on the events page of the RNLD
website closer to the night)

Chelliah, Shobhana L., and Willem J. de Reuse. 2011. Handbook of
Descriptive Linguistic Fieldwork, Chapter 5, Sections 5.1 and 5.2.
Dordrecht: Springer.

Goddard, R. Ives. 1976. Philological Approaches to the Study of North
American Indian
Languages: Documents and Documentation. In Native Languages of the
Americas, Vol. 1, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 73-91. New York: Plenum
Press.

Thieberger, Nicholas, ed. 1995. Paper and Talk: A manual for
Reconstituting materials in Australian Indigenous Languages from
Historical Sources. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Date:      Tuesday 5th July
Time:      7:00 pm
Venue:    Upstairs room, Prince Alfred Hotel,
191 Grattan St, Carlton
(corner of Bouverie St)
ph ‪(03) 9347-3033‬

Food and drinks available at the venue.

If you know of any good readings that could be relevant to this
discussion topic, email Ruth Singer and we can upload them to the RNLD
events page.

Contact  Ruth Singer if you have any questions rsinger at unimelb.edu.au

LIP is an occasional gathering of language activists and linguists in
Melbourne. All are welcome. Those in other parts of Australia and the
world who can't make it to the Melbourne LIPs are encouraged to
organise a local gathering to discuss this topic and support language
activities in your area.