Ethics Of Language Documentation

In recent years ethical issues in language documentation have received surprisingly a great attention in India. Although the history of the study of Indian linguistic have been a great value across the world and the contributions of the great linguist Panini in 3rd century has never been forgotten, even after some of the ethical values like; trustworthiness, respect, responsibilities, fairness, caring and authentication have been missing in languages documentation in India.

The aim of this paper is to highlight such ethical values which have been considered as one of the most powerful tools. As far as the language documentation is concerned one of the core responsibilities as being a linguistic is to maintaining and revitalizing endangered languages. After paying a little attention towards the process of language documentation, it has been found that the initial phase of the work starts from the field work and finishes at by giving a unique identity to an unknown or an endangered language.

In the journey of this entire processes like; literary review, field survey, collecting and consolidation raw data, elicitation and analysis etc, the work go through the different kinds of person or an individual’s who known for a specific responsibility that not only requires a matured relationship between them but also a perfect rhythm in order to execute the work smoothly and on time. Such kind of team work is therefore possible only when the ethics of discipline and decorum comes into the account. It is clear to understand that the language documentation projects needs more than ethical frameworks and their rules not only in Indian context but also elsewhere.

Introduction

The term ethics derives from the Greek ethos meaning custom and in current usage may refer to a way of life, a moral code, or to the study of these. The related word moral comes from the Latin mores meaning way of life. Today the term morals is generally applied to conduct, and ethics to the study of moral conduct.1 India is known as an incredible nation and diversity. Diversity is not only in society but also in the religions that give us an opportunity to understand the ethical values in different parameters like; moral character (virtue & vice), action (right & wrong) and ultimate end (good & evil).

It is considered a great responsibility for a linguist to understand such parameters because language documentation is a task which is so capable in framing an unknown endangered language to become familiar even for a common person to be understood. This task can’t be possible without having a proper gesture of ethical values of work and their way of doing the work. It is much important to understand for being a linguist that they shouldn’t maintain the division between “us” as the researcher and “them” as the subject of research.2

Further, it is important here to conclude here that India is a land of great saint and sages as well as Grantha and Vedas and the ethics and moral values of Indian culture are bind with these holy text books. Therefore when we extract the knowledge and concepts of any endangered languages then it is obvious that the ethics and morals of such holy text books automatically comes from it and to understand those ethics it become too important to frame the work of language documentation with such ethical values. Ethics aren’t subjected to any course book or don’t belong to any books of law and order written by any constitution, it is actually more than an awareness of one’s soul. It can be understood by having the reference of our oldest Hindu culture. In the Hindu way of life, every individual is expected to perform his or her duty appropriate to his or her caste (varṇa) and stage of life (asrama). This division of one’s life into the four asramas and their respective dharmas, was designed, in principle at least, to provide fulfilment to the person in his social, moral and spiritual aspects, and so to lead to harmony and balance in the society.

The four asramas are:

• brahmacarya, stage of studentship
• gṛhastha, stage of the householder
• vanaprastha, life in the forest; and
• saṁnyasa, renunciation.

Apart from this, the concept of four ends of life (puruṣarthas) is also very important. These four ends of life are the goals which are desirable in them and also needed for fulfilment of human aspirations. These are:

• righteousness (dharma)
• worldly gain (artha)
• fulfilment of desire (kama) and
• liberation (mokṣa)

The fulfilment of all of these four ends of life is important for man. In this classification, dharma and mokṣa are most important from the ethical point of view. They give right direction and purpose to human life. For instance, acquiring wealth (artha) is a desirable objective, provided however it also serves dharma, that is, the welfare of the society. In the Bhagavad-Gita, selfless action (nisksma karma) is advocated. It is an action which is required to be performed without consideration of personal consequences. It is an altruistic action aimed at the well-being of others rather than for oneself. In Hinduism this doctrine is known as karma yoga.3

Having the reference of the above discussion it is understood here that the way of actions of an individual reflects similar to his/her upbringings. Hence the culture is an integral part of one’s personality and the moral and ethics comes in his/her work accordingly. Discipline and decorum is the part of any task and the set of such principles are made for this purposes. Without having an ideal ethics it is close to impossible to execute the task with quality. Language documentation is kind of such task which requires the same.

