1. For this assignment, you will interview someone who speaks a language other than English, and elicit linguistic samples from them to analyze the similarities/differences between their language and English (sound system, spelling (symbols), sentence structure/word order, etc.) See guidelines below for the type of data to collect/include in your project.
Elicitation (Group/Individual) Answers (14 points)*
You develop your own questions. The speaker gives you the answers. The answers may touch on some of the questions below. If they do not, that is fine. You should record what you learned from the speaker when he/she answered your questions.
a. Phonological Findings
What phonological differences did you notice between the language you studied and English? Were there any unfamiliar vowel sounds? Were there any unfamiliar consonant clusters? What did you notice about the intonation or rhythm of the language? Was there vowel harmony?
b. Morphological and Syntactical Findings
What morphological differences did you notice between the language you studied and English? Were there any inflectional endings (such as for the plural, past tense, or possessive)? What word order is used in the target language (subject-verb-object, subject-object verb, and so on)?
c. Writing System Findings
What did you learn about the writing system?
d. Nonverbal Behavior
What did you learn about nonverbal behavior in the target culture? Are the emblems similar? What are other features of their nonverbal behavior, e.g. proxemics, eye contact, and so on?
e. Culture, Greetings, Number Systems, and Other Information
What did you learn about the target culture? Which greetings did you learn? Does the target culture use a number system similar to ours? What other information did you elicit?
* These questions provide general guidelines for your project, but they are not meant to be restrictive in any way. Each of you is responsible for recording and discussing the answers that you received from your speaker. (That means if you didn’t get an answer, you can’t record it.)
2. Research the language using the following or other links:
Ethnologue (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Omniglot (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Part 2
Individual Reflection (6 pts)
Write a reflection on the experience of elicitation. Discuss the value of such a project and any implications it may have for teaching English language learners. (300-word minimum)