- Select one of your family’s language(s) or dialect(s) to research for your Language Autobiography Project. For example, if your family speaks mostly English but you have Irish, German, Persian or Chinese ancestors, and you have relatives who are speakers of any of those national languages, you can select one of these languages for your project. If your relatives speak only English, you could focus on the regional or ethnic variant or dialect of American English spoken in your family, for example: Southern, Northwestern, Tex-Mex, Californian, African-American English (AAE or Ebonics), Cajun English etc. If your family speaks any language(s) other than English, you can choose the language that interests you the most.
- In addition to the linguistic topics required for the Linguistic Autobiography Project (i.e., language history, evolution, syntax, grammar, tones, morphemes, etc.) think about and choose any specific sociocultural issue or issues that you would like to explore (for example, how the language has changed due to migration dynamics, power relations, social and political perceptions, etc.). Choose whatever topic is of interest to you. Remember that the main goal of this assignment is to do some fieldwork research through interviews with relatives who speak the language and can tell you about their experience with the language.
- Send me (your instructor) an email describing briefly your choice of language, why you chose it, and the topics you would like to focus on. This step is required since you need to receive my feedback and approval in order to proceed. Please don’t wait until the last minute to write me.
- Once you have received approval, you can write your formal proposal, which should be at least one page long, stating the reason for choosing your language or dialect, what do you wish to explore and learn from it, and how do you envision conducting your research.