5. Field investigations
Before undertaking actual collecting in the field, three matters need to be brought together. Firstly, a representative sample of all the locations where the fieldworker will collect data must be listed. Obviously, previous knowledge through published surveys and descriptions of variations in the language, as well as information on settlement history, the geographical features, and the effects of administrative boundaries will determine the coverage which will be deemed necessary. 23 Secondly, the linguistic questionnaire will by now be in a form which can be used in the field. It will contain, as we saw, all the possible phonic distinctions and their contextual variations, as well as the vocabular variation which can be expected. 24 These items will have been grouped around topics related to the everyday life with which the informant is familiar. Thus hearth, hob, ashes and tongs will be in a section on 'the fireplace'. Thirdly, how the interview should be conducted should be decided - the way the questions are to be framed,25 and whether the whole interviewing is to be tape recorded and, if so, how it should be done.
The practical aspect of a linguistic survey means, then, undertaking a field trip armed with questionnaire, answer-books, list of locations and sound recording equipment. The initial task in any location is to choose a suitable informant. A native of the area who has also resided there and whose speech is strongly representative of the local spoken language should, in most cases, be able to provide the expected data. Ability to hear well and to have clear articulation are also favoured. The informant will be the fieldworker's vital source in obtaining the necessary speech-forms, and the success of the whole undertaking depends on setting up a creative working relationship with him so that the local forms can be elicited without too much difficulty. Good results depend on tact and patience. 26
An accurate phonetic transcription of the informants' responses is essential if we are to understand the particular encoding of the spoken language offered by them. The answers are, therefore, taken down in a 'narrow' phonetic transcription, using the alphabet of the International Phonetic Association. 27 This may be undertaken in the course of the interviewing or, as has been more usual in recent surveys, from the tape recordings completed at each visit. Equipment which has already been mentioned can aid in the process.
- Dieth, E, and Orton, H. A Questionnaire for a Linguistic Atlas of England. Leeds: Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society; 1952: p. v.
- McIntosh, A. Introduction to a Survey of Scottish Dialects; Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh; 1952; pp.41-44
- Dieth and Orton, op.cit., p.vi
- ibid., vii; see also Samarin, W.J. Field Linguistics: A Guide to Linguistic Field Work; New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1967; 'The eliciting technique', pp.106-129
- Abercrombie, D. 'The Recording of dialect material' in Orbis: Bulletin international de Documentation Linguistique, Vol.iii; 1954; pp.231-235
