Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 409field workMethodological process for the collection of linguistic data and texts ( corpus) ofspoken language or of a language which is only orally transmitted. The selection of dataand the specific way in which the field work is carried out depends upon the particularobjectives of the study concerned. The most important techniques comprise the recordingof conversations in ‘participatory observation’ or in structured interviews with asubsequent transcription, the questioning of informants by the investigator where all theanswers are recorded or transcribed during the process of the interview, linguistic tests,language attitude tests ( matched guise technique), etc. It was primarily insociolinguistic studies on linguistic varieties in a social context that several procedureswere developed to evade the ‘observer’s paradox’ (Labor): the informal, uninhibitedeveryday language that the linguist wants to study and observe is only used if thespeakers do not feel under surveillance.ReferencesLabov, W. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA.——1973. Language in the inner city: studies in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia, PA.Samarin, W.J. 1967. Field linguistics: a guide to linguistic field work. New York.BibliographyHymes, H.D. 1959. Field work in linguistics and anthropology: annotated bibliography. SiL 14. 82–91.operational proceduresfigura etymologicaFigure of speech of repetition, a special case of polyptoton: a coupling of words that areetymologically related, e.g. to give a gift, to dance a dance.figure of speechReferences