Course Form
I. Summary of Proposed Changes
Dept / Program
Anthropology Department /
Linguistics Program
Course Title
Linguistic Field Methods
Prefix and Course #
LING 575 C
Short Title (max. 26 characters incl. spaces)
Linguistic Field Methods
Summarize the change(s) proposed
Add a co-convening graduate level course
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
Requestor:
Leora Bar-el
Phone/ email :
x2387 / leora.barel@mso.umt.edu
Program Chair/Director:
Irene Appelbaum
(Director, Linguistics
Program)
Other affected programs
Dean:
Are other departments/programs affected by this modification Please obtain signature(s) from the
because of
Chair/Director of any such department/
(a) required courses incl. prerequisites or corequisites,
program (above) before submission
(b) perceived overlap in content areas
(c) cross-listing of coursework
III: To Add a New Course Syllabus and assessment information is required (paste syllabus into
section V or attach). Course should have internal coherence and clear focus.
Common Course Numbering Review (Department Chair Must Initial):
YES
NO
Does an equivalent course exist elsewhere in the MUS? Check all relevant disciplines if
course is interdisciplinary. (http://mus.edu/transfer/CCN/ccn_default.asp)
X
If YES: Do the proposed abbreviation, number, title and credits align with existing course(s)? Please indicate
equivalent course/campus. 
If NO: Course may be unique, but is subject to common course review. Be sure to include learning outcomes
on syllabus or paste below. The course number may be changed at the system level.
Exact entry to appear in the next catalog (Specify course abbreviation, level, number, title, credits,
repeatability (if applicable), frequency of offering, prerequisites, and a brief description.) 
C 575 Linguistic Field Methods 3 cr. Offered spring odd-numbered years.
prereq., LING 470. Writing up linguistic data; developing techniques for eliciting
linguistic data by working with a native speaker of a less commonly taught language.
Co-convenes with LING 475. Graduate students will complete additional
requirements and their work will be of a more advanced nature.
Justification: How does the course fit with the existing curriculum? Why is it needed?
The Linguistics Program awards an MA degree but also serves a large undergraduate
population (Linguistics minor, Anthropology major with a Linguistics Option, English major
with an English Linguistics Option, English majors with an Option in Teaching ESL,
students pursuing a Certificate of Accomplishment in ESL, Department of Curriculum and
Instruction majors with a minor teaching field in ESL, teaching majors and minors in
Spanish, French and German). To serve all groups (graduate and undergraduate) we have
employed a UG system for many of our courses. However, within this system, our
Linguistics MA students have struggled to satisfy the Board of Regents 50/50 rule that
requires half of a graduate students courses to be 500-level and above. In the past we
have opened Independent Study sections and Special Topics sections for graduate
students who would attend the equivalent 400-level UG course but would complete
additional graduate-level increments. The addition of co-convening courses for the core
Linguistics curriculum will provide more transparency between the graduate and
undergraduate curriculum while maintaining compliance with graduate and undergraduate
curriculum policies.
Are there curricular adjustments to accommodate teaching this course?
The addition of this course will not require additional teaching accommodations as it is a
co-convening course with a regularly-taught 400-level course. However, the requirements
of the Linguistics graduate program will be adjusted to accurately represent the new MA
program of study (i.e., students will be required to complete 500-level co-convening
courses instead of 400-level UG courses).
Complete for UG courses (UG courses should be assigned a 400 number).
Describe graduate increment - see procedure 301.30
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx
Complete for Co-convented courses
Companion course number, title, and description (include syllabus of companion course in section V)
See procedure 301.20 http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx.
U 475 Linguistic Field Methods 3 cr. Offered spring odd-numbered years.
prereq., LING 470. Writing up linguistic data; developing techniques for eliciting
linguistic data by working with a native speaker of a less commonly taught language.
Co-convenes with LING 575.
New fees and changes to existing fees are only approved once each biennium by the
Board of Regents. The coordination of fee submission is administered by
Administration and Finance. Fees may be requested only for courses meeting specific
conditions according to Policy 940.12.1 http://mus.edu/borpol/bor900/940-12-1.pdf .
Please indicate whether this course will be considered for a fee.
If YES, what is the proposed amount of the fee?
Justification:
IV. To Delete or Change an Existing Course – check X all that apply
Deletion
Title
Course Number Change
From:
Level U, UG, G
Co-convened
To:
Description Change
Change in Credits
From:
To:
Prerequisites
1. Current course information at it appears in catalog
YES
From:
To:
Repeatability
Cross Listing
(primary program
initiates form)
Is there a fee associated with the course?
