Alice Idone, Lisa Gasner, Giulia Donzelli, Adriano Salvi, Michele Loporcaro
{"title":"Re-taking the field: resuming in-person fieldwork amid the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Alice Idone, Lisa Gasner, Giulia Donzelli, Adriano Salvi, Michele Loporcaro","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2021-0155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0155","url":null,"abstract":"Italy was among the first countries in Europe to be heavily impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. Northern Italy and Lombardy, in particular, were the most affected areas. In September 2021, the team of “AIS, the digital turn” (AISdt), a project whose objectives include collecting data in 50 locations in Italy, across Lombardy and Piedmont, resumed in-person data collection. Given the field of the investigation and the profile required for the informants (speakers over 60), the decision came only after a long examination of the right conditions and the necessary measures. The paper is intended as a reference text of field investigations amid the pandemic: based on the experience of the AISdt project, it recounts the preparation required by the new modality of fieldwork, the protocols put in place to ensure the safety of all participants before and during the interviews, and the response received from the informants.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"103 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bibliographic bias and information-density sampling","authors":"Maja Robbers, Harald Hammarström","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2023-0102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2023-0102","url":null,"abstract":"In the present paper, we discuss the bibliographical limits for commonplace typological studies and address how to estimate the resources available for an in-depth study using a full-text corpus of grammatical descriptions, considering different metalanguages, temporal stages of description, theoretical perspectives, and quality of grammatical descriptions. In a case study on motion, we illustrate the above perspectives and show how computer-assisted sampling using large-scale keyword searches for information-dense descriptions is a time-saving resource for the linguistic researcher to create genealogically independent samples. The measures discussed in this study allow for a better appraisal of the state of existing information for typological studies, but the problem of wider access to rare publications remains a significant challenge.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"179 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Linguistic variation in urban vernaculars and rural and urban youth language in South Africa","authors":"Ellen Hurst-Harosh, Thandiwe Ida Goxo","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2022-0154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2022-0154","url":null,"abstract":"This article describes and attempts to differentiate varieties of spoken isiXhosa in South Africa – including variations of the isiXhosa-based stylect commonly referred to as Tsotsitaal (plural tsotsitaals), and the urban vernacular form of isiXhosa. The article introduces some new Tsotsitaal data from a rural context and unpacks whether a comparison with both standard and urban forms of isiXhosa is a useful analysis, and whether we can look at these different practices as varieties, or alternatively as a continuum of isiXhosa. The comparison highlights what may be features of the lexicon and morphosyntax of isiXhosa-based tsotsitaals compared to urban and standard isiXhosa, and points to possible differences between rural and urban tsotsitaals. Ultimately, the article concludes that the inherent variability in stylistic practice within youth and urban varieties demands larger datasets if we are to argue that different varieties are at play, rather than simply stylistic variation in interactional contexts.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charlotte Vaughn, Hannah Mechtenberg, Jessica Orozco Contreras
{"title":"The Language Science Station at Planet Word: a language research and engagement laboratory at a language museum","authors":"Charlotte Vaughn, Hannah Mechtenberg, Jessica Orozco Contreras","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2024-0077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2024-0077","url":null,"abstract":"The Language Science Station (LSS) is a research and engagement laboratory operating at the Planet Word museum in Washington, DC, representing a unique partnership between language researchers and a museum dedicated to language. The LSS invites Planet Word guests – ranging from local to international visitors – to participate in research studies and engage in educational activities with student language scientists from diverse academic backgrounds. In doing so, we broaden participation in the language sciences among both the researchers and the participant population. This paper outlines the goals, values, and structure of the LSS, highlighting our dual emphases on research and engagement. We focus on several aspects of the project. These include our novel multi-university researcher-museum partnership, the different considerations that we find are necessary for conducting research in a museum setting compared to the laboratory, and our training of researchers and student research assistants. The paper also provides reflections from students on their interactions with museum visitors. We share our experiences with the broader scholarly community in an effort to lower barriers for other behavioral scientists interested in combining research and engagement in public venues.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"260 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Talk about testimony: courtroom dialogue as racialized interactions","authors":"Sharese King, Samantha Jacobs","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2024-0118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2024-0118","url":null,"abstract":"Within the criminal legal system, judges, jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, experts, and law enforcement officers all might employ language or language practices in the courtroom that can evoke racial bias against an accused person, including by using coded language, innuendos, or particular questioning techniques and clarification strategies. In light of recent legislation, including the passage of the Racial Justice Act in California, which prohibits the use of racially biased language against an accused person by courtroom actors, we are at a crucial moment where dialogue between linguists and lawyers is imperative to define racially biased language and how it emerges. In this article, we provide guidance to help identify and address the ways race can be invoked through discursive strategies in the courtroom that do not make explicit mentions of race, and end with recommendations for ameliorating the potential harms that racial bias expressed during such interactions can cause.