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The Structural Design of Language

By Thomas S. Stroik, Michael T. Putnam

In this book, Stroik and Putnam take on Turing's challenge. They argue that the narrow syntax – the lexicon, the Numeration, and the computational system – must reside, for reasons of conceptual necessity, within the performance systems.

Query Details


Query Subject:   Working with last speakers
Author:   Daniel Hansen
Submitter Email:  click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):  Language Documentation
Sociolinguistics
Anthropological Linguistics

Query:   I am a senior undergrad at Yale researching endangered languages,
specifically their documentation and revitalization, and especially
languages in extremely dire situations (e.g. one fluent speaker or no
fluent speakers remaining). I have been following Rob Amery's work on
Kaurna in Adelaide (Australia) and my project advisor, Claire Bowern,
is also a specialist in Australian Aboriginal languages.

Would anyone be willing to share commentary or anecdotes about
working with last speakers? I'm interested in linguists' concerns about
grammatical change/attrition, or unreliable data, as well as problems
and questions that arise regarding ethics and intellectual property in
the course of endangered language research. I would hugely
appreciate any insights, however brief, into this subject.

Thanks!
Dan Hansen, Yale College 2012
LL Issue: 23.727
Date posted: 13-Feb-2012



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