Core Ethical Values

1. Respect

It is basically the essential of worth and dignity of all people, including one. It is morally obligated to treat everyone with respect, regardless of who they are and what they have done. Even with dealing with the unpleasant people, it is important and comes under the responsibility to be the best in all situations. While talking to the person, it is important to focus on some of the key factor like; Civility, Courtesy, Decency and Tolerance.

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2. Responsibility

Responsibility is a term which gives you a freedom to choose what to do or what not to do, and one lives accordingly. It also comes with accountability that doesn’t shift the blame or claim credit for the work of others. The pursuit of excellence has an ethical dimension when others rely upon our knowledge, ability or willingness to perform tasks safely and effectively.4 some of the key factor like diligence, perseverance and self-restraint also comes under the responsibility.

3. Fairness

Fairness in the work comes with the honesty and it is based on the range of morally justifiable outcomes. Impartiality and equity are the parts of fairness.

4. Caring

Caring is the heart of ethics. It is scarcely possible to be truly ethical and not genuinely concerned with the welfare others. That is because ethics is ultimately about our responsibilities toward other people. Sometimes we must hurt those we care for and some decisions, while quite ethical, do cause pain. But one should consciously cause no more harm than is reasonably necessary.

5. Authentication

This term has an important key role in any task that’s prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud, and trickery.

Ethical Frameworks

On the basis of the first ethical principal for research is ‘do not do anything that forces somebody to do things’. One should not force people to do anything against their will. It means that a person gives explicit consent to be involved in a research project or interaction, and the researcher must inform them about what is involved in such activity, and what the consequences of participation might be. They should also understand that they can withdraw their participation at any time.

A second basic principle might be 'do not do things that will make people regret working with you'. This will be important when discussing and recording sensitive information such as political discussions or stories about human relationship.2

Ethical frameworks are designed in such a way that one can easily understand the roles, responsibility and limitations in order to work with different kinds of persons having different positions.

Fieldworkers/Field Linguistics

As far as the fieldworkers/field linguistics is concerned, it is long recognised that they have a working relationship with the speaker of the language with whom they work. So it is important to maintain the ethics of attitudes and behaviours in order to empowering the sense of research in order to get the maximum benefits. Field linguistics has to follow some of the facts while talking to the native speakers of a certain language:

• Persons are not objects and should not be treated as objects.
• Subjects have their own agendas and research should try to address them.
• If knowledge is worth having, it is worth sharing.

Informants

The informant is one who furnishes the researcher with samples of the language, either as repetitions of what has already been said or as creations of what somebody might say. He also explains how the utterances were used or what they meant, using for this explanation either his own or some other language. The need for informants (to get the corpus, checking the data for accuracy, going beyond data in a text), selection of informants, number of informants, qualifications of informants (age, sex, cultural and psychological qualities [cultural knowledge, independence, intelligence, good memory, alertness, patience, honesty, dependability, cheerfulness], language skills [good diction, precise articulation, sharp and pleasing voice resonance, talkative, able to control his talk, ability to be analytical]), and training of informants.5

Rights

There are mainly four areas regarding rights in relation to language documentation research:

• Intellectual property rights
• Copyright
• Moral rights
• Access and,
• Usage rights

Apart from the rights as discussed above there are some rules that also has some ethical values as far:

• Laws of the country where the research is being carried out.
• Laws of the country where the researcher normally resides.

Conclusions

As far as language documentation is concerned in Indian context is basically the ultimate social act in a system of exchange. Ethics in works are the integral part that signifies the factors which enables in conducting the outcomes. Researchers should share their knowledge in order to prepare and execute the work in more reliable way. Ethics also tells about the limitations between the co-workers and the way of dealing between them.

References

1. Austin PK. Communities , ethics and rights in language documentation respect tile right of any individual to refuse to co-operate and WitIldraW participation 13 . protect subjects against foreseeable physical , psychological or. Ethics. 2010.
2. Indian Ethics : Individual and Social. :1-18.
3. Universal or Core Ethical Values. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/557227cee4b0c5ac0270c331/t/5890fb0db8a79b243d8e6ab3/1485896462108/UniversalOrCoreEthicalValues.pdf.
4. Rice K. Ethical issues in linguistic fieldwork: An overview. J Acad Ethics. 2006;4(1-4):123-155. doi:10.1007/s10805-006-9016-2