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The moving project: exploring language, migration, and identity using participatory podcasting during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Sadie Durkacz Ryan","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2024-0082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2024-0082","url":null,"abstract":"I make <jats:italic>Accentricity</jats:italic>, a podcast exploring language and identity. After releasing series 1 in 2019, I began to plan ways to take a more participatory approach to the creation of a second series, involving contributors in the production process as co-creators. The result was The Moving Project: a podcasting course and mentorship programme designed to help people tell personal stories about language, migration, and identity. Over a period of six months, the participants developed their audio-recording, editing, and digital storytelling skills. Together we created a podcast series which tells diverse and complex stories about migration, language, and identity, from a range of different geographical, social, and historical contexts. Like the first series of <jats:italic>Accentricity</jats:italic>, The Moving Project provides information about language to a public audience in an accessible format. However, it goes much further than the first series in centring non-academic perspectives and in developing participatory and inclusive methods for knowledge co-production.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"73 4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bridging linguistics and high school students: the example of Noorlingvistide keeleklubi in Estonia","authors":"Mari-Liis Korkus","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2024-0092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2024-0092","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the nuances of popularizing linguistics among teenagers by sharing the successes and setbacks encountered in Noorlingvistide keeleklubi – an Estonian-based monthly event series where high school students learn about language science. Initially conceived as a pilot project, from March to December 2023, the language club held six meetings, each centering on a specific linguistics topic. Throughout the meetings, students gave feedback for improving both the content and organization of the meetings. Sixty-four students with varying prior linguistics knowledge participated, with their feedback indicating an increased interest in the field because of the initiative.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, Aris Clemons
{"title":"To go big, we have to go home: building foundations for the future of community-engaged and public-facing research in linguistics","authors":"Anne Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, Aris Clemons","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2023-0154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2023-0154","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we discuss various public-facing scholarly activities we have engaged in and how these initiatives have reached large audiences to widely spread messages about language and linguistic equity and inclusion. We provide guidance for how to launch, coordinate, and carry out public outreach initiatives and community-engaged research, how to navigate potential pitfalls and position these efforts for success, and how to demonstrate the direct value and relevance of the work. We also offer strategies and advice for other linguists engaging in public outreach endeavors, especially with regard to connecting community-engaged work with teaching and research for maximal impact within the scholarly ecosystem. Community-engaged research and public-facing initiatives are best conceptualized and undertaken in comprehensive, intentional, informed by, and planned in ways that align with best practices in the literature and integrated into the scholarly enterprise. We assert that public-facing work is critical to the relevance and impact of linguistics and higher education. Most importantly, public-facing work that makes insights from research relevant to the public can help advance the broader goal of education for social impact and the public good.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"176 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How do L1 glosses affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance? An eye-tracking study","authors":"Lingshan Huang, Jingyang Jiang","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2023-0091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2023-0091","url":null,"abstract":"This study employed eye-tracking technology to examine how English as a foreign language learners at different proficiency levels process L1-glossed words and how this processing relates to L2 reading comprehension. Forty-seven university students were divided into a higher-proficiency group (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 23) and a lower-proficiency group (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 24) based on their L2 proficiency. Both groups were asked to read an English passage with L1 (Chinese) glosses. Their eye movements were recorded with an eye-tracker as they read. After reading, they were immediately given a reading comprehension test. Analyses of the eye-tracking data showed that the higher-proficiency L2 learners spent more time on unfamiliar words than the lower-proficiency L2 learners. Furthermore, lower-proficiency L2 learners’ longer processing time on glossed unfamiliar words was related to their higher reading comprehension scores, whereas this relationship was not found in the higher-proficiency group. These results revealed that the contribution of L1 glosses to L2 reading comprehension performance varied across L2 learners’ proficiency levels. Our findings have important implications for second language instruction.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Syntactic pausing? Re-examining the associations","authors":"Naomi Peck, Laura Becker","doi":"10.1515/lingvan-2022-0156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2022-0156","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we look at the distribution of silent pauses within existing multi-language corpora to see whether their location and duration correlate with clause boundaries. Our study is based on data of seven languages from Multi-CAST. We supplemented the original clause boundary annotations with information about silent pauses in order to investigate the alignment of clause boundaries and pausing. We find a gradient association between clause boundary strength and the probability of a pause and a two-way distinction for pause duration within clauses and at clause boundaries.","PeriodicalId":55960,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics Vanguard","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}