My ARIA project centred around Tlingit, a critically endangered Indigenous language in Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska. It has one of the most complex sound systems in the Western hemisphere that includes many rare sounds in human languages. Our initial goal was to study the shift in the organization of the Tlingit sound system in the 20th century. However, this goal was adapted to fit the extent of preparation needed for our research realistically and to ensure that I received as much hands-on experience as possible with phonetic research and Indigenous language analysis. We devised a three-part structure for our work: (1) Preparation, (2) Identification, and (3) Analysis. At the time of this report, we are finalizing the 2nd part of our research and will begin analysis in the coming weeks.
I was initially interested in an ARIA project as it would be a unique opportunity to work closely with Professor Crippen on a shared interest developed from taking a course he taught on the family of languages, including Tlingit. This interest expanded as we began the project; my active role in phonetic research gave me a deeper understanding of the importance of research. My learning objectives were to gain skills in audio data collection, processing and analysis for the purpose of linguistic research. I also gained experience in phonology, measuring language change and Indigenous language revitalization efforts.
A major highlight of my research was encountering data collection and processing challenges, then collaborating with Professor Crippen to problem-solve. I entered this project with assumptions about research procedures based on a traditional framework of linguistic research, and I quickly learned that this model neglects the secondary motivation of many Indigenous language research projects; language preservation and revitalization. Archival work is commonly scarce, incomplete or otherwise challenging, but the small populations of native speakers make new data collection even more difficult (Hall 2021). Additionally, linguists should study language in a way that explicitly aligns with the goals of the language community, including their efforts in language preservation and revitalization.
As previously mentioned, the main challenge we encountered in this research was the extent of the preparation needed ahead of the data analysis. Our research centred around public records of fluent Tlingit speakers originally recorded between the 1950s and 1970s and the written transcriptions/translations that accompanied these recordings. The age of the recordings and their separate transcriptions meant that, ahead of analysis, we had to improve the sound quality as best we could, pair each spoken line to its written transcription, and identify and disqualify all sequences with secondary quality issues that would interfere with our measurements. To address this unanticipated work, we devised the three-part structure mentioned above; (1) Preparation, (2) Identification, and (3) Analysis. June was focused on Preparation, during which we associated each line of the transcripts with their corresponding sound segment and cleaned up the sound files to ensure we could obtain accurate measurements. Once the sound files were prepared, we began part 2 (Identification) in July, where we identified the sounds relevant to our study and translated them from Tlingit orthography into IPA. Beginning in August and continuing beyond the end of ARIA, we will analyze the data we have prepared and conclude our research with a paper presenting our findings on sound change in Tlingit. Although this extended the timeline of our project quite significantly, it also taught me the value of data preparation and planning ahead in research. Throughout our research, Professor Crippen encouraged me to be mindful of Tlingit’s ongoing language revitalization efforts and be conscious of how we conducted data preparation and identification to holistically benefit the Tlingit community, not just the linguists studying their language.
I believe ARIA has improved my patience, attention to detail, independence, and problem-solving. Specifically relevant to my education and career path, my experience with ARIA allowed me to work in a research setting for the first time and understand research procedures for language studies. I am better equipped for future research opportunities and more confident in my ability to succeed when analyzing data or measuring sound in future classes. ARIA has also given me a preliminary introduction to what a Master’s Degree in Indigenous languages research would entail, improving my understanding of future career options. Thanks to ARIA, I am more well-informed about the fundamentals of Linguistics research, and I am excited to carry this knowledge into my future coursework and career.
