Describing endangered languages
Experiences from a PhD grammar project in Africa
The present contribution deals with documenting underdocumented and
endangered languages in Africa. It focuses on the documentation of languages
through PhD programs as most grammatical descriptions produced today
stem from PhD theses. The focus lies on facets of the organization and conception
of a PhD grammar project on the endangered Bantu language Yeyi. This
project resulted in a published grammatical description in about 4 years. The
article describes important aspects of the research program as they relate to
the development of the grammatical description as well as the writing process
of the grammatical description itself. In doing so the relationship between the
creation of a comprehensive grammatical description and prior preparation for
the fieldwork, e.g. survey work, developing cultural expertise, the team environment
both in the field and at home, are elaborated against a backdrop of stateof-
the-art theorizations about descriptive grammars. I situate the work on the
Yeyi grammar in the context of the newly emerging documentary-linguistics
discipline, and provide some suggestions for how PhD documentation projects
should be carried out in the 21st century.
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y
2007 Linguistic fieldwork: Setting the scene.
Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 60: 1–11.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baumbach, Erdmann J.M
1997 Bantu languages of the Eastern Caprivi. In
Namibian Languages. Reports and Papers,
Wilfrid H.G. Haacke &
Eduard D. Elderkin (eds). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Boas, Franz
1911 Introduction. In
Handbook of American Indian Languages, Part 1 [
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40],
Franz Boas (ed.), 3–83. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Botne, Robert & Kershner, Tiffany L
2006 Tense and cognitive space: On the organization of tense/aspect systems in Bantu languages. Ms. (later published in
Cognitive Linguistics 19).
Bouquiaux, Lux & Thomas, Jaqueline
(eds) 19762 Enquête et description des langues à tradition orale, Vols. I, II, & III. Paris: Société des Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Botne, Robert D
1983 On the notion ‘inchoative verb’ in Kinyarwanda. In
Le Kinyarwanda. Étude linguistices [Langues et cultures africaines],
Francis Jouannet (ed.). Paris:
Société des Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bowern, Claire
2008 Linguistic Fieldwork Methodology: An Introduction to Data Elicitation Methods in the Field and the Classroom. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Breu, Walter
1985 Handlungsgrenzen als Grundlage der Verbalklassifikation. In
Slavistische Linguistik 1984. Referate des X. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens [
Slavistische Beiträge 184],
Werner Lehfeldt (ed.), 9–34. München: Otto Sagner.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chelliah, Shobbana L. & de Reuse, Willem J
2011 Handbook of Descriptive Linguistic Fieldwork. Berlin: Springer
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clark, Mary
1988 An accentual analysis of the Zulu noun. In
Autosegmental Studies on Pitch Accent,
Harry van der Hulst &
Norval Smith (eds), 51–93. Dordrecht: Foris.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clements, George N. & Goldsmith, John
1984 Autosgemental Studies in Bantu Tone. Dordrecht: Foris.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cohen, Patricia
2010 Digital keys for unlocking the humanities’ riches.
The New York Times,
November 16 2010.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Comrie, Bernard
1988 The role of the field linguist.
Notes on Linguistics 41: 4–6.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cristofaro, Sonia
2006 The organization of reference grammars: A typologist user’s point of view. In
Catching Language. The Standing Challange of Grammar Writing,
Felix K. Ameka,
Alan Dench &
Nicholas Evans (eds), 136–170. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Crystal, David
2000 Language Death. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dingemanse, Mark
2011 The Meaning and Use of Ideophones in Siwu. PhD dissertation, Radboud University Nijmegen.
Dixon, Robert M.W
2010 Basic Linguistic Theory. Methodology. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, Robert M.W
2007 Field linguistics: A minor manual.
Sprachtypologie und Universalien Forschung 60(1): 12–31.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, Robert M.W. & Rice, Keren
No date.
Cambridge Grammatical Descriptions. Guidelines for potential contributors.
Dryer, Matthew S
2006 Descriptive theories, explanatory theories, and basic linguistic theory. In
Catching Language. The Standing Challange of Grammar Writing,
Felix K. Ameka,
Alan Dench &
Nicholas Evans (eds), 207–234. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dwyer, Arienne M
2010 Models of successful collaboration. In
Grenoble, Lenore A. &
Furbee, N. Louanna (eds),
Language Documentation. Practices and Values, 193–212. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dwyer, Arienne M
2006 Ethics and practicalities of cooperative fieldwork and analysis. In
Essentials of Language Documentation,
Jost Gippert,
Nikolaus Himmelmann &
Ulrike Mosel (eds), 31–66. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Evans, Nicholas & Dench, Alan
2006 Introduction: Catching language. In
Catching Language. The Standing Challange of Grammar Writing,
Felix K. Ameka,
Alan Dench &
Nicholas Evans (eds), 1–39. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fleisch, Axel
2000 Lucazi Grammar. A Morphosemantic Analysis. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Guarisma, Gladys & Möhlig, Wilhelm J.G
(eds) 1986 La methode dialectometrique appliquée aux langues africaines. Berlin: Reimer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hale K., Krauss, Michael, Watahomigie Lucille J., Yamamoto Akira Y., Craig Colette G., LaVerne, Jeanne Masayesva & England, Nora C
1992 Endangered languages.
Language 68: 1–42
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hellwig, Birgit
2003 The Grammatical Coding of Postural Semantics in Goemai (A West Chadic Language of Nigeria). PhD dissertation, Max Planck Institut für Psycholinguistik and Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P
2008 Reproduction and preservation of linguistic knowledge: Linguistics’ response to language endangerment.
Annual Review of Anthropology 37: 337–450.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P
2006a How to miss a paradigm or two: Multifunctional ma- in Tagalog. In
Ameka, Dench &
Evans (eds), 487–526.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P
2006b Language Documentation: What it is and what is it good for? In
Essentials of Language Documentation,
Jost Gippert,
Nikolaus Himmelmann &
Ulrike Mosel (eds), 1–30. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P
1998 Documentary and descriptive linguistics.
Linguistics 36: 161–195.
