. . . Basic Assumptions e Method of Direct Elicitations Translations Judgements Comments Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork Matthewson 2004 L 510 – Ioco o Semac April 1, 2015 Jo Ae Mea † ese slides are based on Matthewson (2004) as well as materials that Suzi Lima and Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten have prepared for previous instantiations of L 510. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . Basic Assumptions 2. Fecy coo: e discourse situations that make a sentence acceptable. for it to be true . coo of a sentence is to know what the world would have to look 1. T coo: e conditions under which a sentence is e. To know the to distinguish both. Truth conditions vs Felicity conditions Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations ese also include presuppositions and implicatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Sentences have both coo and fecy coo. It is important ⇒ S is true if and only if p
. . . Truth conditions vs Felicity conditions a. B : Yes, Al wants fish. A : Alright, has Al made a decision? (2) a. B : No, Al wants fish. A : Alright, so Mary wants fish, right? (1) Basic Assumptions not feco in the same circumstances. Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Situation: At the restaurant, deciding what to eat. b. B ′ : No, it is Al who wants fish. b. B ′ : #Yes, it is Al who wants fish. ▸ Although (2a) and (2b) are intuitively e in the same circumstances, they are
. . . Basic Assumptions a. Bill is tall. (4) specified. b. Now you have the physical ability to swim in the lake. a. Now you have permission to swim in the lake. Now you can swim in the lake. (3) which differ in their truth conditions. b. at mountain is small. Ambiguity vs vagueness Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Amy: A sentence is ambiguous is if it has two (or more) interpretations ▸ Vaee: A sentence is vague if some aspect of its meaning is not precisely
. . . Basic Assumptions It involves asking translations and judgments . a native speaker of the object language with the aim of gathering linguistic data. 2. Directelicitation : Amethodofinvestigationwherebytheinvestigatorinterviews dictionaries, corpora, stories, recorded and transcribed conversations, etc. 1. Recorded material : Using material that is available in the object language, like e Method: Direct elicitation Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ ere are several methods that linguists may use to do semantic fieldwork. ⇒ For the second JYW project you will learn and use the second method!
. . . Basic Assumptions e Method of Direct Elicitations Translations Judgements Comments Why direct elicitation? 1. ey can be more accessible than native speakers. 2. Words and sentences always appear in feco contexts. 3. In the case of understudied languages, it is a good place to start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Advantages of recorded material:
. . . Basic Assumptions the full rangeofcontexts thatsupport some particularinterpretation ofa sentence, 4. Insufficient for semantic analysis: ey often do not contain information about materials do not contain negative evidence! not be use. is is often as important as knowing when it can be used! Recorded 3. Negativeevidence : Itprovidesinformationaboutwhenalinguisticexpression can- 2. Your object language may be poorly documented, if at all! 1. ey may contain errors and imprecisions that you don’t even realize they exist. Why direct elicitation? Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations or the use of some form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Disadvantages of recorded material:
. . . Basic Assumptions “someone’s foot / a foot” “his foot” me-foot 3poss-foot me-se:t b. a. o-se:t (5) in Matthewson 2004). pheme in Menominee (data from the linguist Leonard Bloomfield as reported Why direct elicitation? Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations parts, kinship, part–wholes, etc. It indicates that the noun isn’t possessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Example : Suppose you are investigating the meaning of me , a possessor mor- ▸ e morpheme me attaches to “inalienables”, a particular kind of nouns –body
. . . the pack. Problem : e translations provided by Bloomfield are insufficient to determine “he brings a pack” “he makes a pack” come.big-3poss-pack-3 me-pack.inalienable-3 pes-kae:qc-[o-e:was-i]-w b. a. [me-e-:wan-ae:hkae]-w (6) form someone else); (6b) should only mean that the man carrying the pack owns Basic Assumptions Why direct elicitation? Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations whether the analysis is right! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Prediction : (6a) should only mean that he makes a pack is “unpossessed” (e.g.,
. . . Basic Assumptions “he brings a pack” “he makes a pack” come.big-3poss-pack-3 me-pack.inalienable-3 pes-kae:qc-[o-e:was-i]-w b. a. [me-e-:wan-ae:hkae]-w (6) the pack. form someone else); (6b) should only mean that the man carrying the pack owns Why direct elicitation? Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations whether the analysis is right! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Prediction : (6a) should only mean that he makes a pack is “unpossessed” (e.g., ▸ Problem : e translations provided by Bloomfield are insufficient to determine
. . . What direct elicitation is not 2. Reason 2 : Fieldworkers cannot obtain direct access to fecy coo. Clepatra got up before dawn on her twentieth birthday. (7) Example : Try to explain the conditions under which (7) is true. 1. Reason 1 : Fieldworkers cannot obtain direct access to coo. Direct elicitation does not involve direct inquiry about meaning. To keep in mind! Comments Basic Assumptions Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations Example : Try to explain the felicity conditions of the English word the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . o. e Method of Direct Elicitations Translations Judgements Basic Assumptions Comments What direct elicitation is not tions and asking for judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ⇒ Fieldworkers must obtain indirect clues to coo and fecy co- ▸ e indirect clues come from two types of elicitation tasks: asking for transla- ▸ Judgments are usually used more often that translations. ▸ ere are two types of judgments: about ae and about fecy.
. . . Askingfor translations: When tence first and then ask for a judgment and/or change it minimally and ask for a 3. When you are investigating a particular expression and you want to get the sen- way is. (Usually a question about a judgment follows.) in the object language, and you want to know what the most natural/preferred 2. When you know that an English sentence can be translated in two or more ways 1. When you don’t know how to say something in the object language. Comments Basic Assumptions Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . Basic Assumptions for its translation. easy definition and therefore cannot be translated by a native speaker. complex expression, etc.) can very often have a meaning that does not have an Ask for translations of complete sentences only. e Rule Asking for translations: How Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Any piece of language smaller than a sentence (e.g., a morpheme, a phrase, a ▸ Just like you cannot ask directly for the meaning of the , you cannot directly ask ▸ Instead, the strategy is to ask for sentences containing the .
. . . (8) a. e students read two articles each. (10) Each student met in the hallway. b. a. {Every student / all students } met in the hallway. (9) {Every / each } the student(s) work hard. b. a. All the students work hard. b. e students read two articles {all / every }. Basic Assumptions Asking for translations: How Comments Judgements Translations e Method of Direct Elicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▸ Example 1 : Consider all , each and every . eir meaning is very similar, right?
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