LING 680: Language Documentation and Conservation

Overview

The task of language documentation is to provide a “comprehensive record of the linguistic practices characteristic of a given speech community” (Himmelmann 1998: 166). With its focus on the linguistic record, language documentation remains central to all approaches to linguistics, irrespective of theoretical framework. More recently, with increasing awareness of the global language endangerment crisis, language documentation has come to be recognized as a distinct subfield within the discipline, with its own methodologies, tools, and theoretical underpinnings. This course provides an introduction to this emerging field.

The course covers the history, method, and theory behind language documentation, and the role that language endangerment plays in shaping the field of language documentation. It will offer discussion of the skills required to undertake language documentation, including preparing for fieldwork; obtaining funding; collecting data; conducting language surveys; designing orthographies, grammars, and dictionaries; processing texts; adapting documentary materials for language revitalization or maintenance purposes; and disseminating and archiving research products. More broadly, the course serves as an introduction to the Language Documentation and Conservation track, to the UHM Linguistics Program, and to graduate study more broadly.

Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course students will be able to:

• understand the issue of endangered languages
• reflect on one’s positionality with respect to language and the field of language documentation and conservation
• describe the foundations of language documentation as a distinct subfield
• be familiar with the methods and techniques of language documentation
• understand ethical practices for language documentation and conservation
• understand the challenges facing language reclamation efforts

Syllabus

Complete syllabus is available here.

Schedule and assignments available on Laulima.