Hawaii Field Trip 2009

 

Instructor: Dr. S. Matthews

 

Preparatory Classes:

Date

Topic

Remarks/Reminders

Jan 14

Practical arrangements

 

Jan 21

Introduction: the Hawaiian islands

Apply for the US visa

Feb 4

 

 

Feb 11

 

 

Feb 18

 

 

Feb 25

 

Project proposal due

 

 

Islands such as Mauritius and the Hawaiian Archipelago serve as natural laboratories for field studies in many areas, including ecology and linguistics. Hawaii is of particular interest to linguists for two reasons:

 

  • Hawaii was the birthplace of a contact language, Hawaii Creole English (HCE, locally still termed “Pidgin”) which formed the centerpiece of Bickerton’s influential language bioprogram hypothesis.
  • Unlike Mauritius, Hawaii has an indigenous language: the Polynesian language Hawaiian, which has one of the smallest phoneme inventories in the world (Lyovin, 1997), came close to extinction before being successfully revived, in a rare example of language revitalization.

 

These topics will be covered in the courses LING2040 Languages in Contact and LING2009 Languages of the World respectively. Preference will be given to students taking both courses, as well as to Year 3 students who were not able to join any field trip in 2008.

 

Students should enrol for this field trip course LING3003 in the second semester 2008-09, regardless of whether they are second- or third-year students, and treat it as part of their normal course load for the semester. This is because the field trip will involve about as much work as a regular course, including:
1. Preparation classes (in January and February, Wednesdays 9:30-10:20)
2. Project proposal due Wednesday 25 February
3. Field trip during the Reading Week (28 February - 8 March)
4. Field trip report due Friday 15 May

Students wishing to take the trip should start preparations in November 2008, including:
1. Apply to the US Consulate for a visa.
2. Give their full names (as in their passport) to Dr. Matthews for booking air tickets.
3. Make arrangements with Dr. Matthews if they wish to extend the trip beyond the Reading Week.

 

Projects: Students should conduct a linguistics project in one of the above areas, using data collected on the trip. For example, students might investigate the Cantonese substrate influence in HCE, the Hawaiian vocabulary in local varieties of English, or local students’ learning of Hawaiian. Other topics may be possible by negotiation with the instructor.

 

Itinerary:

·  Plantation village

·  Bishop Museum

·  University of Hawaii, Manoa: Language Documentation and Conservation Training Center

·  School visit: "Punana Leo" Pre-school

·  Optional excursions: Aquarium, Nature Hike, etc.

 

Chinese Society Building,

Plantation Village

 

Students demonstrating with Hawaiian placards

 

Dates: tentatively 8 to 10 days; to include the Reading Week of the second semester (Monday March 2, 2009 – Saturday March 7, 2009). Option of extending the trip to include the 1st International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC) (http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ICLDC09/) which takes place from Thursday March 12 – Saturday March 14, 2009. Students wishing to attend the Conference will need to make arrangements with their course teachers to miss classes in the week after the Reading Week (March 9th – 13th).

 

Accommodation: At Waikiki Hostels (http://www.hostelsaloha.com/), around US$35 per night (including tax), about HKD273 (i.e. HKD1911 for seven days)

 

Budget: (estimated) HK$12,000 or HK$14,000 (including extended stay and Conference fee of US$60)

 

Bible text in Hawaiian Pidgin (HCE)

University of Hawaii, Manoa