ERIC Number: EJ1075310
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1934-5275
EISSN: N/A
Tools for Analyzing Verbal Art in the Field
Turpin, Myfany; Henderson, Lana
Language Documentation & Conservation, v9 p89-109 2015
Song is a universal human phenomenon that can shed much light on the nature of language. Despite this, field linguists are not always equipped with the knowledge and skills to analyze song texts and draw out their significances to other areas of language. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for a language community to ask linguists working in the field to record and document their songs. Barwick (2012) identifies a number of reasons why linguists should work on songs and identifies iTunes as a local repository for recordings of songs. This paper expands on these reasons and describes how iTunes software can be used for comparing, retrieving and managing recordings of songs. This not only assists analysis of song structure and text, but is also a useful means of providing the community with recordings, even in the absence of a local repository. The paper draws on our use of iTunes during fieldwork on central Australian Aboriginal songs. Our aim is to share the methodology and workflow we use and to encourage linguists to work on this universal, yet often neglected, aspect of language that is often highly valued within the language community.
Descriptors: Singing, Language Research, Computer Software, Audio Equipment, Indigenous Populations, Languages, Foreign Countries, Research Methodology, Documentation
National Foreign Language Resources Center at University of Hawaii. Department of Linguistics, UHM Moore Hall 569, 1890 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822. Fax: 808-956-9166; e-mail: ldc@hawaii.edu; Web site: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A