[URL]> or
[URL] DOI:
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kershner, Tiffany Lynne
2002 The Verb in Chisukwa: Aspect, Tense, and Time. PhD dissertation, Indiana University.
Lehmann, Christian
2004 Data in linguistics.
The Linguistic Review 21:175–210.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lehmann, Christian
1999 Documentation of endangered languages. A priority task for linguistics.
ASSIDUE, Arbeitspapiere des Seminars für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Erfurt
Nr. 1. Erfurt: Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft, Philosophische Fakultät, Universität Erfurt.
Lehmann, Christian
1980 Aufbau einer Grammatik zwischen Sprachtypologie und Universalistik. In
Wege zur Universalienforschung,
Gunter Brettschneider &
Christian Lehmann (eds), 29–37. Tübingen: Narr.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lukusa, Stephen
2009 Shiyeyi-English Dictionary. Munich: Lincom.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lukusa, Stephen T.M
2002 Groundwork in Shiyeyi Grammar with a Shiyeyi-English Glossary. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lüpke, Friederike
2005 Small is beautiful: Contributions of field-based corpora to different linguistic disciplines, illustrated by Jalonke.
Language Documentation and Description 3: 75–105.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Marten, Lutz
2010 Review of “A Grammar of Yeyi. A Bantu Language of Southern Africa” by Frank Seidel.
Afrika und Übersee 91: 137–140.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mettouchi, Amina
2013 Segmenting spoken corpora in lesser-described languages: New perspectives for the structural analysis of speech. Plenary talk at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, Split (Croatia) 18–21 September.
[URL]> and
[URL]
Möhlig, Wilhelm J.G
2003 The prosodological structure of Herero.
FAB 15: 165–179.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Möhlig, Wilhelm J.G
1982 Dialektometrie in Afrika. Methoden zur Messung synchroner sprachlicher Nähe. In
Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur in Afrika. Vorträge gehalten auf dem III. Afrikanistentag, Köln 14–15 Oktober 1982, Ulrike Claudi &
Rainer Vossen (eds), 209–254. Hamburg: Buske.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Möhlig, Wilhelm J.G
1967 Die Sprache der Gciriku. Phonologie, Prosodologie und Morphologie. PhD dissertation, University of Cologne.
Moseley, Christopher
(ed.) 2010 Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
[URL] (13 April 2014).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mosel, Ulrike
2006 Grammaticography: The art and craft of writing grammars. In
Ameka, Dench &
Evans (eds), 41–68.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Musgrave, Simon & Thieberger, Nick
2012 Language description and hypertext: Nunggubuyyu as a case study. In
Electronic Grammaticography [
Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication 4],
Sebastian Nordhoff (ed.), 63–77.
[URL] (28 November 2013).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Newman, Paul & Ratliff, Martha
(eds) 2001 Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen
1991 Aspekttheorie. In
Aspektsysteme [
Arbeitspapier Nr. 14 N.F.]),
Hans-Jürgen Sasse (ed.), 1–35. Köln: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität zu Köln.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seidel, Frank
2004 Review of “Groundwork in Shiyeyi Grammar with a Shiyeyi-English Glossary” by Stephen T.M. Lukusa.
Annual Publication in African Linguistics 2: 135–137
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seidel, Frank
2008 A Grammar of Yeyi: A Bantu Language of Southern Africa. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seyfeddinipur, Mandana
2012 Gesture: Understanding the role of gesture in communication: How gestures can be described. In
The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Fieldwork,
Nicholas Thieberger (ed.), 147–164. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Simone, Raffaele
2001 Sull’ utilita e il danno della storia della linguistica. In
Storia del pensiero linguistico: linearità, fratture e circolarità. Atti del Convegno della Società Italiana di Glottologia, Verona, 11–13 novembre 1999,
Giovanna Massariello Merzagora (ed.), 45–67. Roma: il Calamo.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Simpson, Jane
(ed.) 2007 When is a linguist’s work done and dusted? [URL] (3 December 2013).
Smith, Carlota
1997[1991] The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sommer, Gabriele
2010 Review of “A grammar of Yeyi. A Bantu language of southern Africa” by Frank Seidel.
Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 30(1): 142–144.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sommer, Gabriele
1995. Ethnographie des Sprachwechsels: Sozialer Wandel und Sprachverhalten bei den Yeyi (Botswana). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sommer, Gabriele & Vossen, Rainer
1995 Linguistic variation in Siyeyi. In
The Complete Linguist. Papers in Memory of Patrick J. Dickens,
Anthony Traill,
Rainer Vossen &
Megan Biesele (eds), 407–479. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thieberger, Nicholas
(ed.) 2012 The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Fieldwork. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vaux, Bert, Cooper, Justin & Tucker, Emily
2007 Linguistic Field Methods. Eugene OR: Wipf & Stock.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vendler, Zeno
1967 Linguistics in Philosopy. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Woodbury, Anthony C
2003 Defining documentary linguistics. In
Language Documentation and Description, Vol. 1,
Peter K. Austin (ed.), 35–51. London: SOAS.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.