Language survey explained

A language survey is conducted around the world for a variety of reasons.

Methods

Methods used in language surveys depend on the questions that the survey is trying to answer. Methods used include collecting word lists,[7] playing recorded texts to assess comprehension,[8] [9] sentence repetition tests,[10] questionnaires,[11] group and individual interviews, retelling of stories,[12] direct observation,[13] pointing to pictures after listening to instructions,[14] and even internet surveys[15] [16]

There is a growing trend to involve communities more in language survey, using a variety of methods.[17] [18]

As with any form of research, the methods used depend on the questions that the researchers are trying to answer. Also, the reliability of the results varies according to the method and the rigor with which it is applied, proper sampling technique, etc.

Applications

The results of language surveys are use for a variety of purposes. One of the most common is in making decisions for implementing educational programs. The results have also been used for making decision for language development work (Holbrook, 2001). And of course, academics are always interested in the results of any language survey.

Agencies

Surveys have also been conducted by ethnic associations (Saskatchewan 1991), government agencies (Statistics Canada 1993), NGO's (Toba, et al. 2002), foundations (Pew Hispanic Center 2004), etc. Often such groups work together (Clifton 2002). Some large and notable surveys include the Linguistic Survey of India which was begun by George Abraham Grierson late in the 19th century (Sociolinguistics research in India) and the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in East Africa, sponsored by the Ford Foundation from the 1960s. Both resulted in a number of volumes describing locations of languages, patterns of multilingualism, language classification, and also included descriptions of languages, such as Language in Ethiopia (Bender, Bowen, Cooper, and Ferguson 1976). The single agency conducting the most language surveys around the world is SIL International (Summer Institute of Linguistics).

Language survey work is also done by academics, such as graduate students doing dissertation or thesis work[19] or faculty members doing research.[20]

Sign languages

Surveys have usually been conducted among spoken languages. However, surveys have also been done among users of sign languages (Vasishta, Woodward, and Wilson 1978, Woodward 1991, 1993, 1996, Parkhurst & Parkhurst 1998, Al-Fityani & Padden 2008). As with surveys among spoken languages, surveys among sign languages have studied multilingualism, attitudes about various languages both spoken and signed (Ciupek-Reed 2012), differences and similarities between signed varieties (Aldersson and McEntee-Atalianis 2007, Bickford 1991, 2005, Parks 2011), and assessing the vitality of signed languages, and initial descriptions of undocumented sign languages. Adopting and adapting the concept of "extensibility" from spoken languages, Jason Hopkins wrote about how this could be applied to surveying sign languages.[21]

References: sample survey reports

References: survey methodology

External links

Notes and References

  1. Labov, William. 1982. The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, D. C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
  2. Backstrom, Peter C. 1992. "Wakhi." In Peter C. Backstrom and Carla J. Radloff (eds.), Languages of northern areas, 57-74. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 2. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics
  3. Egland, Steven T., ed. 1978. La inteligibilidad interdialectal en México: Resultados de algunos sondeos. Mexico: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (Mexico)|Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
  4. Statistics Canada. (1993). 1991 Aboriginal peoples survey: Language, tradition, health, lifestyle and social issues. Catalogue No. 89-533. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Post Censal Surveys Program.
  5. Ferreira, Jo-Anne and David Holbrook. 2002. Are they dying? The case of some French-lexifier creoles. La Torre 7(25): 367-397
  6. King, Julie K. and John Wayne King, editors. 1984. Languages of Sabah: a survey report. (Pacific Linguistics C, 78.) Canberra: Australian National University.
  7. Bender, Marvin Lionel. "The languages of Ethiopia: a new lexicostatistic classification and some problems of diffusion." Anthropological Linguistics (1971): 165-288.
  8. Casad, Eugene H. 1974. Dialect intelligibility testing. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics and Related Fields, 38. Norman: Summer Institute of Linguistics of the University of Oklahoma.
  9. Yoder, Zachariah. 2017. "The reliability of recorded text test scores: widespread inconsistent intelligibility testing in minority languages." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38, no. 9: 843-855.
  10. Radloff, Carla F. 1991. Sentence repetition testing for studies of community bilingualism. Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics, 104. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.
  11. Hochstetler, Lee and Tim Tillinghast. 1996. "Discussion on sociolinguistic questionnaires." Notes on Literature in Use and Language Programs 48: 48-61.
  12. McKinnie, Meghan and Tom Priestly. 2004. Telling tales out of school: assessing linguistic competence in minority language fieldwork. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 25(1): 24-40.
  13. Cooper, R. L. and S. Carpenter. 1976. Language in the Market. In Language in Ethiopia, ed. by Bender, M. L., J. D. Bowen, R. L. Cooper, and C. A. Ferguson, pp. 244–255. London: Oxford University Press.
  14. Gooskens, Charlotte and Cindy Schneider. 2016. Testing mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in an oral society. Language Documentation & Conservation Vol. 10: 278–30
  15. Web site: OSSE Home Language Survey | osse.
  16. Web site: Surveys of Attitudes Toward the Māori Language.
  17. Travis, Catherine E., and Rena Torres Cacoullos. "BEYOND QUESTIONNAIRES: COMMUNITY-BASED MEASURES OF BILINGUALISM." International journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest 34, no. 1-2 (2015): 105-128.
  18. Hasselbring, Sue A., Rosario Viloria, and Mila Mata. "A participatory assessment of Kinamayo: A language of Eastern Mindanao." SIL Electronic Survey Reports 35 (2011).
  19. Othman, M. "Language maintenance in the Arabic–speaking community in Manchester, Britain: A sociolinguistic investigation." PhD thesis, the University of Manchester. http://www. arabic. humanities. manchester. ac. uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Othman-2011. pdf.
  20. Al-Khatib, Mahmoud A., and Mohammed N. Al-Ali. "Language and cultural maintenance among the Gypsies of Jordan." Journal of multilingual and multicultural development 26, no. 3 (2005): 187-215.
  21. Hopkins, Jason. "Toward a Further Understanding of the Extensibility of Sign Languages." (2013). MA thesis, University of North Dakota.

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