2. Full and exact entry (as proposed) 
NO
X
(http://www.umt.edu/catalog) 
3. If cross-listed course: secondary program & course
number
4. If co-convened course: companion course number, title, and description
(include syllabus of companion course in section V) See procedure 301.20
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx.
5. Is this a course with MUS Common Course Numbering?
http://mus.edu/transfer/CCN/ccn_default.asp
If yes, please explain below whether this change will eliminate the course’s common course
status.
YES NO
6. Graduate increment if level of course is changed to UG. Have you reviewed the graduate
Reference procedure 301.30:
increment guidelines? Please check (X)
space provided.
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/
grad_council/procedures/default.aspx
(syllabus required in section V)
7. Other programs affected by the change
8. Justification for proposed change
V. Syllabus/Assessment Information
Required for new courses and course change from U to UG. Paste syllabus in field below or attach and send
digital copy with form.
See attached syllabi (LING 475 and 575)
VI Department Summary (Required if several forms are submitted) In a separate document list course
number, title, and proposed change for all proposals.
VII Copies and Electronic Submission. After approval, submit original, one copy, summary of
proposals and electronic file to the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221, camie.foos@mso.umt.edu.
Revised 5-4-11
Linguistic Field Methods
LING 475
The University of Montana
Spring 2011
Instructor: Dr. Leora Bar-el
COURSE OUTLINE
“Be open to learn” – Keren Rice (2001:230)
Instructor information
 <leora.bar-el@mso.umt.edu>
 243-2387
Office: Social Science 210
Office hours: Wednesdays 10:00am-12:00pm, or by appointment
Course meeting times and venue
Tuesdays and Thursdays
9:40am-11:00am
Gallagher Business Building 202
**Additional meetings will be scheduled outside of class time (times and venues TBA)**
Course objectives
This course is an introduction to field methods in linguistics. The goal of this course is to become familiar
with the practical and technical skills involved in conducting fieldwork in linguistics. Students will learn
how to collect, record, organize, store and analyze elicited linguistic data. The primary focus will be on
research in phonology, morphology and syntax, though we may touch on other research areas during the
course. We will also be discussing the ethical issues involved in linguistic fieldwork and issues relating to
community-based research. Throughout the course we will be working with a language consultant in order
to learn first hand about the target language. This course co-convenes with LING 575.
Language focus
In this course we will focus on the Georgian language. Georgian is a Kartvelian (a.k.a. South Caucasian)
language spoken by 3.5 million people in Georgia, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and in communities in western
Europe and the United States (Price 2008). The language has a number of dialects. Our language consultant
is Milena Oganeysan. She is from Tblisi, Georgia and is a speaker of Standard Georgian (the central dialect
of the capital). She will be meeting with us throughout the course.
Prerequisite
LING 470 is a prerequisite of this course.
Moodle
This course has an online Moodle site (http://umonline.umt.edu/). Elicitation reports, readings, slides, etc.
will be posted there for downloading. Instructions on using Moodle are available at the login page. Please
let me know if you have any problems accessing the site.
Learning Outcomes
Each of the assessed components of this course focuses on helping you achieve the learning outcomes of
this course. Upon successful completion of this course, you will:
(a) have the basic skills to conduct linguistic fieldwork with a fluent speaker of a language primarily
focused on elicitation techniques
(b) be familiar with audio-recording techniques for linguistic fieldwork
(c) know how to organize and analyze your data
(d) understand the ethical practices involved in linguistic fieldwork and what it means to conduct
community-based research
(e) be able to write a linguistics research proposal
(f) be able to write a linguistics research paper based on data that you collect
(g) be able to communicate your research findings in the form of progress reports, oral presentations,
research papers and language lessons
Basic organization of the course (see also schedule below)
• Generally, in class elicitations will be held on Tuesdays and discussions, analysis, presentations, etc.
will be held on Thursdays (this is subject to change during the course). There will also be 2-3 one-hour
out of class elicitations per week.
•
You will be divided into groups of approximately 2-4 students (group assignment will be based on a
combination of your level of study (i.e., graduate/undergraduate), research interests, and availability
schedules). Each group will meet with Milena for a one hour elicitation session each week for 9 weeks
of the course. Groups will take turns planning and facilitating the in-class sessions; when not running
an in-class session, groups will meet with Milena outside of class. Group members will decide amongst
themselves how elicitation sessions are structured.
