Projects in Linguistics : A Practical Guide to Researching Language

by Wray, Alison; Trott, Kate; Bloomer, Aileen

• ISBN13: 9780340905784
• ISBN10: 0340905786
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-21
• Publisher: TRANS-ATLANTIC PUBLICATIONS

Summary

Following increased emphasis on research projects at the undergraduate level, this book, now in paperback, teaches students how to write good research projects in linguistics. Giving an overview of major themes of linguistics and introducing essential tools and techniques, the book provides practical advice on how to choose a research topic, collect data, analyse it, and write up the results. Incorporating over 300 project ideas and covering plagiarism, referencing, phonetic and orthographic transcription and tips on writing good English, Projects in Linguistics is a treasure trove of helpful information vital to students in the field.

Table of Contents

Preface to second edition	xi
Why we wrote this book	xi
Who the book is for	xi
What the book does	xii
What the book doesn't do	xii
The second edition	xii
Acknowledgments	xiii
International Phonetic Alphabet	xiv
Introduction: starting on the right foot	1	(16)
Choosing an area	1	(2)
Getting organized	3	(2)
Using resources	5	(2)
Being a researcher	7	(3)
Theory-only projects	10	(1)
Setting up data-based research	10	(4)
Being streetwise: keeping on the right side of your assessor	14	(3)
PART I AREAS OF STUDY AND PROJECT IDEAS
Psycholinguistics	17	(13)
Textbooks and major journals	17	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	18	(12)
How psycholinguists conceptualize language	19	(1)
How we understand language	19	(2)
Psycholinguistics and grammatical theory	21	(1)
Lexical and structural ambiguity	22	(1)
How we produce spoken language	23	(3)
How we produce writing	26	(1)
Language and thought	27	(3)
First-language acquisition and development	30	(15)
Approaches to research	30	(1)
Terminology	31	(1)
Textbooks and major journals	31	(1)
Things to think about	32	(1)
Accessing children	32	(1)
Working with children	33	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	34	(11)
Longitudinal case studies	34	(1)
Prelinguistic development	35	(1)
Over- and under-extension: lexical and semantic development	35	(1)
Children's morphology	36	(1)
Development of phonology and intonation	36	(1)
Comprehension of complex grammatical structures	37	(1)
Children's metalinguistic awareness	38	(1)
Colour terms	38	(2)
Carer language (or child-directed speech)	40	(1)
Conversational development	40	(1)
Sources of variation in child language	41	(1)
Literacy development	41	(2)
Developmental problems	43	(1)
Later language acquisition	43	(2)
Second-language acquisition	45	(15)
Terminology	45	(1)
Textbooks and major journals	46	(1)
Things to think about	47	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	48	(12)
Developmental sequences and the process of acquisition	48	(1)
Comparison of L1 and L2 acquisition	48	(1)
Language-learning targets	49	(1)
Motivation	50	(1)
Grammar-based and communication-based teaching	50	(2)
Vocabulary acquisition	52	(1)
Different concepts expressed in different languages	52	(1)
The learner's approach and experience	53	(1)
Interlanguage, error analysis and contrastive analysis	54	(1)
Language assessment and testing	54	(1)
Bilinguals, multilinguals and polyglots	55	(1)
Language teaching policies	56	(1)
Effect of the year abroad	57	(1)
Role of the social and political status of English as L2	58	(2)
Structure and meaning	60	(15)
Textbooks and major journals	60	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	61	(14)
Pragmatics	61	(2)
Metaphor	63	(1)
Sentence structure	64	(2)
Words in isolation and in combination	66	(3)
Morphology and etymology	69	(1)
Punctuation	70	(1)
`Correct' grammar	71	(4)
Style in spoken and written texts	75	(17)
Textbooks and major journals	76	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	77	(15)
Sound patterns within texts	77	(2)
Lexical choice within texts	79	(1)
Grammatical structure within texts	80	(2)
Interpersonal function of texts	82	(2)
Formality and informality	84	(1)
Ideology and power	85	(2)
Authorship	87	(1)
Oral texts	87	(2)
Electronically conveyed texts	89	(3)
Sociolinguistics	92	(10)
Terminology and central concepts	93	(1)
Textbooks and major journals	94	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	95	(7)
Quantitative approaches	95	(1)
Social networks	96	(1)
Qualitative approaches	97	(5)
Language and gender	102	(11)
Terminology	102	(1)
Textbooks and major journals	103	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	103	(10)
The gender variable in linguistic research	103	(1)
Attitudes towards male and female language	104	(1)
