more easily seen. See section 5.4 for explanation of how to mark texts in preparation for the second RGC workshop.
3 The first RGC workshop
3.1 Rationale of an RGC workshop
Some language workshops in SIL are run for more than one language group at the same time. Lectures are given to all participants, and then participants separate into working groups of their language, each
with a facilitating linguist, to apply the knowledge learned in the lecture by doing an assignment for their language.
By contrast, the RGC workshop is most successful when done for one language group at a time, with no lectures, spending the entire workshop time in working group sessions to investigate the grammar.
The facilitating linguist leads a discovery learning process through various grammatical topics, checking or eliciting data in a systematic way. Although she has some idea of what to expect from the prepared
wordlist and texts, she is essentially learning the language from the participants and simultaneously guiding the participants through the grammar learned. The linguist must be comfortable with a great
deal of ambiguity and uncertainty, and must be willing to test grammar with speakers in the full knowledge that some will be found to be incorrect.
3.1.1 Merging phonology with morphophonology
The goal of the first RGC workshop is to investigate enough data that an alphabet, most spelling rules, word breaks, and tone representation in the orthography if any can be tentatively agreed on by the
participants. At least for some languages, choosing the alphabet symbols is a small matter when compared with deciding how to handle the sound changes at morpheme boundaries, how to divide
words, or how to distinguish in writing the words and grammar that sound the same except for tone. To have a practical writing system, it is important to view the words in their grammatical contexts, not just
in isolation.
Although it is fine to have one workshop for phonology and another for morphology and syntax, if the two can be done together, it shortens the time before a complete writing system can be agreed upon.
Of course, phonology is the foundation of morphophonology and should be thoroughly analyzed before proceeding with higher-level grammar. Nevertheless, it is possible to adequately confirm the phonemes
of one thousand words in isolation, as well as the grammatical contexts of a representation of these words, all in a two-week period. Of course, two weeks is a short time for this much data analysis, and if
funding allows, it is wise to schedule more time for this work.
Another reason for merging phonology with morphology and syntax in the same workshop is that analysis at various levels of grammar can help break up the monotony of mere word analysis. Although
the majority of the first week should be spent on consonants, vowels and tone of words in isolation, other activities such as revising texts and learning about various roles of nouns or verb forms can help
keep some participants engaged who would otherwise be too bored to continue.
With a daily schedule that allows four different grammar sessions, you will want to vary the activities from one session to the next. The first could be on comparing [ATR] vowels, the second on
revising texts, the third on identifying verbs in the texts, and the fourth again on comparing ATR vowels. If one activity doesn’t take the entire time of a session, begin another activity. Variety can help the days
go faster and keep the participants more productive.
Example daily Schedule
8:30–9:00 Songs, Scripture reading, and prayer
9:00–10:30 Grammar session 10:30–11:00 Tea
11:00–12:30 Grammar session
12:30–2:00 Lunch 2:00–3:30
Grammar session 3:30–3:45
Tea 3:45–5:00
Grammar session
3.1.2 Merging phonology with dictionary construction