•
Our consultant, Milena, will attend our class beginning in Week 3. Tuesday in-class sessions will be
held 10am-11am. Out of class elicitation schedules will be announced shortly.
•
For the first few weeks of the course we will be discussing some of the practical aspects of conducting
linguistic fieldwork (see topics in the schedule below). As you start collecting data we will devote
some Thursdays to discussions on Georgian grammar, your progress, methodological issues,
generalizations, data analysis, and other issues that arise from your data collection (what works/what
doesn’t, etc.)
•
As it is often the case that your fieldwork consultant is not a linguist, an important component of doing
fieldwork can be to communicate the results of your research to your consultant/the speech community
in an accessible format (such as, but not limited to, formats suitable for language teaching). Thus, in
addition to the linguistic research projects that you will be working on in this course, you will also
create some pedagogical materials that will be aimed at teaching some aspect of the language to a nonlinguistic audience. As our consultant occasionally teaches the Georgian language, this may be
beneficial to her work as well.
Assessment
Participation and assigned duties
Elicitation reports, database maintenance, etc.
Research project proposal and ethics application
Progress report (6-8 pgs) and presentation
Final paper presentation and language lesson
Final paper (10-12 pgs) and language lesson
15%
20%
10%
15%
10%
30%
Grading criteria
A
90-100%
B
80-89%
C
70-79%
D
60-69%
F
Below 60%
•
Participation is a crucial part of this course – to make the most of this course, you need to attend each
class and be prepared for the scheduled activities (elicitations, discussions, presentations, etc.). You are
also responsible to your elicitation group and to the class for keeping up with your assigned duties.
•
Elicitation reports are due at the beginning of class on Tuesdays (a week after your elicitation).
Reports must also be submitted to me electronically by Tuesday 1pm so that they can be posted on
Blackboard. You must also assist in maintaining the course databases.
•
Your research project proposal and ethics application is due at the beginning of class on Thursday
February 17.
•
Your progress report (i.e., an outline of what you have figured out up to that point, what still needs to
be done, etc.) is due at the beginning of class on Thursday March 24. You will also give a short in
class presentation (with a one page handout or powerpoint slides) of your progress report.
•
Your final research paper and language lesson is due in my office by 12pm Tuesday May 10.
•
The final four classes of this course (April 26, 28, May 3, 5) are set aside for final paper and language
lesson presentations. A presentation schedule will be circulated later in the term.
Required text
Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [a
companion website is available at: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bowern/fieldwork/index.htm]
Optional text
Vaux, Bert, Justin Cooper & Emily Tucker. 2007. Linguistic field methods. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
Library Reserves
• This course has a Library Course Reserves webpage http://www.lib.umt.edu/students#eres. Follow the
link to LING 475. The following books are on reserve and are available from the Information Centre on
the main floor of the library (Level 3):
Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [a
companion website is available at: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bowern/fieldwork/index.htm]
Crowley, Terry. 2007. Field Linguistics: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [on
reserve]
Gippert, Jost, Nikolaus Himmelmann and Ulrike Mosel (eds.). 2006. Essentials of Language
Documentation. Berlin: Mouton. [also available as an electronic book]
Ladefoged, Peter. 2003. Phonetic Data Analysis: An Introduction to Fieldwork and Instrumental
Techniques. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Newman, Paul and Martha Ratliff (eds.). 2001. Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: CUP.
Payne, Thomas. 1997. Describing Morphosyntax: a Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge: CUP.
Samarin, William J. 1967. Field Linguistics: A Guide to Linguistic Field Work. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, Inc.
Vaux, Bert, Justin Cooper & Emily Tucker. 2007. Linguistic field methods. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
Some additional articles on fieldwork and language documentation (further resources will be
introduced throughout the course and posted on Eres or Blackboard where available)
Bird, Steven and Gary Simons. 2003. Seven Dimensions of Portability for Language Documentation and
Description. Language 79: 557-582. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Comrie, Bernard. 1977. Lingua Descriptive Studies: Questionnaire. Lingua 42: 1-72. [available from MPI
website (along with other questionnaires) – see below]
Everett, Daniel. 2004. Coherent Fieldwork. In Linguistics Today: Facing a Greater Challenge. P.G.J. van
Sterkenburg (ed.). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 141-162. [available in an electronic book]
Linguistic Society of America. 2009. Ethics Statement. http://lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf
Macaulay, Monica. 2004. Training Linguistics Students for the Realities of Fieldwork. Anthropology
Today 42: 194-209. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Rice, Keren. 2006. Ethical Issues in Linguistic Fieldwork: An Overview. Journal of Academic Ethics
4:123-155. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Whalen, D.H. 2004. How the Study of Endangered Languages will Revolutionize Linguistics. In
Linguistics Today: Facing a Greater Challenge. P.G.J. van Sterkenburg (ed.). Philadelphia: John
Benjamins. 321-342. [available in an electronic book]
Edited series (there are a variety of relevant papers published in this series – too many to list here)
Language Documentation and Description. A series distributed by The Hans Rausing Endangered
Languages Project: School of Oriental and African Studies (London, UK):
http://www.hrelp.org/publications/papers/. The Mansfield Library has some volumes in its collection.
