LINGUISTICS 101: Introduction to Language             Winter 2002

Research project topics

You are required to do two of the following projects.  (If you have an 
idea for something you'd really like to do that's not on this list, come 
and talk to me about it).  These will be due Monday, February 9, and Monday, 
March 1.  Don't even think about trying to turn one in late.  Each 
project is worth 20% of your grade.  This means that missing one project 
will result in your final grade for the course being lowered by at least one 
letter grade.
     Each project should be from a different section (A,B,C,D); don't do two 
projects from the same section.

A.

1)   If you are from North, Central, or South America, find out the language 
     spoken by the original Native inhabitants of the area where your hometown 
     is.  Write a short (1,000-1,500 word) report on this language, including 
     information about what family it belongs to and what other languages 
     it is related to, how many (if any) people still speak it, and where, 
     or if no one still speaks it, when it died out.

2)   Write a short (1,000-1,500 word) report on a minority language within 
     the U.S or your native country.  This can be a Native language such 
     as Nez Perce or Navajo, a remnant of early European settlement such 
     as Louisiana French, an older immigrant community such as Yiddish or 
     Cantonese, or a recent immigrant community such as Hmong or Assyrian, 
     as long as some people still speak or recently still spoke it on a 
     day-to-day basis.  Concentrate on the history of the community--how 
     did it come to be where it is today--and the social and political 
     situation of the language relative to English (or the majority language 
     of your country).   Who still speaks the language?  What pressures 
     affect people's choice about what language to use when?

B.

3)   Record a short conversation between two native speakers.  (I assume 
     you will be looking at English, but if you can handle another language 
     and find speakers that's fine).   Transcribe 1-2 minutes of conversation  
     (i.e. write down exactly what each speaker says.  This is harder and 
     will take a lot longer than you think).  Now list each utterance in 
     your transcript, and identify its grammatical form.  Is it a complete 
     sentence?  Just one word?  (What kind?  Noun, verb, odd 
     conversational noise?)  A phrase?  
 
BE SURE AND GET PERMISSION FOR THIS--NEVER, EVER, RECORD ANYONE
WITHOUT THEIR WRITTEN PERMISSION.  A SAMPLE CONSENT FORM IS
ATTACHED TO THIS HANDOUT.  DON'T SUBMIT THIS PROJECT UNLESS YOU
HAVE A SIGNED CONSENT FORM READY TO SHOW US IF WE ASK FOR IT.


C.

4)   Find someone who is a native speaker of a language which you don't 
     know at all.  Collect a list of 50-75 words in the language.  Do this 
     by a) asking for the translation of an English word, b) trying to 
     pronounce it correctly (keep trying at least until your informant
     stops laughing at your attempts), and then c) writing it down.
          Now make a list of all the different sounds in your data.  Give a 
     description of how each sound is pronounced, that is, what you need 
     to do with your tongue, lips, etc., to articulate the sound correctly.  
     Many of the sounds will probably be pretty similar to sounds of your 
     own language, but you will inevitably encounter some sounds which are
     unfamiliar to you, which you will have trouble pronouncing, and will 
     have no clear idea how to write.  Work with your informant to try and 
     figure out how these sounds are made.
          Also make a list of any combinations of sounds which seem strange 
     to you.  For example, in Ancient Greek (which you won't be doing for 
     your project), you would find words like tmesis; all the sounds in the 
     word are familiar to an English speaker, but the combination of t
     and m at the beginning of a word is not.

5)   If your native language is not English, but you are using English 
     everyday, keep a week'sjournal of problems in expression you encounter, 
     frustrating error patterns & pronunciation problems that won't go 
     away, etc.  Try to explain how these result from differences between 
     your native language and English.

7)   If you are currently studying a foreign language (one foreign to you, 
     that is), keep a two-week journal of things you find particularly 
     difficult about the language.  Sort them out into problems of 
     pronunciation, problems of morphology (different forms of words),
     problems of syntax (how words are put together), and problems of 
     meaning (words or sentences whose meaning you can't quite get, or 
     things you can easily say in your native language that you can't 
     figure out how to say in the new one).  Try to explain how these
     result from differences between the two languages.

C.   For one of these topics, do a Web and/or periodicals search 
     for articles on the topic.  Read them.  Write a one-paragraph 
     description of each.

8)   Find articles on particular dying languages.  I'm not looking for 
     general articles about problems of language death, or  how many 
     languages around the world are dying, but articles particularly about 
     one language, or a few languages in a particular area.  (Though
     general articles might be good places to start.  They're not hard to 
     find, and when they mention particular examples, it's probably 
     because somebody else has written about that particular language; so 
     if one of these articles mentions, say, Udi, then there are probably
     articles somewhere of the kind you need about Udi).
          What you want are articles like Death of Red Cloud, Last 
     Speaker of Menomini or Tribe Fights To Save Their 
     Ancestral Language.  Articles which are primarily about some 
     group's adaptation to the modern world, but which tell something 
     specific about how the language is dying out, are OK too.  Or you 
     may research a language which is dying only in one particular community 
     (e.g. French in Louisiana). 
            Find at least ten articles about at least five different 
     languages.  (That is, a TOTAL of 10 articles, covering at least 5
     different languages--NOT 50 articles).

9)   Find articles on inter-community or international arguments or 
     conflicts that concern language or language differences, or that are 
     sometimes expressed in terms of language issues.  Find at least ten 
     articles about at least three different situations.  (That is, a 
     TOTAL of 10 articles, dealing with at least 3 different situations--
     NOT 30 articles).

10)  Find articles on officially bi- or multi-lingual nations (e.g. Canada, 
     Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa, Tanzania, Paraguay, India, etc.)  
     Find at least ten articles about at least five different countries.
     (That is, a TOTAL of 10 articles, dealing with at least 5 different
     countries--NOT 50 articles).


Sample consent form:

I am conducting a research project for a linguistics class.  This project 
involves recording a short conversation.  Part of the conversation will be 
written down and grammatically analyzed; the transcript and analysis will 
be turned in for grading.  The participants in the conversation will not
be identified (except for general information about age, gender, and student 
status) in the written report.  If you are willing to help me with this 
project and have your conversation recorded, please indicate your consent 
by signing below.

I hereby indicate my consent to participate in a linguistic research project 
carried out by [your name].  I understand that this will involve recording 
a conversation in which I am a participant.  I am willing to be recorded 
and to have my conversation used for analysis in this project.


(Signed) ________________________________________