par Guitang, Guillaume
Référence COLDOC (2019: 27-28 novembre 2019: Université Paris Nanterre)
Publication Non publié, 2019-11-27
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : This presentation will address methodological issues in the study of information structure (focus, topic, voice, given etc.) in an unwritten and under-described language with little or no available and usable corpora. It is part of a broader project to describe the grammar of Gizey, a language spoken by some 10 to 12 000 speakers (Ajello 2006, De Dominicis, 2008) mainly located in northern Cameroon. The study is based on experimental tasks laid out in the Questionnaire on Information Structure (hereinafter, QUIS). QUIS experimental tasks, aim at eliciting “spontaneous sentences or short dialogues with specific information structural content” (Skopeteas, Fiedler, Hellmuth, Schwarz, Stoel, Fanselow, Féry & Krifka, 2006, p. 6); with the use of pictures, short films, games etc. Language consultants have to describe situations, narrate events, perform short games and answer specific questions based on non-verbal stimuli. These tasks are organised into four field sessions where various conditions (all new, given patient, inanimate agent etc.) are tested with a primary and secondary consultant. Data resulting from these experiments have to be annotated and distributed online to serve potentially as corpora for future research. My contribution will focus on describing the recent field experience with collecting experimental data with the QUIS (roughly 7 hours of unedited recordings) and discussing the main challenges (recruiting suitable consultants, preparing and manipulating stimuli and instructions etc.) and limitations (degree of naturalness of the data, appropriateness of stimuli, etc.) relating to this methodological choice.