Contact between Japanese and Palauan: Sociolinguistic fieldwork interfacing with language acquisition and language policy research

This panel will examine ways in which fieldwork-based sociolinguistics interfaces with research into language acquisition and language policy, using data the three presenters have collected in Palau regarding language contact... [ view full abstract ]

This panel will examine ways in which fieldwork-based sociolinguistics interfaces with research into language acquisition and language policy, using data the three presenters have collected in Palau regarding language contact between Palauan and Japanese. The first paper will deal with elicitation methods for uncovering hitherto undocumented loanwords and clarifying their phonological and semantic characteristics including inter-speaker, inter-generational or gender variation in these characteristics.  The second paper will delve into the relationship between linguists and linguistics research and government-established language commissions and their work in establishing standards in vocabulary and orthography.  The third paper with look at the interface between sociolinguistic fieldwork and research into second language acquisition, namely the ways in which semantic changes in loanwords may lead to L2 users’ interlanguage errors.