Interdisciplinary research in language documentation: The benefits and present limits of a more sustainable documentation methodology

Round, Sarah

Abstract

Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) in language documentation furnishes linguists with the knowledge they require to access and explain linguistic practices inextricable from their extra-disciplinary context. By heightening the validity of documentation in this way, as well as generating linguistic data of novel importance to other disciplines, the use of interdisciplinary methods moreover creates a more sustainable documentary model. In spite of this, IDR does not secure any sizeable disciplinary and financial interest relative to mono-disciplinary models. The following paper examines the extent to which this lesser uptake of IDR within documentation projects may be caused by the particular disadvantages of its related methods, such as investigating language-specific Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) or cross-disciplinary domain-based concerns, and to what extent this may be caused by its lower levels of exposure and funding in the academic community. Finding the answers to resolve IDR’s lesser prominence within Linguistic academia should, in turn, facilitate its increased teaching and more proficient practice within language documentation. This paper does not present primary research, but instead aims to summarise relevant arguments and studies in a manner accessible to the general reader.

Citation

Round, S. (2021). Interdisciplinary research in language documentation: The benefits and present limits of a more sustainable documentation methodology. SOAS working papers in linguistics, 20, 165-180. https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00035596

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Oct 4, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2021
• Journal: SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics
• Print ISSN: 1473-0855
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Pages: 165-180
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00035596
• Keywords: Interdisciplinary Research (IDR), Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), interdisciplinary domains, indigenous taxonomy, extra disciplinary data, ethnobotany, ethnography, language documentation
• Publisher URL: https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/schools-and-departments/school-languages-cultures-and-linguistics/department-linguistics/soas