Some online resources
• Linguistic Fieldwork Preparation Guide (University of Toronto), with downloadable bibliography:
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/lingfieldwork/
• Language and Cognition Group Field Manuals and Stimulus Materials (from the Max Planck Institute
for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen): http://fieldmanuals.mpi.nl/
• Typological tools for field linguistics (from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in
Leipzig): http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/tools.php
• Linguistic Society of America Ethics Blog: http://lsaethics.wordpress.com/
Other resources
• You will also be expected to find readings and other resources related to your chosen research topic
throughout the course.
• As the resource lists above are not exhaustive, I encourage you to do your own searches and to share
with the class any materials that you find.
• Where appropriate (and time permitting) other relevant materials will be introduced during the course.
• You are always welcome to come speak to me about advice on materials to consult.
Additional materials
• A notebook for recording data during elicitations (it should be a bound notebook – not loose leaf
paper). The type of notebook you purchase is up to you. My own preference is a hard back notebook
(for cases where I don’t have a table/desk to write at), with binding (usually spiral) that allows it to be
open on the right page if laid flat, and can be folded over easily.
•
A USB flash drive, portable external hard drive, or blank CDs to copy sound files (so you can check
your transcriptions and to help train your ear).
Course Policies and Procedures
•
Attendance: You are expected to attend every class and be an active participant. If you miss a class,
inform me by e-mail as early as possible and to contact a classmate to catch up on what you missed. As
well, you are expected to attend each of your out-of-class meetings with our consultant. If you miss a
meeting, you are expected to inform your group members as early as possible. Note that if you miss an
in-class/out-of-class elicitation, you cannot reschedule with our consultant.
•
Respect: Arrive to class on time! We will begin class promptly at 9:40am. You are responsible for all
material, including announcements, questions/answers, etc., introduced at the beginning of class. If you
are late, please be courteous to our consultant, your fellow classmates and me – avoid being disruptive.
You can catch up on what you may have missed after class. If you anticipate being late to class
regularly (e.g., due to a work schedule, a class on the other side of campus, etc.), let me know as soon
as possible.
•
Student Conduct Code: You are expected to be familiar with the University of Montana Student
Conduct Code. “Being a student at UM presupposes a commitment to the principles and policies
embodied in this Code.” The Conduct code is downloadable from the following website:
http://life.umt.edu/vpsa/student_conduct.php. You are also expected to be familiar with the University
of Montana Academic Policies and Procedures:
http://www.umt.edu/catalog/acad/acadpolicy/default.html.
•
E-mail: Throughout the semester, course information will be circulated by e-mail to your UM e-mail
address. Check that e-mail account often. You are responsible for ensuring that you are able to
receive any course information circulated by e-mail. If you have any concerns about this, please
speak to me.
•
Course Accommodations Statement (DSS): If you are a student with a disability who will require
reasonable program modification in this course, please meet with Disability Services for Students in
Lommasson 154 for assistance in developing a plan to address program modifications. If you are
already working with Disability Services your responsibilities are to contact me to discuss reasonable
modifications that may be necessary. For more information, visit the Disability Services website at
http://life.umt.edu/dss.
•
Technical Requirements Using the Moodle learning environment requires your computer to be set up to
view and download documents, webpages, etc. Contact UMOnline: 406-243-4999;
http://umonline.umt.edu/techsupport/helpdesk.aspx for assistance.
•
Submitting work: Hard copies of elicitation reports, project proposals and ethics applications, progress
reports, and final papers and language lessons must be submitted at the beginning of class on the day
they are due (see assessment above and schedule below). Formatting requirements: 12 point font,
Times, Times New Roman or Arial, 1 inch margins. Use DoulosSIL for a phonetic font (see below).
Proposals, progress reports and final papers should be double-spaced. Double-sided copies are
strongly preferred!
