Chapter 1: Introduction
1.6 Methodology
1.6.3 Data collection and analysis
The main informant providing language data for this thesis is Mazeljzelj Curimudju.
Other informants are: Ljumiyan Tjakulavu, Sabu Daljawlep, Selep Taveljaengan and Acudus Telealan. Selep Taveljaengan served as a communication assistant in my interviews with Ljumiyan Tjakulavu and Sabu Daljawlep.
In addition, for a better understanding of Paiwan culture and history, I have taken particular interviews about the culture or migration history of tribes. The consultants for this are Lin Bixin and Selep Taveljaengan.
1.6.3 Data collection and analysis
This section presents aspects of data collection and analysis. Section 1.6.3.1 presents the equipment and conditions for audio recording.
The types of data I collected include word lists, individual sentences, and traditional narratives. The method for collecting word lists is shown in Section 1.6.3.2. To collect individual sentences, three main methods were adopted. They are (i) sentence paraphrasing, (ii) correctness test, and (iii) stimuli using pictures, which are respectively discussed in Section 1.6.3.3, Section 1.6.3.4 and Section 1.6.3.5. The method of collecting narratives are discussed in Section 1.6.3.6. The main program adopted for analyzing linguistic data is FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx)20
1.6.3.1 Recording equipment and conditions
A ZOOM H1 Handy Recorder and a laptop were used for audio recordings. Each informant was asked for oral permission to record their information before the first recording in which they participated. They were informed that the recorded data would be used only for academic research and would not be disseminated without further permission. The informants
20 See https://software.sil.org/fieldworks. SIL Fieldworks.
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can also request for a break at any time in the duration of interview. The recording time of each interview ranges from 30 to 120 minutes.
1.6.3.2 Collecting word lists
I used three methods to collect word lists. The first way is to ask randomly, or under a theme (e.g. animals, weather, numbers). The second way is to get vocabulary from the individual sentences. After the informant gives a sentence, I then ask him or her to explain each element in the sentence.
The third way is by derivation or by back-formation, that is, we ask the informant to derive words or to create words by removing affixes. We can show some words and their derived forms, and ask the informant if the kind of derivation can be applied to another base.
We can also show some possible derived words and check if they can be segmented. A example is given in Table 1.3.
Regarding the technique of derivation, we show kivangavang ‘play’ and
ka-kivangavang-an ‘place for entertainment’, and taʔed ‘lie’ and ta-taʔed-an ‘bed; bedroom’ to the informant. Then, we ask the informant if the kind of derivation can be applied to vecik
‘write’ and seʔetj ‘put’. The informant returns va-vecik-an ‘blackboard; workbook; notebook’
and sa-seʔetj-an ‘cabinet; storage place’ and also tells the word va-vecik-en ‘homework;
assignment’ when mentioning va-vecik-an.
Regarding the technique of back-formation, we guess that the words for ‘chopping board’ and ‘vase; flower pot’ should be derived forms. By inquiring, we get tjatjagetjagan
‘chopping board’ and papuhanaan ‘vase; flower’. By checking the words for ‘chopping board’ and ‘vase; flower’, we find that they can be segmented into tja-tjagetjag-an and pa-pu-hana-an. By asking the informant, the word tjagetjag ‘cut’ and puhana ‘put flowers’ do exist. The informant also point out the word pu-hana-an ‘garden’.
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A sample of collecting word lists by derivation and back-formation: Ca- -an21
Stem Meaning Derived word Meaning
kivangavang ‘play (玩)’ ka-kivangavang-an ‘place for entertainment (玩樂場所)’
taʔed ‘sleep (睡)’ ta-taʔed-an ‘bed; bedroom (床；臥室)’
vecik ‘write (寫)’ va-vecik-an
‘blackboard; workbook; notebook (黑 板；練習簿；筆記本)’
va-vecik-en ‘homework; assignment (作業)’
seʔetj ‘put (放)’ sa-seʔetj-an ‘cabinet; storage place (櫃子；存放處)’
tjagetjag ‘cut (切)’ tja-tjagetjag-an ‘chopping board (砧板)’
puhana
‘put flowers (放花)’
pa-puhana-an ‘vase; flower pot (花瓶；花盆)’
puhana-an ‘garden (花園)’
(sinapayan)
1.6.3.3 Collecting sentences - sentence paraphrasing
In sentence paraphrasing, I prepare several groups of written Chinese sentences before the interviews. And the informants are asked to paraphrase the Chinese sentences in Paiwan.
The sentences are created with a specific purpose in mind. For sentences in each group, I would envisage both the commonness and the divergence of some compositions. The commonness means that each group may represent one grammatical category, while the divergence refers to the difference we expect to see. An example is shown in (1.3). The compositions to compare is underlined.
