Running head: LITERACY PRACTICES IN LINGUISTICS 1

Literacy Practices in Linguistics

Teresa Espinosa

University of California, Santa Barbara

Author Note

This paper was prepared for Writing 2 Academic Writing, taught by Professor Johnson.
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Abstract

The literacy practices within the area of academic study of Linguistics include the

scientific method, terminology, and interlinear glossing formatting. These practices were found

as a result of observations in lectures, sections, and assignments. They were also discovered

through a personal interview with Daniel Hieber, a teaching assistant in the Linguistics 15

course, as well as in journal articles.

Keywords: Literacy practices, scientific method, interlinear glossing

Literacy Practices in Linguistics

Communicating in a community of academic study requires knowledge of the discourse

conventions within the area. These discourse conventions are also known as literacy practices.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure. In order to fully understand the

literacy practices in the Linguistics 15: Language in Life course, I observed the lectures and

sections, interviewed the teaching assistant, Daniel Hieber, assigned to my section, and examined

published journal articles. Though these data sets I found that the literacy practices in this

linguistics 15 course were the use of the scientific method, interlinear glossing formatting, and

specialized terminology.

Scientific Method

One of the main literacy practices found in the interview with the teaching assistant, and

lecture was the scientific method. When asked about the importance of the homework

assignments, Hieber identified the literacy practice and said, what he [Professor Kennedy] was

really getting at there [in the homework assignment] was an understanding of the scientific

method, the scientific process, that was really what that whole question centered around

(Hieber, Personal interview). The question Hieber was discussing previously was an

assignment about the waggle dance of bees, during the section of the course where the professor

decided to address the claims about whether animals have their own language. This assignment

not only demonstrates the scientific method, but also addresses the notion that even though bees

are able to communicate their communication is not as complex as the human languages. For this

course it is important that students understand the scientific method because we are currently in a
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research institution, and in order to conduct research we must be able to apply this concept, of

the scientific method, to our area of research.

In the second homework assignment we, the students, were asked to describe how we

would set up an experiment to determine whether a honey bees waggle dance indicates the

direction and distance of a food source, while keeping in mind the scientific method of

observation, hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and make a conclusion. Before we began the

experiment, we had to think about the behavior of the bees, and if we had noticed a pattern the

bees followed. It resulted in that the bees did an excited little waggle dance after they came back

from feeding and other bees found the same food source after this dance was performed. It was

hypothesized that the waggle dance communicated the direction and the distance of a food

source. To test the hypothesis, a researcher established two feeding stations and had different

colored paint for the bees that found their way to either feeding station. The distance between the

feeding stations and the bee hive as well as, the time and direction a bee danced would need to be

measured, to uncover any correlation. After the hypothesis was tested it was concluded that the

amount of time the bees waggled was related with the distance from the hive to the food source

and the direction the bees waggled was linked with the direction of the food source.

Interlinear Glossing Format

Interlinear glossing is another common literary practice that is found in the interview

with the teaching assistant, Daniel Hieber, lecture, and linguistic journal articles. In the interview

with Hieber, he stated:

This specific format [interlinear glossing] that linguists insist on everybody using in all

their papers and things you break each word down to its component pieces, its
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markings and you add a gloss for each one, theres all sorts of rules about the glosses and

how it's supposed to be capitalized and which abbreviations you should use (Hieber,

Personal interview).

The interlinear glossing format is an important literacy practice in this area of academic study

because when findings are presented, this format is a clear and effective way to present parts of

words and their meanings.

In an example of interlinear glossing from lecture (Kennedy, Typology and diversity),

Kewa (Franklin 1971)

ri-b-e

cook-INCEPTIVE-1.SG.PERF.EGOCENTRIC

I have begun cooking it

we see the first word, in the language of Kewa, ribe being broken down into pieces of the word

that mean different things, that are also known as morphemes, the second line is the gloss, which

is the definitions of what the morphemes mean, the third line is the translation to English.

Other examples of the interlinear glossing format can be found in published journal

articles. In the article Stability and Fluidity in Syntactic Variation World-Wide: The Genitive

Alternation Across Varieties of English, by Benedikt Heller, Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, and Jason

Grafmiller, there are a few examples of the interlinear glossing format. Another example of the

interlinear glossing format from the aforementioned article would be:

Parliament also removed additional powers granted to him last year to tackle [the

country]possessors [economic crisis]possessum under these powers. (ICE-SIN, s2b-001)

(Heller et al, 2017).

In the article they are comparing the use of the possessor and the possessum. Additionally, the

words inside the brackets before possessor are in the possessor position in the sentence and

possessum is treated in the same manner. The gloss in this example are the words possessor

and possessum, they are there to indicate the part of the sentence they correspond to, defining

their role in the sentence. The interlinear glossing formatting is used meticulously, because it is

the best way for a linguist to display their findings in an organized, clear, and concise manner.

Terminology

In addition to reinforcing the previous two literacy practices, Hieber also addresses the

literacy practice of terminology, which is very specialized in linguistics. Hieber gave the

example, the word linguist, thats a really good example, so for most people linguist means

polygot, someone who speaks lots of languages and studies languages, and linguists themselves

do not define themselves that way, they define themselves as language scientists (Hieber,

Personal interview). The terminology is an important literacy practice in the linguistics field of

study because in order to participate in the academic conversations we, the students, must learn

the correct lexicon.

In the journal article, Tasks Versus Conditions: Two Perspectives on Task Research and

their Implications for Pedagogy, by Peter Skehan, there are various examples of linguistic

terminology. Skehan (2016) provided the example of conceptualization as being a phase where

an idea is formed and a stance on a topic is taken. Skehan (2016) also provided the example of

articulation as another phase where phonetic plans are produced to clothe the output of the

formulator in sound. Without knowing the correct terminology, a student would be confused as

to what was being said and likely will not be able the recall the information stated. These
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examples, of the words linguist and articulation,, provided by Hieber and Skehan

respectively, express the importance of knowing and understanding the lexicon in linguistics, to

join in the academic discourse and not become off track.

Conclusion

Through observing lectures, sections, and homework assignments, I noticed there were

some literacy practices that were prominent, specifically the use of the scientific method, and

terminology, as well as the meticulousness of the interlinear glossing formatting that is seen and

needed in linguistic journal articles. The scientific method is necessary in this course and in the

discipline of Linguistics, because it teaches the students about the work and process a research

study needs, especially if they want to take part in the academic discourse involving primary

research. The interlinear glossing format is needed when a scholar in linguistics needs to explain

something clearly and effectively. The terminology is important overall, because to be involved

in the other literacy practices previously mentioned , the students must know the lexicon.

Knowing these literacy practices in this linguistics course is very beneficial in understanding the

material and processes related to the course and the discipline of Linguistics.
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References

Heller, B., Szmrecsanyi, B., Grafmiller, J. (2017). Stability and fluidity in syntactic variation

world-wide: The genitive alternation across varieties of English. Journal of English

Linguistics, 45(1), 3-27. doi: 10.1177/0075424216685405

Hieber, D. Personal Interview. 04 May 2017.

Kennedy, R. (2017,April 27). Typology and diversity. LING 15: Language in Life. Lecture at

the University of California, Santa Barbara. Spring 2017.

Skehan, P. (2016). Tasks versus conditions: Two perspectives on task research and their

implications for pedagogy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 34-49. doi:

10.1017/S0267190515000100