Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork
Published on 19. February 2015
Book
Hardback
366 pages
978-0-19-021233-9 (ISBN)
Description
This volume discusses methodological issues in conducting elicitation on semantic topics in a fieldwork situation. In twelve chapters discussing 11 language families from four continents, authors draw on their own fieldwork experience, pairing explicit methodological proposals with concrete examples of their use in the field. Several chapters cover issues specific to semantic topics such as modality, comparison, tense and aspect, and definiteness, while others focus on elicitation techniques more generally, addressing methodological issues such as the creation of elicitation plans, the choice of language in which to conduct elicitation, and the status of translation tasks. Together, the chapters of this volume demonstrate that elicitation on semantic topics, when conducted following sound methodologies, can and does produce reliable results. Given the high number of languages currently classified as endangered, conducting one-on-one fieldwork with native speaker consultants is critical for gathering new empirical findings that bear on linguistic theory.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
780 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-021233-9 (9780190212339)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
M. Ryan Bochnak | Lisa Matthewson
Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork
E-Book
01/2015
1st Edition
Oxford University Press
€57.59
Available for download
Persons
M. Ryan Bochnak is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation, "Cross-linguistic Variation in the Semantics of Comparatives," investigated the semantics of comparative constructions in Washo (isolate/Hokan) and Luganda (Bantu).
Lisa Matthewson is Professor of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests center on semantic variation and universals, with specific attention to modality, tense, aspect, quantification, and presupposition. She has worked on St'at'imcets (Salish) since the early 1990s, on Gitksan (Tsimshianic) since 2010, and has recently begun investigating Niuean (Austronesian) and Tlingit (Na-Dene).
Lisa Matthewson is Professor of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests center on semantic variation and universals, with specific attention to modality, tense, aspect, quantification, and presupposition. She has worked on St'at'imcets (Salish) since the early 1990s, on Gitksan (Tsimshianic) since 2010, and has recently begun investigating Niuean (Austronesian) and Tlingit (Na-Dene).
Content
Introduction ; M. Ryan Bochnak and Lisa Matthewson ; Part 1: General Overview of Elicitation Techniques ; 1. A practical epistemology for semantic elicitation in the field and elsewhere ; Jurgen Bohnemeyer ; 2. The Problem with No-Nonsense Elicitation Plans (for semantic fieldwork) ; Meagan Louie ; Part 2: Techniques for Particular Semantic Domains ; 3. Documenting and Classifying Aspectual Classes Across Languages ; Leora Bar-el ; 4. Investigating gradable predicates, comparison, and degree constructions in underrepresented languages ; M. Ryan Bochnak and Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten ; 5. Targeted construction storyboards in semantic fieldwork ; Strang Burton and Lisa Matthewson ; 6. Reasoning about equivalence in semantic fieldwork ; Amy Rose Deal ; 7. Investigating D in Languages With and Without Articles ; Carrie Gillon ; Part 3: Using Language-Internal Evidence to Guide Semantic Fieldwork ; 8. Linguistically establishing discourse context: two case studies from Mayan languages ; Scott AnderBois and Robert Henderson ; 9. Semantic fieldwork on TAM ; Rebecca T. Cover ; 10. Deriving topic effects in Kiowa with semantics and pragmatics ; Andrew McKenzie ; 11. Reciprocity in Fieldwork and Theory ; Sarah E. Murray ; 12. Theories of meaning in the field: Temporal and aspectual reference ; Rebecca Cover and Judith Tonhauser