Fonts
•
DoulosSIL font is free phonetic font available for both Mac and PC operating systems and can be
downloaded from the following site:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DoulosSIL_download#1fd0063a
•
Instructions on how to download and install the fonts will vary depending on your computer and
operating system. Some advice is available from the link below:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DecompressUtil
•
For your reference, further information on phonetic fonts and the web can be found at the following
sites: http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipaunicode.htm
Proposed schedule (subject to change)
Week
Day
Date
1
Tues
Jan. 25
Introduction and overview of the course
Thurs
Jan. 27
What is fieldwork?; The Georgian language
Schedules due
Bowern 2008 Ch. 1, Ch. 13;
Tues
Feb. 1
Ethics; Recording equipment/techniques
Bowern 2008 Ch. 11, Rice 2006, LSA
2009; Bowern 2008 Ch. 2
Thurs
Feb. 3
Elicitation techniques
Bowern 2008 Ch. 3, 5-7, Mithun
2001 (see also Vaux et al. 2007 Ch. 1,
2, 7-9)
Tues
Feb. 8
Elicitation: Leora
Thurs
Feb. 10
Workshop: research proposals;
Data storage/management/presentation
Tues
Feb. 15
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Feb. 17
Informal project proposal presentations
Project proposal and ethics application
due
Tues
Feb. 22
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Feb. 24
Community-based research
Tues
Mar. 1
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Mar. 3
Informal group progress reports
Tues
Mar. 8
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Mar. 10
Workshop: presenting research in progress
Tues
Mar. 15
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Mar. 17
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Mar. 22
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Mar. 24
Progress report presentations
Progress reports due
Tues
Mar. 29
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Mar. 31
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Apr. 5
NO CLASS – Spring Break
Thurs
Apr. 7
NO CLASS – Spring Break
Tues
Apr. 12
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Apr. 14
Workshop: research papers/presentations
Tues
Apr. 19
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Apr. 21
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Apr. 26
Final presentations
Thurs
Apr. 28
Final presentations
Tues
May 3
Final presentations
Thurs
May 5
Final presentations; Wrap up
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Topic/Activity*
Readings**
Bowern 2008 Ch. 4; (see also Bird &
Simmons 2003)
Bowern 2008 Ch. 14
*Additional reminder: elicitation reports are due in Tuesday’s class, the week following your elicitation.
**You will be directed to further readings on these topics in class. Other readings may be assigned throughout the
course. You are expected to consult additional resources relating to your chosen research topic.
Linguistic Field Methods
LING 575
The University of Montana
Spring 2011
Instructor: Dr. Leora Bar-el
COURSE OUTLINE
“Be open to learn” – Keren Rice (2001:230)
Instructor information
 <leora.bar-el@mso.umt.edu>
 243-2387
Office: Social Science 210
Office hours: Wednesdays 10:00am-12:00pm, or by appointment
Course meeting times and venue
Tuesdays and Thursdays
9:40am-11:00am
Gallagher Business Building 202
**Additional meetings will be scheduled outside of class time (times and venues TBA)**
Course objectives
This course is an introduction to field methods in linguistics. The goal of this course is to become familiar
with the practical and technical skills involved in conducting fieldwork in linguistics. Students will learn
how to collect, record, organize, store and analyze elicited linguistic data. The primary focus will be on
research in phonology, morphology and syntax, though we may touch on other research areas during the
course. We will also be discussing the ethical issues involved in linguistic fieldwork and issues relating to
community-based research. Throughout the course we will be working with a language consultant in order
to learn first hand about the target language. This course co-convenes with LING 475. Graduate students
taking LING 575 will complete additional requirements and their work is expected to be of a more
advanced nature (see below).
Language focus
In this course we will focus on the Georgian language. Georgian is a Kartvelian (a.k.a. South Caucasian)
language spoken by 3.5 million people in Georgia, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and in communities in western
Europe and the United States (Price 2008). The language has a number of dialects. Our language consultant
is Milena Oganeysan. She is from Tblisi, Georgia and is a speaker of Standard Georgian (the central dialect
of the capital). She will be meeting with us throughout the course.
Prerequisite
LING 470 is a prerequisite of this course.
Moodle
This course has an online Moodle site (http://umonline.umt.edu/). Elicitation reports, readings, slides, etc.
will be posted there for downloading. Instructions on using Moodle are available at the login page. Please
let me know if you have any problems accessing the site.
