Introduction: The need for a Pacific languages archive

Why do we need an archive of sound recordings of the languages (and music, oral literature, etc.) of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands? The short answer is simple: To preserve for posterity as rich as possible a record of the languages and cultures which existed in this region at the times such recordings were first made, in the mid-20th century and which, to a large extent still exist. The Pacific Islands contain some 1300 languages, almost a quarter of the worlds total, and perhaps as many different societies with their own distinctive oral and musical traditions. The forces of modernisation are inexorably transforming traditional ways of life and many languages, oral literatures and other kinds of traditional knowledge are being lost or diminished. The paper will consider a number of more specific questions, such as: Who are the intended users of the archive? What sorts and quantities of materials already exist, needing to be archived? And how is the existence of such an archive likely to shape or influence the research agenda and methods of fieldworkers in the future?Australian Academy of the Humanities; Australian E-Humanities Network; Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sydney; School of Society, Culture and Performance, Faculty of Arts, University of Sydne

Review of The Oxford handbook of linguistic fieldwork

National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Grammar writing from a dissertation advisor’s perspective

Anyone who intends to produce a grammar of a previously little-described language needs to (1) plan the scope, methods and timetable of the data gathering process, (2) think about the conceptual framework that will shape data-gathering and analysis, (3) gather and organize the data, (4) analyse the data, and (5) plan the structure of the written account and (6) write the grammar. The steps are not simply sequential but are to some extent cyclical. This chapter will look at an advisor’s role in guiding a PhD student through these steps. It will focus on the following questions: What kinds of data, and how much, are sufficient to base a grammar on? What is a realistic size for a PhD dissertation grammar? What are the main alternative ways of organizing a grammatical description, e.g. in terms of topic divisions and sequencing? What are the dos and don’ts to be followed in order to make the grammar as descriptively adequate and user friendly as possible? What are the main reasons why some students take forever to complete the analysis and writing process?National Foreign Language Resource Cente