Linguistic Field Methods

This subject is not offered in 2016.

340 hours

If not admitted to Honours or the Graduate Diploma in Arts (Advanced) in Linguistics or Applied Linguistics, students are recommended to have contacted the subject coordinator prior to enrolling in the subject.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject instructs students on how to analyse an unknown language, working with a native speaker, as a class team. You will learn the main techniques for conducting such an analysis, ranging from phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, applying them in consultation sessions with an actual speaker. These skills, taught through detailed work on the language chosen, generalise to those needed to analyse any unknown language on its own terms. Ethical issues, field research techniques, goals of linguistic documentation, and relevant software and Internet support, will also be covered through special workshops held during the semester. A different language is chosen each year: languages studied in the past have included Khmer, Vietnamese, Bugis (Sulawesi, Indonesia), Sasak (Lombok, Indonesia), Lau (Solomon Islands), Bisayan (Philippines), Acehnese (Aceh, Indonesia), Golin (PNG) and Ganalbingu (Australia).

On successful completion of this subject, students should:

• have learnt the main techniques for analysing an unknown language on its own terms, from primary data;
• be acquainted with relevant software packages to support fieldwork research;
• be familiar with practical, personal and ethical issues of linguistic fieldwork.

• One data-based analytical assignment totalling 2000 words due throughout the semester [20%]
• A 4000 word analysis of a selected area of the language's grammar [40%] (due at the end of the semester)
• A presentation on the project topic, equivalent to 2000 words, during semester [20%]
• Team contribution to the running of the research project such as maintaining the communal corpus, illustrating key aspects of the research, maintaining the lexical database, or other tasks facilitating the research by the whole group, equivalent to 2000 words, ongoing through the semester [20%]

Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per working day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

A set of readings dealing with specific issues of fieldwork (both linguistic, and anthropological fieldwork more generally) and documentary linguistics will be made available. According to the language selected for study, a series of orienting articles and/or books on related languages will be placed on reserve.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject should have:

• developed their research ability by working out the logic and structure of unknown systems;
• developed an understanding of social, ethical and cultural contexts through working with language speakers from quite different cultural backgrounds;
• developed their teamwork abilities through working with other researchers.