ninechars

Comment Threads

• verafides commented on Endangered languages and gadgets that record them
  Wow it's nice to see some people take an interest in endangered languages! Despite the flashy talk you sometimes see in newspapers or glossy magazines, there's really very little interest in what we do. Most people feel that these languages (and the cultures that go with them) are better off dead in our age of universalism.. Xeni - I use an Olympus DS-2, actually. Several other linguists have recommended it, because the audio is pretty good, for its size. It also has an external mic jack, and doesn't do too much of the crazy compression stuff. I've recorded about 25...
• marketa commented on Endangered languages and gadgets that record them
  Well put, Verafides....
• marketa commented on Endangered languages and gadgets that record them
  Back to the gadgets. I have an Olympus WS100 in addition to my Marantz. It is a cheaper handheld than the D2, and I am sure that its internal mic is not as good as the Olympus D2. I have used my Olympus in situations where I want a less conspicuous recorder (e.g. in conversational settings where a big mic in the middle of the room would change the comfort level of speakers). I usually work with a single speaker at a time and I have found that after some initial laughter and awkwardness, most people forget they are wearing...
• verafides commented on Endangered languages and gadgets that record them
  Yes, you're absolutely right about the Olympus and compatibility and losses! The .wma format is for sure a braindead decision on their part. I use a Mac to work with the files, and you can get the Mac to mess with them okay. It just takes some noodling. Also, Praat will work with .wma, too. Really, though, I wasn't too worried about those things. The main reason for this is because I've done fairly reliable acoustic work on recordings from much much worse equipment (tabletop audiocassette recorders from the 1980s, for example). Even tapes that are full of hiss and...
• verafides commented on Endangered languages and gadgets that record them
  Something else - The late Dale Kinkade once showed me a very old photograph of Melville Jacobs doing fieldwork on the Northwest Coast in the 1930s. He had this 1920s Ford pickup truck with a GIGANTIC contraption on the back, complete with a wax cylinder and some kind of grammaphone. He was having a Salish speaker talk into it. I wish I had a copy of it, it was quite the sight! Here's a photo of him some years later doing similar work. http://www.olaweb.org/quarterly/quar1-2/macnaughtan1.jpg...