Fieldwork and Language Documentation

Here's the latest from the California Language Archive:

Hannah Sande, with the assistance of Julianne Kapner, has archived a new collection of materials related to Gã (Kwa; Ghana), from the Georgetown field methods course she taught in the fall of 2019. The collection consists of sound recordings of elicitation sessions, with accompanying transcriptions, glossing, and translation of sessions. We hosted a visit by Mischelle Dressler, Lisa Enos, Herman Fillmore, and Mitchell Osorio, who consulted William Jacobsen's (PhD 1964) lexical file slips of Washo (isolate; CA). The visit was sponsored by the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival.

Here's the latest from the California Language Archive:

We remodeled our research room! Thanks go to Erik Maier, Edwin Ko, and Allegra Robertson for assisting. The remodel moves our collection of reference books out of the archive room, making available space for cabinets and shelving for new archival materials. Come by and check it out! We are hosting a weeklong research visit by Dr. Darla Garey-Sage, who is working with William Jacobsen's (PhD 1964) numerous Washo (isolate; CA) lexical file slips. We hosted a tour of the CLA for a group organized by Sharon Inkelas, Professor of Linguistics and Associate Vice Provost for the Faculty, including: Khira Griscavage, Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff to the Chancellor; Martha Chavez, Associate Chief of Staff to the Chancellor; Christine Treadway, Assistant Chancellor for Government and Community Relations; Linda Rugg, Professor of Swedish Literature and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research; Phenocia Bauerle, Director, Native American Student Development; Peter Nelson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Ethnic Studies; and Carolyn Smith, Postdoctoral Scholar, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. Thanks to Emily Remirez, who alerted us to a drawer of analogue recordings in 51 Dwinelle: 50 reel-to-reel tapes, 19 cassettes, 15 VHS tapes, six U-matic tapes, and one 45! The recordings generally stem from work done in the PhonLab. Represented are 23 languages, in addition to unidentified Siberian languages: Arabic, Ashaninka (Arawak; Peru), Dutch, French, Guatemalan Sign Language, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Ikalanga (Bantu; Botswana, Zimbabwe), Kalabari (Ijoid; Nigeria), Korean, Mandarin, Mazahua (Oto-Pamean; Mexico), Mixtec (Mixtecan; Mexico), Northern Pomo (Pomoan; CA), Nyamwezi (Bantu; Tanzania), Polish, Quechua, Quiotepec Chinantec (Chinantecan; Mexico), Tamil, Thai, Xhosa (Bantu; South Africa, Zimbabwe), and Yucatec Maya (Mayan; Mexico). Most are "speech sound" recordings, described in accompanying paper documentation as "designed primarily to provide the user practice recognizing and transcribing some of the important sound contrasts" in these languages. Others come from, for example, Leanne Hinton's courses on Chalcatongo de Hidalgo Mixtec in 1981 and 1982 (with Nicolás Cortés), and from Michelle Caisse (PhD 1988) and Catherine O'Connor's (PhD 1987) early documentation of Northern Pomo, including unique recordings of stories told by Edna Guerrero.