AMU linguist speaks on Field Linguistics
Aligarh : Prof M J Warsi, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) called for significant attention to ‘Field Linguistics’ for producing descriptions and first-hand knowledge of less studied languages.
He was delivering the valedictory address on October 15 of the workshop on ‘Field Linguistics’ organised by the International School of Dravidian Linguistics and the Department of Linguistics, University of Kerala.
“Field Linguistics is an area which needs sufficient attention. There are many endangered languages and dialects in the Country with unique lexicons and specified meanings appropriate to the society that the language is used in. Preserving them will help us to understand these languages in all manifestations situated in the real world”, remarked Prof Warsi.
He pointed out: “It is imperative that linguists and researchers are given the field methodology training for undertaking linguistic surveys for sustaining and providing new life to less studied languages and dialects”.
“As more and more languages are on the verge of extinction, field linguistics is becoming increasingly necessary for preserving and documenting the languages in question. It can be useful for linguists and researchers to consider together the kinds of documentation that will meet not only current needs but also those of future generations”, said Prof Warsi.
He added: The work of field linguistics experts plays an important role in capturing the linguistic diversity across the globe and documents various aspects of language, not only grammar but also the indigenous knowledge system. Their work is extremely important in understanding why and how languages differ from each other.
“Field linguistics provides us with new data in a particular language that helps in refining the existing grammar and large data-base and figures out the typology of languages. The language structure obtained in field linguistics answers basic questions in sociolinguistics”, stressed Prof Warsi.
He pressed the need for more information, work and research on languages that are near death as successive generations of speakers are becoming bilingual and no longer possess the proficiency in their traditional languages.