Field Linguistics

This book deals with one aspect of the issue of linguistic diversity in the world: the task of linguistic documentation arising out of original research in the  field. Although many linguistics programmes include a field methods component, I have often been asked by academics, ‘When you do  fieldwork, how do you actually start?’ This suggests that researchers are possibly sometimes still being thrown into the  field at the deep end, much as I suppose I was back in the early 1970s when I was sent on my first fieldtrip. I went with an abundance of enthusiasm, tempered with some trepidation, but not a whole lot of practical training. There therefore has to be a substantial need for a book such as this.