Learning Outcomes
Each of the assessed components of this course focuses on helping you achieve the learning outcomes of
this course. Upon successful completion of this course, you will:
(a) have the basic skills to conduct linguistic fieldwork with a fluent speaker of a language primarily
focused on elicitation techniques
(b) be familiar with audio-recording techniques for linguistic fieldwork
(c) know how to organize and analyze your data
(d) understand the ethical practices involved in linguistic fieldwork and what it means to conduct
community-based research
(e) be able to write a linguistics research proposal
(f) be able to write a linguistics research paper based on data that you collect
(g) be able to communicate your research findings in the form of progress reports, oral presentations,
research papers and language lessons
(h) be able to write a linguistics conference-style (2-page) abstract based on your own research that can
be submitted to conferences for review
Basic organization of the course (see also schedule below)
• Generally, in class elicitations will be held on Tuesdays and discussions, analysis, presentations, etc.
will be held on Thursdays (this is subject to change during the course). There will also be 2-3 one-hour
out of class elicitations per week.
•
You will be divided into groups of approximately 2-4 students (group assignment will be based on a
combination of your level of study (i.e., graduate/undergraduate), research interests, and availability
schedules). Each group will meet with Milena for a one hour elicitation session each week for 9 weeks
of the course. Groups will take turns planning and facilitating the in-class sessions; when not running
an in-class session, groups will meet with Milena outside of class. Group members will decide amongst
themselves how elicitation sessions are structured.
•
Our consultant, Milena, will attend our class beginning in Week 3. Tuesday in-class sessions will be
held 10am-11am. Out of class elicitation schedules will be announced shortly.
•
For the first few weeks of the course we will be discussing some of the practical aspects of conducting
linguistic fieldwork (see topics in the schedule below). As you start collecting data we will devote
some Thursdays to discussions on Georgian grammar, your progress, methodological issues,
generalizations, data analysis, and other issues that arise from your data collection (what works/what
doesn’t, etc.)
•
As it is often the case that your fieldwork consultant is not a linguist, an important component of doing
fieldwork can be to communicate the results of your research to your consultant/the speech community
in an accessible format (such as, but not limited to, formats suitable for language teaching). Thus, in
addition to the linguistic research projects that you will be working on in this course, you will also
create some pedagogical materials that will be aimed at teaching some aspect of the language to a nonlinguistic audience. As our consultant occasionally teaches the Georgian language, this may be
beneficial to her work as well.
•
You are encouraged to meet as a group with your fellow graduate students in this class to discuss your
research projects, to practice your presentations, to read drafts of each other’s progress reports, final
papers, and abstracts, and provide feedback to each other on your work.
•
Graduate students will meet with me as a group to discuss writing a linguistics conference style
abstract. You are also encouraged to meet with me for more extensive discussion of your research
projects.
Assessment
Participation and assigned duties
Elicitation reports, database maintenance, etc.
Research project proposal and ethics application
Progress report (8-10 pgs) and presentation
Final paper presentation and language lesson
Final paper (15-18 pgs) and language lesson
Conference abstract (2 pgs)
15%
20%
10%
15%
10%
25%
5%
Grading criteria
A
90-100%
B
80-89%
C
70-79%
D
60-69%
F
Below 60%
•
Participation is a crucial part of this course – to make the most of this course, you need to attend each
class and be prepared for the scheduled activities (elicitations, discussions, presentations, etc.). You are
also responsible to your elicitation group and to the class for keeping up with your assigned duties.
•
Elicitation reports are due at the beginning of class on Tuesdays (a week after your elicitation).
Reports must also be submitted to me electronically by Tuesday 1pm so that they can be posted on
Blackboard. You must also assist in maintaining the course databases.
•
Your research project proposal and ethics application is due at the beginning of class on Thursday
February 17.
•
Your progress report (i.e., an outline of what you have figured out up to that point, what still needs to
be done, etc.) is due at the beginning of class on Thursday March 24. You will also give a short in
class presentation (with a one page handout or powerpoint slides) of your progress report.
•
Your final research paper and language lesson is due in my office by 12pm Tuesday May 10.
•
The final four classes of this course (April 26, 28, May 3, 5) are set aside for final paper and language
lesson presentations. A presentation schedule will be circulated later in the term.
•
Your conference abstract is due in my office by 12pm on Wednesday May 11. Graduate students will
meet with me as a group for an abstract-writing workshop.
