The importance of proper formatting of data cannot be overemphasized, hence the need to briefly examine it.
Most of the time when dealing with linguistic data you are confronted with a language you do not speak nor understand and have probably never heard of before.
You have to elicit linguistically relevant data from native speakers; you have to make the data available for your research and also to your readers.
As a linguist you need to render the data in such a way that it will be relevant and everybody will understand.
The best way to do this is by providing a morpheme by morpheme glossing where every linguistic item and feature is represented.
Data (1) taken from Arokoyo and Mabodu (2017) present phonological data in Olùkùmi.
1.
a. ábẹ́ [ɑ́bɛ́] below
b. ábẹ́ [ɑ́bɛ́] bottom
c. àdá [ɑ̀dɑ́] hatchet
d. adan [ɑdɑ̃] bat
e. adé [ɑdé] crown
f. adẹ́n [ɑdɛ̃́] fried
g. afán [ɑfɑ̃́] gun
We can either go by the four line examples or three-line examples format for grammatical data.
Three-line examples usually involve the data separated into morphemes in the first line.
The second line involves morpheme-by-morpheme glosses while the third line is the translation.
In four-line examples, you usually have data transcribed in the first line while the second line involves data separated into morphemes.
The third line is the morpheme-by-morpheme glosses while the fourth line is the translation. Consider these Gunin, Olùkùmi and Owé examples (the Gunin examples are taken from Tallerman (2009, p. 59), Olùkùmi examples adapted from Arokoyo and Mabodu (2017) while the Owé examples are taken from Arokoyo (2017a).
2. Gunnin
a. benyji bi-yangg
man GENDER-goes
‘The man is walking.’
b. leewa gadi a-yangga
dog run GENDER-goes
‘The dog is running.’
3. Olùkùmi
a. [ɑbͻ́wͻ́]
abẹ́ ọ́wọ́
under arm
‘armpit’
b. [ɑlùkpùkpù]
a-lù-kpùkpù
thing that makes kpukpu sound
‘motorcycle’
c. [ɑrɛrɑ̃]
ara-ẹran
body meat
‘flesh’
4. Owé
a. [olú á tù ɲũn]
Olú á-tù yún
Olu NEG-again go
‘Olu is not going again.’
b. [má tì rè]
má tì rè
I-NEG- have go
‘I have not gone.’
The data in (2) indicate three-line linguistic example format while examples (3) and (4) indicate four-line linguistic example format.
The Olùkùmi examples in (3) are morphological while the Owé examples in (4) are syntactic.
The essence of the four–line format is to help in pronunciation as the transcription is given.
Each element in the target language has a one to one correspondence in the glossing language,
English in this instance. In the second or third line where the gloss is provided, the features for inflectional values are provided rather than being translated directly.
The last line provides the translation of the data.
For standard linguistic glossing rule, see https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/Glossing-Rules.pdf.
Exercises
1. Describe how linguistic data are formatted.
2. Visit the aforementioned website and download the pdf. Study it.
NB:
Excerpts are taken from Arokoyo (2017b).
References
Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth. (2017a). Owé bilingual dictionary. Oregon: Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325247402_Owe_Bilingual_Dictionary
Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth. (2017b). Unlocking morphology. Ilorin: Chridamel Publishing House.
Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth. (2013). Owé linguistics: an introduction. Ilorin: Chridamel Books. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325247296_Owe_Linguistics_an_Introduction
Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth & Mabodu Olamide. (2017). Olùkùmi bilingual dictionary. Oregon: Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325247478_Olukumi_Bilingual_Dictionary
Tallerman, Maggie. (2009). Understanding syntax. London: Hodder Arnold.