In (1.3), the commonness we have assumed is that both of the compositions are noun phrases, and the divergence we expect to see is that there is the difference of some uses between non-human and human noun phrases. The Paiwan data collected for (1.3) are shown
21 Information collected by inquiring the informant are shown in the gray lattices.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
in (1.4). In (1.4a), the NP construction is [NUM ADJV LIG N], and in (1.4b), the numeral is preceded by an element. We may guess that the element marks human referents.
(1.3) Commonness: Noun phrases
Divergence: Animacy (non-human vs. human) a. Chinese sentence: 巷子裡有兩棵老樹。
English translation: In the alley are two old trees.
b. Chinese sentence: 我家一共有四個人。
English translation: There are four people in my family.
(1.4) a. izua drusa vulu~vulung a kasiv i-tja-ljapitjapi.
EXIST two RED~elder LIG tree LOC-SPEC -alley
‘There are two old trees in the alley.’ (sinapayan)
b. malje-sepatj=amen a ta umaʔan.
CL.H-four=NOM.1PL.EXCL LIG OBL.CMN family
‘There are four people in my family.’ (sinapayan)
However, by this method, the data collected may not be in line with our expectations (we may get some other results by serendipity, however). The possible reasons may be:
i. The language of Chinese affects the expression of the informant.
ii. The usage of the sentence we expect to get is grammatical, but it is unnatural.
iii. The informant paraphrases the sentence in another way.
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1.6.3.4 Collecting sentences - correctness test
The second method for collecting individual sentences, the ‘correctness test’, is to modify sentences by some rules we have found (add or remove some elements, replace an element with another, etc.) and check if the modified sentences are grammatical and natural by inquiring the informants. The informants may then get some inspirations from the modified sentences and tell us more about some situations in which some sentences may be uttered. An example is shown in (1.5). The original sentence we have is (1.5a). We modified it into (1.5b) and asked the informant if it is grammatical. The informant says that it is not and returns (1.5c), (1.5d) and (1.5e).
(1.5) a. vaik-u a s<em>a-kungkuan!
go-IMP.EXCL.AV LIG <AV>go.to-school
‘Go to school!’ (sinapayan)
b. ?vaik-an a s<em>a-kungkuan!
go-IMP.EXCL.UVC LIG <AV>go.to-school
‘Go to school (for the thing the speaker refers to)’ (sinapayan)
c. vaik-an a s<em>a-kungkuan a k<em>an!
go-IMP.EXCL.UVC LIG <AV>go.to-school LIG <AV>eat
‘(Bring the breakfast and) Go to school to eat!’ (sinapayan)
d. vaik-an a s<em>a-kungkuan a kisupu!
go-IMP.EXCL.UVC LIG <AV>go.to-school LIG study
‘(Take to textbook and) Go to school to study!’ (sinapayan)
By (1.5c) and (1.5d) inspired by the informants, we find out that the command should emphasize a referent (e.g. breakfast, textbook) related to what the addresser would do in the school. Although the informant refuses the sentence of (1.5b), we can not say that it is
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
ungrammatical, since some improbable sentences may reasonably be uttered in very specific contexts. This is the main problem of this technique.
1.6.3.5 Collecting sentences - stimuli using pictures
By stimuli using pictures, I give the informant a picture as stimulus. As the name implies, the informants are asked to describe the picture in any way.
An example is shown in Picture 1.1, and the sentences in (1.6) is what two of the informants have given. The advantage of this method is that it may avoid unnaturally produced sentences.
Picture 1.1
(1.6) a. Informant 1
ma-ledep a ʔadav, p<in>a-pe-ʔudjerelj=anga
STAT-sunset NOM.CMN sun <UVP>CAUS-become-reddish=COS
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
na suliap a ljaveʔ.
GEN.CMN red.sky NOM.CMN sea
‘The sun goes down. The pink clouds, make the sea red.’ (sinapayan) b. Informant 2
ma-ledep=anga (a) ʔadaw, ʔudjerelj a
STAT-sunset=COS NOM.CMN sun reddish NOM.CMN
kalevuluvan.
sky
‘The sun has already gone down. The sky is reddish.’ (sapulju)
1.6.3.6 Collecting narratives
In collecting narratives or collecting another other style of monologue such as
exposition, lecture, speech, procedure description and ritual talk, an informant would tell long texts in Paiwan and explain them by Chinese. The Paiwan and Chinese texts uttered by the informant are sometimes not perfectly corresponding to each other. The meaning of some texts would be uncertain in the initial analysis so that multiple times of further inquiries are required. The transcriptions of two narratives are shown in the appendix. Both of them are collected in sinapayan.
Collecting long texts is essential for linguistic field research. In long texts, there are a lot of context-sensitive usages, which are hardly collected by the methods introduced in the previous sections. Besides, some of the usages and words are only used endemically, and that would be important for investigating the variation of dialects.