Required text
Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [a
companion website is available at: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bowern/fieldwork/index.htm]
Optional text
Vaux, Bert, Justin Cooper & Emily Tucker. 2007. Linguistic field methods. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
Library Reserves
• This course has a Library Course Reserves webpage http://www.lib.umt.edu/students#eres. Follow the
link to LING 475. The following books are on reserve and are available from the Information Centre on
the main floor of the library (Level 3):
Bowern, Claire. 2008. Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [a
companion website is available at: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bowern/fieldwork/index.htm]
Crowley, Terry. 2007. Field Linguistics: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [on
reserve]
Gippert, Jost, Nikolaus Himmelmann and Ulrike Mosel (eds.). 2006. Essentials of Language
Documentation. Berlin: Mouton. [also available as an electronic book]
Ladefoged, Peter. 2003. Phonetic Data Analysis: An Introduction to Fieldwork and Instrumental
Techniques. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Newman, Paul and Martha Ratliff (eds.). 2001. Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: CUP.
Payne, Thomas. 1997. Describing Morphosyntax: a Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge: CUP.
Samarin, William J. 1967. Field Linguistics: A Guide to Linguistic Field Work. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, Inc.
Vaux, Bert, Justin Cooper & Emily Tucker. 2007. Linguistic field methods. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
Some additional articles on fieldwork and language documentation (further resources will be
introduced throughout the course and posted on Eres or Blackboard where available)
Bird, Steven and Gary Simons. 2003. Seven Dimensions of Portability for Language Documentation and
Description. Language 79: 557-582. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Comrie, Bernard. 1977. Lingua Descriptive Studies: Questionnaire. Lingua 42: 1-72. [available from MPI
website (along with other questionnaires) – see below]
Everett, Daniel. 2004. Coherent Fieldwork. In Linguistics Today: Facing a Greater Challenge. P.G.J. van
Sterkenburg (ed.). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 141-162. [available in an electronic book]
Linguistic Society of America. 2009. Ethics Statement. http://lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf
Macaulay, Monica. 2004. Training Linguistics Students for the Realities of Fieldwork. Anthropology
Today 42: 194-209. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Rice, Keren. 2006. Ethical Issues in Linguistic Fieldwork: An Overview. Journal of Academic Ethics
4:123-155. [UM subscribes to e-journal]
Whalen, D.H. 2004. How the Study of Endangered Languages will Revolutionize Linguistics. In
Linguistics Today: Facing a Greater Challenge. P.G.J. van Sterkenburg (ed.). Philadelphia: John
Benjamins. 321-342. [available in an electronic book]
Edited series (there are a variety of relevant papers published in this series – too many to list here)
Language Documentation and Description. A series distributed by The Hans Rausing Endangered
Languages Project: School of Oriental and African Studies (London, UK):
http://www.hrelp.org/publications/papers/. The Mansfield Library has some volumes in its collection.
Some online resources
• Linguistic Fieldwork Preparation Guide (University of Toronto), with downloadable bibliography:
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/lingfieldwork/
• Language and Cognition Group Field Manuals and Stimulus Materials (from the Max Planck Institute
for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen): http://fieldmanuals.mpi.nl/
• Typological tools for field linguistics (from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in
Leipzig): http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/tools.php
• Linguistic Society of America Ethics Blog: http://lsaethics.wordpress.com/
Other resources
• You will also be expected to find readings and other resources related to your chosen research topic
throughout the course.
• As the resource lists above are not exhaustive, I encourage you to do your own searches and to share
with the class any materials that you find.
• Where appropriate (and time permitting) other relevant materials will be introduced during the course.
• You are always welcome to come speak to me about advice on materials to consult.
Additional materials
• A notebook for recording data during elicitations (it should be a bound notebook – not loose leaf
paper). The type of notebook you purchase is up to you. My own preference is a hard back notebook
(for cases where I don’t have a table/desk to write at), with binding (usually spiral) that allows it to be
open on the right page if laid flat, and can be folded over easily.
•
A USB flash drive, portable external hard drive, or blank CDs to copy sound files (so you can check
your transcriptions and to help train your ear).
Course Policies and Procedures
•
Attendance: You are expected to attend every class and be an active participant. If you miss a class,
inform me by e-mail as early as possible and to contact a classmate to catch up on what you missed. As
well, you are expected to attend each of your out-of-class meetings with our consultant. If you miss a
meeting, you are expected to inform your group members as early as possible. Note that if you miss an
in-class/out-of-class elicitation, you cannot reschedule with our consultant.
•
Respect: Arrive to class on time! We will begin class promptly at 9:40am. You are responsible for all
material, including announcements, questions/answers, etc., introduced at the beginning of class. If you
are late, please be courteous to our consultant, your fellow classmates and me – avoid being disruptive.
