Oswald Werner

How to Reduce an Unwritten Language to Writing: I

This is the first of several Short Takes articles that will deal with the reduction of previously unwritten languages or dialects to writing. This series will culminate in one or more articles on how to learn a field language. Obviously, before starting to learn a field language, it becomes necessary to systematically write down and organize words, phrases, and texts in order to aid ones memory and facilitate ethnographic analysis. This article introduces the reader to vowel sounds and their transcription in human languages.

Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 1—Principles

Ethnographers often overlook the importance of space in peoples lives. When ethnographers make maps, they often lack key information on scale, orientation, and dimension that is essential for understanding what a map represents. The authors outline basic principles of mapmaking and demonstrate how easily maps can be made under field conditions. If ethnographers take the short amount of time to make decent maps of human cultural behavior, the crucially important spatial dimension of peoples lives will not be lost.

How to Reduce an Unwritten Language to Writing: II. Consonants

This is the second article on reducing field languages to the written word. Here the author deals with the consonants, setting up a basic set of eighteen consonants and two semivowels and expanding them with Series-Generating Components (SGCs) to forty-eight. There are, of course, many more consonantal varieties in the languages of the world, but this set should be sufficient to get a field ethnographer started. The ethnographer who encounters exotic sounds not listed in this article should consult an expert. Much can be learned by reading about the languages of the area where the fieldwork is to take place. The appendix contains an empty form to be duplicated for fieldwork with unwritten languages.

How to Reduce an Unwritten Language to Writing: III. Phonetic Similarity, Suspicious Pairs, and Minimal Pairs

Phonetic analysis can be done with a short list of a few hundred words. First, carefully transcribe the list phonetically. Second, list the inventory of symbols. Third, tabulate the symbols by their articulatory position. Fourth, declare symbols in close articulatory proximity, that is, sounds of great phonetic similarity, as suspicious pairs. Finally, find two words with different meanings that are phonetically identical except for one member of a suspicious pair in each. Finding such a minimal pair implies that we have found a phoneme (writing symbol).

Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 2—Practical Concerns and Triangulation

The authors introduced the importance and principles of ethnographic mapmaking in Part 1 of this series. Here, they discuss practical matters when making maps in ethnographic situations, including ethics, measurement, and scale. They also provide an example of the triangulation method.

How to Reduce an Unwritten Language to Writing: IV. Complementary Distribution

Complementary distribution analysis is the final test of phonemehood. The author examines the environments in which particular, phonetically similar phones occur and proposes a charting technique to test if these putative allophones belong to one phoneme. That phoneme then becomes part of the set of symbols for unambiguously writing a previously unwritten language. Care has to be taken because complementary distribution alone is insufficient evidence for phonemehood.

When Recording Is Impossible

Whenever possible, ethnographers should record conversation (interviews) with the “natives.” This Short Take deals with mnemonic procedures that an ethnographer can use when recording is impossible for external reasons. The author recommends two methods: (1) memory training and (2) recalling of the interview “in your mind’s eye” three times, each with increasing recall of detail.

Uses of a Fish-Eye Lens

Most wide-angle lenses are not wide enough to show an entire room with material possessions in context. However, such wide coverage can be accomplished with a fish-eye lens. Recently, fish-eye auxiliary lenses have become available at low cost, making them affordable for most ethnographers. The author demonstrates the usefulness of a fish-eye lens with a photograph of his living room in Albuquerque. The limitations of standard lenses are shown with Vicos (Peru) photographs by John Collier, Jr. Fish-eye lenses can also be used to document the personnel present at meetings.