Daily syllabus
Linguistic Field Methods ·
Spring 2005
This syllabus is updated after each day's class.
Use it to keep track of what we've done and where we're going.
See also the overall course schedule
(subject to adjustment as needed).
Full citations for course readings can be found on the
reading list.
Jump to the most recent date
W Jan 12
- Covered: Intro to course
- Assignment: #1, "Language typology" --
due F Jan 14 in class
F Jan 14
- Covered:
Language typology: Some ways that languages
can differ (discussion of Assignment #1)
- Assignment: #2, "Installing Praat and working with
sound files" --
due F Jan 21 in class
M Jan 17
no class -- Martin Luther King Day
W Jan 19
- Covered: Getting started with a language:
Segment inventory and morphological analysis (Lakhota)
- Reminder: Assignment #2 due Friday in class
Also: For next class, have a look at the Swahili problem
F Jan 21
- Covered: Using Praat to help identify consonants
and vowels; wrap-up of Lakhota and Swahili problems
- Reminder: Be sure to have your data-collecting
notebook on Monday!
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper, Ch 1 and 2 excerpts
(Blackboard link) -- this will give you
some pointers for getting started with field work.
Read by Monday if possible, or else by Wednesday.
M Jan 24
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Forms of address and some basic nouns
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper, Ch 1 and 2 excerpts
(Blackboard link), if you haven't read it already.
W Jan 26
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic nouns, cont.
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: The first weekly write-up will be due
next Monday instead of this Friday. Details to follow.
F Jan 28
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic nouns, cont.
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Weekly write-up #1 (due M Jan 31;
e-mail submission by 10:00 if possible, otherwise in class)
- Give a chart showing all the consonants we have
seen in the data, organized by place and manner of articulation.
(For sounds where we haven't yet determined what they are, you
can include discussion of the problems.)
- Do the same for the vowels, organized by height,
backness, and rounding.
- On the basis of what we have seen so far, what other
consonants or vowels might we expect to see, and why do you think
so?
- Listening practice: I have added a link to the
useful linguistics resources page,
to a page with audio links giving examples of non-English
consonants and vowels
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper, Ch 9
(Blackboard link) -- Information and suggestions for eliciting
noun morphology.
M Jan 31
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Noun morphology
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper, Ch 9
(Blackboard link) -- Information and suggestions for eliciting
noun morphology.
- Elicitation preparation: On Wed, be prepared to suggest other
kinds of noun morphology we might want to look for.
W Feb 2
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Noun morphology, cont.
- Recorder malfunctioned during class. Substitute
sound files have been recorded and posted to Blackboard.
- Assignment: Weekly write-up #2, according to handout
distributed in class (obviously, please use the sound files that
are actually available to do this assignment...)
F Feb 4
- Covered:
[Analysis]
Discussion of weekly writeup #2 (and #1): trying to get more
information about sound categories
- WWU #2 files available on Blackboard
M Feb 7
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic sentences
- Recorder malfunctioned during class.
(Aren't those agentless, responsibility-shirking
verb constructions just great?) Substitute
sound files have been recorded and posted to Blackboard.
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper, Ch 10
(Blackboard link) -- Information and suggestions for eliciting
verb morphology.
W Feb 9
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic sentences, cont.
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Weekly write-up #3 (due Fri;
e-mail submission by 10:00 if possible, otherwise in class)
- Morphological analysis:
List all the function morphemes that we have observed so far
and give glosses. For each morpheme that you
list, defend your proposal: why do you think this particular
group of segments has an associated meaning? Also, if any of
the function morphemes have context-sensitive realizations,
or if the presence of a function morpheme seems to affect the
realization of the content morpheme that it's associated with,
discuss these effects (trying to make linguistic
generalizations wherever possible).
- Syntactic analysis: Can we make any
generalizations about word order? If so, state them and
give supporting evidence for your claim.
- Elicitation preparation: On Fri, be prepared to
plan next week's strategy. In particular: Should we make
plans to pin down some of the "mystery" consonants and vowels?
What kinds of syntactic constructions should we try to elicit
next?
F Feb 11
- Covered:
[Analysis]
Morphology and syntax: Discussion, and some plans
for next week's elicitation.
