LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:2 February 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Ethical Issues in Conducting Linguistic Research on
Endangered Languages

Dr. Deepa Moni Boruah, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Abstract

The present paper intends to discuss the ethical dilemmas that arise in application of ethical principles while conducting field linguistic study on an endangered language. Ethics are a set of values and principles and standards of conduct established by a profession or group. The people associated with the profession or group has to conform to the principles, values and standards of conduct. Ethical principles and values are not based on the concept of efficiency but are based on the standards of morality. Ethics uphold principles and values that are morally right, as against values that are morally wrong. Thus, when issues are analysed ethically, they are seen from the point of view of morality instead of efficiency. Therefore, various kinds of institutions, ranging from medical organizations to law enforcement agencies adhere to certain ethical principles, values or codes. Similarly, the academic fraternity also observes certain ethical guidelines in conducting research work. Linguistic research involves collection of data from respondents. While conducting such researches, a researcher has to adhere with some ethical guidelines and ensure that ethical guidelines are not violated. Language attrition is now a serious problem to be addressed and recently it has become the core area of researchfor Field linguists. Many indigenous languages and dialects became extinct as their speakers stop using the native language over many years. When a language dies out, future generations lose a crucial part of the culture that shapes their beings as disappearance of language carries away the vast knowledge about history, culture, tradition as well as the natural environment. Many tribal languages of India are now on the verge of extinction and an effort has been going on for preservation and conservation of dying languages. A wide documentation of language as well as culture has a great impact in preservation and revitalization of a particular language and the community. A field work was carried out to investigate the endangered language of a particularly vulnerable tribe, the Baiga tribe of Madhya Pradesh. The tribe under study is affluent in their ethno-medicinal practices and other traditional knowledge system. While obtaining the data from participants, a researcher may encounter various ethical problems in the course of research work. The paper discusses the ethical issues that arise in collection of data and practicing visual documentation of the tribe to restore their language and culture.

Keywords: Ethics, Indigenous, Endangered, Language Documentation, Preservation

1.0 Introduction

Ethics has become a cornerstone for conducting effective and meaningful research. As such ethical behaviour of individual research is under unprecedented scrutiny (Best & Kahn, 2006, Field & Behrman, 2004; Trimble & Fisher, 2006). Ethics are a set of values and principles and standards of conduct established by a profession or group. The people associated with the profession or group has to conform to the principles, values and standards of conduct. Ethical principles and values are not based on the concept of efficiency but are based on the standards of morality. Ethics uphold principles and values that are morally right, as against values that are morally wrong. Thus, when issues are analysed ethically, they are seen from the point of view of morality instead of efficiency. Therefore, various kinds of institutions, ranging from medical organizations to law enforcement agencies adhere to certain ethical principles, values or codes. Similarly, the academic fraternity also observes certain ethical guidelines in various areas. One of these areas is research. Linguistic research involves collection of data from respondents and makes analysis of the obtained data. While conducting such researches, a researcher has to follow some ethical guidelines and ensure that ethical guidelines are not violated. While observing such ethical guidelines a researcher may face various challenges. Ethical problems have major influence on the research and handling these problems is necessary to obtain data in ethical way. The present paper deals with discussion on ethical dilemmas arise during conducting field work in some of the remote villages of Baiga tribe of Anupur and Dindori District of Madhya Pradesh.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Deepa Moni Boruah, M.A, M.Phil., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English Language
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University
Lalpur, Amarkantak 484886
Madhya Pradesh
India
deepa1barua@yahoo.co.in
boruahdeepa49@gmail.com

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.