Research Methods in Linguistics. Michaelmas Term 2011. Conducting linguistic
research. Anastassia Loukina. 1 What is a bad research question? Identify the ...
Research Methods in Linguistics
Michaelmas Term 2011
Conducting linguistic research Anastassia Loukina 1
What is a bad research question?
Identify the problems with the following research questions: 1. Nouns in the Zulu language.
2. Was there any difference in duration of stop consonants between Attic and Ionian Greek?
3. Do ‘complex’ sentences take longer to process than ‘simple’ ones?
4. Metalinguistic awareness in bilingual children.
5. What is the relative use of Welsh and English in Welsh nurseries?
6. Are there gender-specific differences in use of Latin expressions in Middle English?
7. What is the structure of the mental lexicon?
8. How does the individual vowel quality changes between the age of 20 and 45?
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Conducting linguistic research Due: Friday, 14 October, 10 am
Research Methods in Linguistics Michaelmas Term 2011
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Types of data
Think about three advantages and three disadvantages of the following types of data: Type of data
Existing corpora
Collecting a new corpus
Experiment
Questionnaire/survey
Observations
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Conducting linguistic research Due: Friday, 14 October, 10 am
Research Methods in Linguistics Michaelmas Term 2011
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Matching the type of data to the research question
What data would be most suitable for the following studies? (The studies have actually been done and published, but I suggest you think of the answer yourself. The references are given FYI only.) 1. Are there similarities in acoustic spectra between major and minor music on one hand and excited and subdued speech on the other? (Bowling et al., 2010) 2. Are there differences in decision times (lexical judgement task) for regular and irregular verbs between L1 and L2 speakers? (Clahsen et al., 2010) 3. What is the distribution of Old English nominal terms of address across different texts and communicative setting? (Kohnen, 2008) 4. What is the effect of attitude toward the local community on variation in pronunciation of /l/ and /n/ in rural Modern Greek? (Pappas, 2008) 5. How do Gelada monkeys use rhythm and melody in their vocal exchanges? (Richman, 1987)
* References Bowling, D. L., Gill, K., Choi, J. D., Prinz, J., and Purves, D. (2010). Major and minor music compared to excited and subdued speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 127(1):491–503. Clahsen, H., Felser, C., Neubauer, K., and Silva, R. (2010). Morphological Structure in Native and Nonnative Language Processing. Language Learning, 60(1):21–43. Kohnen, T. (2008). Linguistic politeness in Anglo-Saxon England?: A study of Old English address terms. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 9(1):140–158. Pappas, P. a. (2008). Stereotypes, variation and change: Understanding the change of coronal sonorants in a rural variety of Modern Greek. Language Variation and Change, 20(03):493. Richman, B. (1987). Rhythm and Melody in Gelada Vocal Exchanges. Primates, 28(April):199–223.
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