Projects in linguistics : a practical guide to researching language

Cover......Page 1
Book title......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
What the book does......Page 12
The second edition......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 14
International Phonetic Alphabet......Page 15
Choosing an area......Page 16
Getting organized......Page 18
Using resources......Page 20
Being a researcher......Page 22
Setting up data-based research......Page 25
Being streetwise: keeping on the right side of your assessor......Page 29
PART I: AREAS OF STUDY AND PROJECT IDEAS......Page 30
Textbooks and major journals......Page 32
Central themes and project ideas......Page 33
Approaches to research......Page 45
Textbooks and major journals......Page 46
Accessing children......Page 47
Working with children......Page 48
Central themes and project ideas......Page 49
Terminology......Page 60
Textbooks and major journals......Page 61
Things to think about......Page 62
Central themes and project ideas......Page 63
Textbooks and major journals......Page 75
Central themes and project ideas......Page 76
6 Style in spoken and written texts......Page 90
Textbooks and major journals......Page 91
Central themes and project ideas......Page 92
7 Sociolinguistics......Page 107
Terminology and central concepts......Page 108
Textbooks and major journals......Page 109
Central themes and project ideas......Page 110
Terminology......Page 117
Central themes and project ideas......Page 118
9 Accents and dialects of English......Page 128
Textbooks, reference sources and major journals......Page 129
Obtaining data......Page 131
What to look for in a dialect......Page 132
Possible angles and project ideas......Page 134
Things to think about......Page 140
10 History of English......Page 141
Textbooks, reference sources and major journals......Page 142
Central themes and project ideas......Page 143
Things to think about......Page 150
PART II: TECHNIQUES FOR COLLECTING DATA......Page 152
Ethics and legality......Page 154
How much data do you need?......Page 155
Practicalities......Page 156
Things to think about......Page 157
What does experimentation involve?......Page 159
Designing an experiment......Page 161
Things to think about......Page 163
Disadvantages of experimental research......Page 165
Deciding if you need a questionnaire, interview or focus group......Page 167
Subjects......Page 168
Limitations of self-report......Page 169
Ways of getting information......Page 170
Questionnaires......Page 173
Interviews......Page 177
Focus groups......Page 180
Observation studies......Page 183
Case studies......Page 185
Ethics policies and guidelines......Page 188
The difference between confidentiality and anonymity......Page 189
Data Protection Laws......Page 190
PART III: TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS AND PROJECT WRITING......Page 192
The difference between phonetic and phonemic transcription......Page 194
A few notes on phonemes......Page 195
Phonetic and phonemic symbols in word processing......Page 196
Hints on writing about pronunciation......Page 197
Checklist of phonemes......Page 198
How to organize the presentation of a transcription......Page 200
Turn taking......Page 202
Silence and non-verbal communication in conversation......Page 203
Dealing with unusual pronunciations......Page 204
Transcribing unclear utterances......Page 205
Marking pitch, emphasis, volume and speed......Page 206
External events......Page 208
Presenting the transcription......Page 209
Presenting the audio data......Page 210
Why is a corpus useful?......Page 211
How do corpus searches operate?......Page 212
How do you find a corpus?......Page 215
Making sense of corpus annotation......Page 217
Compiling your own corpus: potential problems......Page 218
Further reading......Page 219
Do you need graphs and calculations in your project?......Page 220
Descriptive statistics and basic calculations......Page 221
Using statistical analyses......Page 228
Textbooks......Page 232
Help for the mathematically insecure......Page 233
Key to the most common algebraic symbols used in basic statistics......Page 234
Basics......Page 236
The Harvard system......Page 240
The Humane system......Page 249
What is plagiarism?......Page 252
How to avoid accidental plagiarism: some strategies......Page 253
Before you start to write......Page 267
As you are writing......Page 268
After you have written......Page 269
Using punctuation......Page 270
Other common problems......Page 271
References......Page 273
A......Page 292
C......Page 293
D......Page 294
E......Page 295
G......Page 296
J......Page 297
M......Page 298
N......Page 299
P......Page 300
R......Page 301
S......Page 302
T......Page 304
Y......Page 305