You can catch up on what you may have missed after class. If you anticipate being late to class
regularly (e.g., due to a work schedule, a class on the other side of campus, etc.), let me know as soon
as possible.
•
Student Conduct Code: You are expected to be familiar with the University of Montana Student
Conduct Code. “Being a student at UM presupposes a commitment to the principles and policies
embodied in this Code.” The Conduct code is downloadable from the following website:
http://life.umt.edu/vpsa/student_conduct.php. You are also expected to be familiar with the University
of Montana Academic Policies and Procedures:
http://www.umt.edu/catalog/acad/acadpolicy/default.html.
•
E-mail: Throughout the semester, course information will be circulated by e-mail to your UM e-mail
address. Check that e-mail account often. You are responsible for ensuring that you are able to
receive any course information circulated by e-mail. If you have any concerns about this, please
speak to me.
•
Course Accommodations Statement (DSS): If you are a student with a disability who will require
reasonable program modification in this course, please meet with Disability Services for Students in
Lommasson 154 for assistance in developing a plan to address program modifications. If you are
already working with Disability Services your responsibilities are to contact me to discuss reasonable
modifications that may be necessary. For more information, visit the Disability Services website at
http://life.umt.edu/dss.
•
Technical Requirements Using the Moodle learning environment requires your computer to be set up to
view and download documents, webpages, etc. Contact UMOnline: 406-243-4999;
http://umonline.umt.edu/techsupport/helpdesk.aspx for assistance.
•
Submitting work: Hard copies of elicitation reports, project proposals and ethics applications, progress
reports, and final papers and language lessons must be submitted at the beginning of class on the day
they are due (see assessment above and schedule below). Formatting requirements: 12 point font,
Times, Times New Roman or Arial, 1 inch margins. Use DoulosSIL for a phonetic font (see below).
Proposals, progress reports and final papers should be double-spaced. Double-sided copies are
strongly preferred!
Fonts
•
DoulosSIL font is free phonetic font available for both Mac and PC operating systems and can be
downloaded from the following site:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DoulosSIL_download#1fd0063a
•
Instructions on how to download and install the fonts will vary depending on your computer and
operating system. Some advice is available from the link below:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DecompressUtil
•
For your reference, further information on phonetic fonts and the web can be found at the following
sites: http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipaunicode.htm
Proposed schedule (subject to change)
Week
Day
Date
1
Tues
Jan. 25
Introduction and overview of the course
Thurs
Jan. 27
What is fieldwork?; The Georgian language
Schedules due
Bowern 2008 Ch. 1, Ch. 13;
Tues
Feb. 1
Ethics; Recording equipment/techniques
Bowern 2008 Ch. 11, Rice 2006, LSA
2009; Bowern 2008 Ch. 2
Thurs
Feb. 3
Elicitation techniques
Bowern 2008 Ch. 3, 5-7, Mithun
2001 (see also Vaux et al. 2007 Ch. 1,
2, 7-9)
Tues
Feb. 8
Elicitation: Leora
Thurs
Feb. 10
Workshop: research proposals;
Data storage/management/presentation
Tues
Feb. 15
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Feb. 17
Informal project proposal presentations
Project proposal and ethics application
due
Tues
Feb. 22
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Feb. 24
Community-based research
Tues
Mar. 1
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Mar. 3
Informal group progress reports
Tues
Mar. 8
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Mar. 10
Workshop: presenting research in progress
Tues
Mar. 15
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Mar. 17
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Mar. 22
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Mar. 24
Progress report presentations
Progress reports due
Tues
Mar. 29
Elicitation: Group 1
Thurs
Mar. 31
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Apr. 5
NO CLASS – Spring Break
Thurs
Apr. 7
NO CLASS – Spring Break
Tues
Apr. 12
Elicitation: Group 2
Thurs
Apr. 14
Workshop: research papers/presentations
Tues
Apr. 19
Elicitation: Group 3
Thurs
Apr. 21
Discussion: data/methods/analysis
Tues
Apr. 26
Final presentations
Thurs
Apr. 28
Final presentations
Tues
May 3
Final presentations
Thurs
May 5
Final presentations; Wrap up
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Topic/Activity*
Readings**
Bowern 2008 Ch. 4; (see also Bird &
Simmons 2003)
Bowern 2008 Ch. 14
*Additional reminder: elicitation reports are due in Tuesday’s class, the week following your elicitation.
**You will be directed to further readings on these topics in class. Other readings may be assigned throughout the
course. You are expected to consult additional resources relating to your chosen research topic.