Language documentation
Encyclopedia
Language documentation is the process by which a language
is documented from a documentary linguistics perspective. It aims to “to provide a comprehensive record of the linguistic practices characteristic of a given speech community” (Himmelmann 1998:166, see also Himmelmann 2006, Woodbury 2003). Language documentation seeks to create as thorough a record as possible of the speech community for both posterity and language revitalization. Language documentation also provides a firmer foundation for linguistic analysis in that it creates a citable set of materials in the language on which claims about the structure of the language can be based.
Typical steps involve recording, transcribing (often using the International Phonetic Alphabet
and/or a "practical orthography
" made up for that language), annotation and analysis, translation into a language of wider communication, archiving and dissemination. Critical to the project of Language Documentation is the creation of good records in the course of doing language description. These materials can be archived, though not all archives are equally adept at handling language materials preserved in varying techological formats, nor are they all equally accessible to potential users.
Language documentation complements language description
which aims to describe a language's abstract system of structures and rules in the form of a grammar or dictionary. By preparing good documentation in the form of recordings with transcripts and then collections of texts and a dictionary, the linguist can do their own work better, and can also provide materials for use by speakers of the language. New technologies permit better recordings, with better descriptions, all of which can be housed in digital archives, like AILLA or PARADISEC
, and made available to the speakers with little effort.
Language documentation has also given birth to new specialized publications, such as the online journal Language Documentation & Conservation
and the yearbook series Language Documentation and Description.
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
is documented from a documentary linguistics perspective. It aims to “to provide a comprehensive record of the linguistic practices characteristic of a given speech community” (Himmelmann 1998:166, see also Himmelmann 2006, Woodbury 2003). Language documentation seeks to create as thorough a record as possible of the speech community for both posterity and language revitalization. Language documentation also provides a firmer foundation for linguistic analysis in that it creates a citable set of materials in the language on which claims about the structure of the language can be based.
Typical steps involve recording, transcribing (often using the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
and/or a "practical orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
" made up for that language), annotation and analysis, translation into a language of wider communication, archiving and dissemination. Critical to the project of Language Documentation is the creation of good records in the course of doing language description. These materials can be archived, though not all archives are equally adept at handling language materials preserved in varying techological formats, nor are they all equally accessible to potential users.
Language documentation complements language description
Descriptive linguistics
In the study of language, description, or descriptive linguistics, is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken by a group of people in a speech community...
which aims to describe a language's abstract system of structures and rules in the form of a grammar or dictionary. By preparing good documentation in the form of recordings with transcripts and then collections of texts and a dictionary, the linguist can do their own work better, and can also provide materials for use by speakers of the language. New technologies permit better recordings, with better descriptions, all of which can be housed in digital archives, like AILLA or PARADISEC
Paradisec
The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to-reel field tapes, have a mass data store and use international...
, and made available to the speakers with little effort.
Language documentation has also given birth to new specialized publications, such as the online journal Language Documentation & Conservation
Language Documentation & Conservation
Language Documentation & Conservation is a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal covering all topics related to language documentation and conservation, including the goals of language documentation, data management, fieldwork methods, ethics, orthography design, reference grammar design,...
and the yearbook series Language Documentation and Description.
Types of language description
Language description, as a task within linguistics, may be divided into separate areas of specialization, including:- PhoneticsPhoneticsPhonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, the study of the sounds of human language - PhonologyPhonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, the study of the sound system of a language - MorphologyMorphology (linguistics)In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, the study of the internal structure of words - SyntaxSyntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences - SemanticsSemanticsSemantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semanticsLexical semanticsLexical semantics is a subfield of linguistic semantics. It is the study of how and what the words of a language denote . Words may either be taken to denote things in the world, or concepts, depending on the particular approach to lexical semantics.The units of meaning in lexical semantics are...
), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences - Historical linguisticsHistorical linguisticsHistorical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, the study of languages whose historical relations are recognizable through similarities in vocabulary, word formation, and syntax - Pragmatics, the study of how language is used by its speakers
- StylisticsStylistics (linguistics)Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of its own...
, the study of style in languages - ParemiographyParemiographyParemiography is the study of the collection and writing of proverbs. It is a sub-field of paremiology, the study of proverbs.There are many published collection of proverbs, ranging from ancient Akkadian clay tablets to internet sites. Published collections of proverbs are formatted in a variety...
, the collection of proverbs and sayings
Related research areas
- Descriptive linguisticsDescriptive linguisticsIn the study of language, description, or descriptive linguistics, is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken by a group of people in a speech community...
- OrthographyOrthographyThe orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
, the study of writing systems - LexicographyLexicographyLexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
, the study and practice of making dictionaries - PhonologyPhonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, the study of describing the sound system of a language - EtymologyEtymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
, the study of how words acquire their meanings - Anthropological linguisticsAnthropological linguisticsAnthropological linguistics is the study of the relations between language and culture and the relations between human biology, cognition and language...
- Language archiving
Organizations involved in language documentation
- University of Hawai'i Department of Linguistics
- HRELP
- DoBeS
- SIL InternationalSIL InternationalSIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...
- Research Centre for Linguistic TypologyResearch Centre for Linguistic TypologyThe Research Centre for Linguistic Typology is a research institute originally founded in 1998 in the Australian National University by R. M. W. Dixon which then moved to LaTrobe University, Melbourne in 2000. It is an internationally recognized centre of research on fieldwork linguistics, Language...
- PARADISECParadisecThe Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to-reel field tapes, have a mass data store and use international...
Archive - LACITOLACITOLACITO is a primarily Francophone multidisciplinary research organisation, created in 1976...
- Lakota Language Consortium
See also
- The LinguistsThe LinguistsThe Linguists is an independent 2008 American documentary film produced by Ironbound Films about language extinction and language documentation...
, a 2008 documentary film about two linguists traveling the world - Dying Words a 2009 book by Prof. Nick EvansNicholas Evans (linguist)Nicholas Evans is an Australian-American linguist.Holding a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Australian National University , he is Head and Professor at the School of Culture, History and Language at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University...
, about what is lost when languages are lost. - Le salaire du poète, an award-winning 2009 documentary by Éric Wittersheim, about linguistic fieldwork in northern Vanuatu.