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Linguistic fieldwork.

Article Excerpt
Linguistic fieldwork. Ed. by PAUL NEWMAN and MARTHA RATLIFF. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xii, 288. Hardback $69.95.

In the introduction to Linguistic fieldwork, Paul Newman and Martha Ratliff state the two main purposes of their edited volume are '(a) to convey the intellectual excitement of linguistic fieldwork; and (b) to give a realistic picture of the complex and involved business of describing language as it is used by actual speakers in natural settings' (1). As a compilation of 12 papers written by researchers with fieldwork experience on a variety of languages, Linguistic fieldwork does indeed convey the sense of excitement in conducting fieldwork, while at the same time discussing both the difficulties and rewards of doing such work.

Since the word fieldwork has been used in various ways, the first article of the book is devoted to providing a definition for the papers that follow. Basing his definition on his own experience conducting fieldwork in Nigeria and Cameroon, Larry Hyman contends that using set characteristics to define fieldwork is problematic and that a better approach may be to define the term using more general properties, as well as those things that fieldwork is not. Hyman argues, somewhat surprisingly and narrowly, that fieldwork does not rely on introspection, is not done in a teaching institution and is not done with the researcher's own language. Fieldwork does, however, require appropriate methodologies, including elicitation and observation, and also requires a time commitment. Hyman concludes that, 'Given all of the above complexities, I contend that linguistic fieldwork is not so much a discrete, definable activity as it is a state of mind' (21).

In Chapter 2, Marianne Mithun discusses the use of...

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