Linguistics & Language · Endangered & World Languages
A topic within Endangered & World Languages, itself one of 8 topics in that field and part of Linguistics & Language.
2 works
Anthony C. Woodbury
Argues documentary linguistics should aim to record the full range of a community's communicative practices, not just elicited grammar and wordlists, because a record built only for grammatical description leaves most of what a language does undocumented.
Nikolaus P. Himmelmann
Argues documenting a language, building a lasting record of primary data, is a distinct task from describing its grammar, and that documentation should not be treated as a mere by-product of description.
link checked 17 Sept 2026