Descriptive studies

To describe the sound patterning - the phonological encoding - and the composition of words and the manner in which they are ordered to form complete sentences the morphology and syntax - of a variety of speech within one defined area, requires a copious sample of speech-data if it is to be adequate enough to reflect the range of patternings in that variety within the levels mentioned.

The kind of questions to be answered may be illustrated in an example from the phonology of a variety of Welsh. It shows the importance of sound distribution in the patterning. In this variety the distinctive diphthong [æə] occurs. Native speakers will use it in monosyllabic forms:

/tæəd/ father ., /tæən/ fire

/fæa/ broad beans., /ɬæə Ɵ/ milk

In monosyllabic structures in surrounding areas this sound does not occur. It is replaced there and in most other areas of Wales by the sound [ɑː].

The process of collecting will reveal a certain ordering, a pattern, and pose questions for the investigator. He will want to know if [ɑː] occurs at all in the south-east Wales variety and whether [æə] occurs in structures other than monosyllabics. He will find that the sound [ɑː] occurs also in the variety but in other positions, namely in the first syllable of a disyllabic structure:

[pɑˑtäɬ] pan, [kɑˈtu] to keep

[nɑˈpöd] to recognise

In this position the pattern corresponds to what is common in other areas. The distribution of a sound in a system can be a factor which distinguishes varieties of speech. This is the case here. Apart from the fact that the presence of [æə] in the inventory of sound distinguishes the variety, the occurrence of [ɑː] does not display equivalence of distribution with other varieties and thereby also differentiates this variety.

What is collected must identify all the speech sounds - vowels and consonants - used, where they occur in structures, their positional variants, their possible combinations in consonant clusters or diphthongs, the range of structures, syllabic stress, junction variation and all such features which make up the phonological encoding. Likewise how word elements combine and are composed into word-forms must emerge from the collected data.

To ensure that he has collected the necessary data the researcher must resort to directed investigation of the speech usage, formulating questionnaires whose purpose is to reveal specific linguistic structures, and to follow up initial results with further questionnaires designed to throw light on particular problems. What goes into a questionnaire will be based on the investigator's experience of the language and especially on what is known regarding specific varieties of it. But the arrangement of a questionnaire must be thought out and related to the way language is normally used in the community, if the samples are to approach what could be deemed as a natural response. In order to do this the investigator must be conversant with the pattern of livelihood within the various communities of "the area and must centre his enquiries on topics related to his informants' everyday experience.