Vowel phonetics: A quick look at one small formant plot for
some hard-to-distiguish vowels.
- Elicitation preparation: On Mon, be prepared to
follow up on some of today's excellent suggestions. Also, be
working as we collect data to keep track of any phonetic/phonological,
morphological, or syntactic patterns that you are finding.
M Feb 14
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic sentences, cont.
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Also available: information about
midterm project (PDF file --
download here or get hard copy in class on Wed).
Start thinking about your topic now -- and exploring relevant
data from the sound files!
W Feb 16
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Basic sentences, cont.
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Weekly write-up #4 (due Fri;
e-mail submission by 10:00 if possible, otherwise in class)
- Morphological analysis:
Discuss -- with explicit reference to relevant data, and good
linguistic argumentation -- any new morphology information we
have gotten this week (revisions to earlier proposals, new
morphemes, etc.). Again, if new information has become
available about contexutally driven morphological alternations
(i.e., phonology), include this in your discussion.
- Syntactic analysis: Any new patterns here?
If so, state them and give supporting evidence for your claim.
- Phonetic/phonological analysis: Choose
three items (~words) elicited this week that you have a
question about phonetically (example: "what vowel/consonant
was that?"; tone okay too).
Find at least five repetitions of the relevant items from the
online sound files, and use Praat to investigate. Report
the results of your investigation, either with a measured
value (preferred) or something qualitative/descriptive (if
qualitative, describe as explicitly as possible). As in WWU #2,
give a measurement/report for each token and then an average or
summary. Did you find an answer for your question?
- Elicitation preparation: On Fri, be prepared to
plan next week's strategy. In particular, try to have a
rough idea of your area of interest for the midterm project
so that we can plan efficiently.
- Reading: Vaux & Cooper --
Ch 6 [excerpt], on reading spectrograms
(Blackboard link), and Ch 7, on segmental phonology
(Blackboard link), for your reference in
planning possible midterm projects
F Feb 18
- Covered:
[Analysis]
- Preliminary discussion of midterm project topics
- Morphology and syntax: Plans
for next week's elicitation -- let's get more examples!
- Phonetics and phonology: Praat tips (see
Praat
resources web page) and overview of phonology concepts
M Feb 21
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
More N and V morphology
- The recorder malfunctioned during class.
Replacement sound files have now been posted to Blackboard.
W Feb 23
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
More N and V morphology
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
(we are now recording at CD quality; the sound file is twice as
large, so I cut it into 8 pieces instead of 4)
- For Friday: No write-up is due, so that you can
concentrate on your midterm projects.
- We will start on Friday with a Praat
clinic -- bring your laptop, with at least one of our class
sound files downloaded from Blackboard, if you want to try
things out as we go over them in class.
- Then we will use Friday's class to elicit some more
data.
F Feb 25
- Covered:
[Analysis]
Things to look for with Praat; other
project-related discussion
- Elicitation preparation: Have your project data
well-organized, so that you can use your 5 minutes on Mon
wisely.
M Feb 28
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
5 minutes each to elicit crucial data for midterm projects
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Reminder: Wed presenters are Kate,
Joel, and Rachel M
W Mar 2
- Covered: Student midterm presentations
- Slides/handouts will be made available on
Blackboard site
- Reminder: Fri presenters are Rachel D,
Julie, Louise, and James
F Mar 4
- Covered: Student midterm presentations
- Slides/handouts will be made available on
Blackboard site
- Assignment: Midterm project write-up is
due M Mar 7. Hard-copy submission in class is
fine, but eventually it would be great to be able to post
your papers in electronic form to Blackboard as well.
M Mar 7
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
More sentences, and some questions
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Be ready on Wednesday to form groups
(pairs) for Phase II elicitations. (Get in touch with people
outside of class if this will help.) The members of a pair
do not have to have exactly the same topic in mind for a final
project, but they will work together to plan two classes' worth
of elicitation and analysis. For resources you might use in
planning elicitation sessions, see the reading list.
W Mar 9
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Declarative sentences, to fish for more nouns and verbs
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Group A (Joel & James) should prepare
their plan for one day's worth of elicitation and submit it
by class time on Friday. (For more about how to do this,
see the elicitation planning
page.) Groups B-D: One
group must declare on Friday that they will cover W Mar 23
(elicitation plan will be due M Mar 21).
