Training for Language Documentation: Trends and Methods in Endangered Languages

1. Training for language documentation: trends in training and methods David Nathan Endangered Languages Archive SOAS University of London 3L Summer School, Conference, 6 July 2012

2. Who are we? School of Oriental and African Studies, U London Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project funds Documentation ProgramELDP Archive ProgramELAR Academic ProgramELAP

3. What is language documentation? • documentary linguistics: you already know • from a training perspective: documentation skills = linguistics skills + X

4. phonology, morphology, typology etc documentation skills = linguistics skills + X

5. What is ‘X’? • field skills • media (recording etc) • data management • …

6. Field skills • language learning • language investigation • health and safety • manage equipment, electrical supply etc • interpersonal skills • others as appreciated or needed by community

7. Media • what to record • environment • equipment choice and combination • equipment settings, methods, usage • carrier, backup, labeling, naming • editing, selecting, converting etc

8. Data management • logical organisation of files • file naming • formats and encoding • inventory/catalogue • metadata • backup

9. Is there something else? • revitalisation: pedagogy, curriculum and materials development, language policy etc • ‘applied linguistic’: lexicography, orthography, pedagogy, multimedia, dissemination • archiving • true multidisciplinary approaches • publicity and raising wider awareness

10. Training trends Julian Lang • AILDI (1978-) Arizona, Leanne Hinton and Lucille Watahomigie – community workshops, run in universities • Rama Project (1984-) Colette Grinevald • master-apprentice program (1992) • DoBeS projects and training, late 1990s- • postgraduate programs, University of Hawaii, SOAS (2002-) • growing summer schools and workshops, institutional, in-country or in community (2005-) • within-documentation project training (2005-)

11. 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 notebook audio glossing s/w computer www annotation s/w multimedia video hi audio lo audio (eg BOLD) images social networking mobile, GPS

12. Who is training who?

13. Community member roles • community members have higher profile as revitalisation goals appear • it’s up to them which languages are revitalised • they know who are relevant learners, teachers • they know suitable (and unsuitable) topics, teaching theories/methods • only they can evaluate the outcomes • increasingly, ‘they’ are us!

15. Problem • how to maintain the agency anddrive of speakers and to reward speakers throughout the whole process ??

16. Planet of the apps • a thought experiment …

17. Planet of the apps

19. Discussion • documentary linguistics has grabbed the agenda for addressing language endangerment, bringing with it certain values, goals and methods • challenges • dealing with diversity • “best practices” ? • lack of co-ordinated training curricula and progression • unclarity about what documentation is, its accountability, and its methods and training • how to maintain agency of speakers throughout

20. fini • the end