Gender differences in accent and dialect	105	(1)
Differences in conversation and style of language use	106	(2)
Gay language	108	(1)
Explanations of difference	108	(1)
Language and sexism	109	(1)
Gender-differentiated language in first-language acquisition	110	(1)
Language, gender and education	111	(2)
Accents and dialects of English	113	(13)
Terminology	114	(1)
Textbooks, reference sources and major journals	114	(2)
Which accent/dialect to choose	116	(1)
Obtaining data	116	(1)
What to look for in an accent	117	(1)
What to look for in a dialect	117	(2)
Possible angles and project ideas	119	(6)
Comparing the speech of three generations	119	(1)
Comparing the accents of different non-native speakers	120	(1)
Explaining why a variety has come about	121	(1)
The political dimension of a variety	121	(1)
Accent and dialect in literature	122	(1)
Update study	123	(1)
Comparison of two varieties	124	(1)
Things to think about	125	(1)
History of English	126	(13)
Textbooks, reference sources and major journals	127	(1)
Central themes and project ideas	128	(7)
Researching words and names	128	(3)
Pronunciation and spelling	131	(2)
History of English dialects	133	(1)
The profile of a feature of English across time	133	(1)
Sociopolitical trends and influences on English	133	(1)
English as a world language	134	(1)
The influence of literacy on language	135	(1)
Things to think about	135	(4)
PART II TECHNIQUES FOR COLLECTING DATA
Audio- and video-recorded data	139	(5)
Places to get data	139	(1)
Audio or video?	139	(1)
Naturalistic data	139	(1)
Ethics and legality	139	(1)
Quality	140	(1)
How much data do you need?	140	(1)
Practicalities	141	(1)
What to submit	142	(1)
Things to think about	142	(2)
Experiments	144	(8)
What does experimentation involve?	144	(2)
Designing an experiment	146	(2)
Things to think about	148	(2)
Advantages of experimental research	150	(1)
Disadvantages of experimental research	150	(2)
Questionnaires, interviews and focus groups	152	(16)
Deciding if you need a questionnaire, interview or focus group	152	(1)
Common uses of interviews, focus groups and questionnaires	153	(1)
Subjects	153	(1)
Personal information, confidentiality and anonymity	154	(1)
Limitations of self-report	154	(1)
Ways of getting information	155	(3)
Things to think about	158	(1)
Questionnaires	158	(4)
Interviews	162	(3)
Focus groups	165	(3)
Observation and case studies	168	(5)
Observation studies	168	(2)
Case studies	170	(3)
Ethical considerations in research projects	173	(6)
Ethics policies and guidelines	173	(1)
The difference between confidentiality and anonymity	174	(1)
Data Protection Laws	175	(4)
PART III TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS AND PROJECT WRITING
Transcribing speech phonetically and phonemically	179	(6)
The difference between phonetic and phonemic transcription	179	(1)
A few notes on phonemes	180	(1)
Phonetic and phonemic symbols in word processing	181	(1)
Hints on writing about pronunciation	182	(1)
Checklist of phonemes	183	(2)
Transcribing speech orthographically	185	(11)
How to organize the presentation of a transcription	185	(2)
Turn taking	187	(1)
Silence and non-verbal communication in conversation	188	(1)
Dealing with unusual pronunciations	189	(1)
Transcribing unclear utterances	190	(1)
Marking pitch, emphasis, volume and speed	191	(2)
External events	193	(1)
Presenting the transcription	194	(1)
Presenting the audio data	195	(1)
Using computers to study texts	196	(9)
What is a corpus?	196	(1)
Why is a corpus useful?	196	(1)
How do corpus searches operate?	197	(3)
How do you find a corpus?	200	(2)
What are the main text analysis tools?	202	(1)
Making sense of corpus annotation	202	(1)
Using corpora effectively in your work	203	(1)
Compiling your own corpus: potential problems	203	(1)
Limitations of corpora	204	(1)
Further reading	204	(1)
Statistics and your project	205	(16)
Do you need graphs and calculations in your project?	205	(1)
Descriptive statistics and basic calculations	206	(7)
Using statistical analyses	213	(4)
Textbooks	217	(1)
Help for the mathematically insecure	218	(1)
Key to the most common algebraic symbols used in basic statistics	219	(2)
How to reference	221	(16)
Basics	221	(4)
The Harvard system	225	(9)
The Humane system	234	(3)
Plagiarism and how to avoid it	237	(15)
What is plagiarism?	237	(1)
Will you get found out?	238	(1)
How to avoid accidental plagiarism: some strategies	238	(14)
Hints on writing good academic English	252	(6)
Before you start to write	252	(1)
As you are writing	253	(1)
After you have written	254	(1)
The uses of apostrophes	255	(1)
Using punctuation	255	(1)
Other common problems	256	(2)
References	258	(19)
Index	277