LING 580 E: Problems in Linguistics

THIS SEMINAR WILL INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINGUISTIC THE AND LINGUISTIC FIELDWORK. OUR DISCUSSION WILL REVOLVE AROUND A SERIES OF INTERLOCKING QUESTIONS: ( WHAT ROLE SHOULD THEORY PLAY IN GUIDING THE DIRECTION OF FIELDWORK? (II) HOW CAN FIELDWORKERS MAKE THEORETICAL CLAIMS BASED ON NOISY DATA?; (III) HOW SHOULD NON- FIELDWORKERS EVALUATE THEORETICAL CLAIMS MADE BY FIELDWORKERS?; (IV) HOW CAN FIELDWORKERS BALANCE THEIR THEORETICALLY-ORIENTED GOALS AND TH COMMUNITY-ORIENTED GOALS?