Recording Practices

Methodology

The "flint’s transcription" (\ft) field for each Garawa entry is based on Flint’s written transcription. This includes the spelling of the Garawa words, the marking of primary and secondary stress, and the division of utterances into words. When either Flint’s or the informant’s pronunciation on the audio-tape seems to depart significantly from Flint’s written transcription, the version on the tape is given in the "comments on the recording" (\ncr) field.

An English gloss or free translation in Flint’s notes often corresponds to several phrases or words on the tape. This reflects Flint’s efforts to clarify the English meaning for the informant when eliciting Garawa language. The "flint’s gloss" (\fg) and "flint’s free translation" (\fft) fields are based on Flint’s written glosses or free translations. When the English words or phrases on the audio-tape depart significantly from the written gloss, or contain additional information, they are given in the appropriate comments field (\ncfg or \ncfft).

For verbs, the "flint’s gloss" (\fg) field follows the pattern shown in the example below, which is the gloss for the verb ja"bulaba "ngayu ("to spit"):

- \fg spit (to spit)

Flint’s original written gloss ("to spit") is shown in brackets, but the important part of the entry, the verb, is placed first.

The spelling and word-divisions in the "analysis" (\na) fields have been worked out with reference to one or more of the following factors: Flint’s written transcription, the informant’s pronunciation, Flint’s pronunciation as he repeats words, and the spelling and word-analyses of other sources. The \na field seeks to be a phonemic representation (given in standard orthography), and takes into account the phonological rules which have shaped the informant’s pronunciation. For example, the vowel allophones which occur before the consonant j (see note on vowel glide allophones in "Garawa Phonology and Orthography") are simply written as the appropriate vowel phoneme. In Flint’s transcription, the symbol r may stand for an approximant, a tap/trill or a retroflexed stop (r, rr and rd respectively in our transcription). These sounds are distinguished in the \na field, based on the informant’s pronunciation. On the other hand, vowel lengthening is not phonemic in Garawa (Furby 1972:4; Osborne 1966:1b), so lengthened vowels in Flint’s transcription are simply written as single vowels in the \na field.

The morpheme-by-morpheme gloss in the "gloss" (\ng) field of each entry draws on the analyses given in other sources and also on Flint’s gloss (\fg). The general practice is to follow Flint’s glosses where possible, except in cases where another gloss appears to be more accurate.