Also, be talking with your group partner about what topics
you think you are most interested in pursuing.
- Reminder: Your data summary (as designated in
class today) will probably be due M Mar 21; this will be
decided for sure on Friday. For now, you might want to start
downloading the relevant sound files and organizing the
information.
F Mar 11
- Covered:
[Analysis]
Discussion of the consonant and vowel phoneme inventory of
Korean, in anticipation of moving to a broader transcription
for future record-keeping
M Mar 14
W Mar 16
F Mar 18
M Mar 21
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Joel & James on questions
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment:
Revised data summary due M Mar 28
- Upcoming: A weekly write-up of the data that your group
has elicited (plus other data if relevant) will be due
F Apr 1. More information coming soon.
W Mar 23
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Julie & Abby on relative clauses
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment:
Revised data summary due M Mar 28
F Mar 25
M Mar 28
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Rachel & Rachel on prepositions and conceptual domains
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
W Mar 30
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Kate & Louise on kinship, politeness
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Things due Fri
- Abby will give her midterm project presentation
- Each group will have about 8
minutes to explain to the class what the idea was behind their
first elicitation plan, and give a brief overview of what they
have found so far
- New elicitation plan, from group planning to go on
M Apr 4
- Upcoming:
For M Apr 4, each group will submit
one summary write-up of their new data. This write-up
will include:
- A statement of what topic or factor your elicitation
was planned to investigate
- A data summary
in BROAD TRANSCRIPTION using OFFICIAL CLASS
TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS of the data items elicited on
your day
- An analysis write-up, stating what information
relevant to your topic you have found so far and, where
possible, a discussion of what further points you will plan
to investigate in your next elicitation session. As usual,
support your abstract or general discussion with reference to
specific data items that illustrate the point at hand.
F Apr 1
- Covered:
[Analysis]
What people have found so far
- Also: Midterm presentation by Abby
- Assignment:
For Mon, each group will submit
one summary write-up of their new data. See previous
day's entry for details.
M Apr 4
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Julie & Abby on passives, relative clauses
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- FYI:
Test database now available on Blackboard, under
Course documents > Data transcription summaries. Please download
and open -- let me know if it works!
W Apr 6
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Joel & James on verb morphology and questions
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
F Apr 8
M Apr 11
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
General elicitation by various groups
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Upcoming:
- Plan to give an informal summary of your group's elicitation
#2 on Fri
- Project proposals will be due Mon Apr 18; more
info coming soon
W Apr 13
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
Kate & Louise on kinship terms, address terms, and politeness strategies
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
F Apr 15
- Covered:
[Analysis]
- Background on Eunsuk's region of Korea, second/other
language study, etc.
- Some phonological rules of Korean
- Assignment: Project proposals due M Apr 18.
See also final project web page for
more information.
M Apr 18
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
General elicitation
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
W Apr 20
- Covered:
[Analysis]
The Korean writing system, part I (handout will be posted after
Friday's class)
F Apr 22
- Covered:
[Analysis]
- The Korean writing system, part II -- handouts
available on Blackboard under Course
documents
- A few sound files to exemplify some phonological
alternations -- sound files available on Blackboard, along with a
list of English glosses for the recorded forms
M Apr 25
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
General elicitation
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
W Apr 27
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
General elicitation
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Reminder: Please bring your course evaluations
to class on Friday.
- Please use #2 pencil.
- Course is LING 115:007, SMITH
- Course ID # is 14210243
F Apr 29
- Covered:
[Elicitation]
General elicitation
- Sound files available on Blackboard site
- Assignment: Final presentations and projects due
M May 9 at noon. Meet in the usual classroom. See the
final project information page for
details. (Presentations will be over by 3:00.)
Note on elicitation starting M Apr 18
- From now on, elicitation sessions will be open for whoever
has material prepared to elicit that day. At the beginning of class,
we will see how many people have brought material to elicit and
share the time accordingly.
- It is no longer required to get your elicitation
plan approved ahead of time, although I am happy to look over
your plan and give feedback if requiested.
Back to top
Back to:
Field Methods home page
|
UNC Linguistics
|
UNC Home