Guernsey Fieldtrip 19 th March – 4 th April 2009
Eiouque? Where?
Variety of Norman French In 2001 Census out of a population of only 1327 fluent speakers, 75% over the age of 64. In a diglossic situation with English, and historically with Standard French Language has had very low prestige, being associated with the country and lack of education 2008 the States appointed a Language Officer to coordinate revitalisation strategy. Dgernezyei Guernesiais
Who we are 1 lecturer – Dr. Julia Sallabank 6 MA students targeted at students on the Language Documentation and Description course at SOAS Coordinated with the Guernsey Language Officer, Jan Marquis. Ki?
Document Create awareness Gain Fieldwork experience Porchi? Why we were there
Documentation Interviewed and recorded 77 people Usually in the home in groups of 2 or 3 Some other organized groups Participants aged Many volunteered while we were there Mostly concentrating on eliciting natural conversation
Creating Awareness Improved status by our interest Discussed and encouraged language use with participants Media coverage Local paper BBC Guernsey news feature Local commercial radio BBC Guernsey radio Talked to officials Sociolinguistic attitude surveys
Gaining fieldwork experience Used a variety of equipment Experienced dealing with people Part of the community Different from both large scale fieldwork and practical aspects of field methods course Very intensive - achieved a lot in 2 weeks A chance to put theory in to practice in a way that benefits the community.
What now? Volunteered to continue being involved Transcribing data Giving feedback on project Possibility of the opportunity being available for future years.
Charles Pigott Catherine Jones Tracey Carro Noya Questions?