Schedule an RGC workshop

Prior to scheduling an RGC workshop: • Send an initial letter to the language committee or to those interested in developing the language. The letter should state the opportunity of a two-week workshop of six speakers doing grammar work that should result in a beginning dictionary, grammar book and alphabet book. The letter should also explain the need for ten interlinearized stories, a wordlist of at least one thousand words such as the African wordlist in Snider and Roberts 2004 and brief instructions of how to collect these see appendix B. When these are received, the language community can choose the time, place and participants for the workshop. • Receive a translated wordlist of at least one thousand words from language speakers. • Receive eight to ten interlinearized narrative texts from language speakers. Bear in mind, that no spelling rules or understanding of the grammar is needed for compiling the wordlist or collecting and translating the texts. As long as the speakers can read and write in a national language with a Roman script, they should be able to use reasonable initial spelling of their own language. 3 Of course the wordlist and texts received could be extremely rough. The spelling and glossing may be inconsistent, the handwriting may be sloppy, and the translation may be in very limited English. All of this is to be expected. As long as the instructions for translating the wordlist and collecting the texts have been more or less followed, accept and use the results. Once the words are organized on cards and the texts are typed and formatted, they are adequate for beginning the first RGC workshop. For language groups that already have wordlists, stories in literacy books, or other materials in the language, make use of what is available. For example, stories in existing literacy books can be translated and submitted as the requirement for texts. If a dictionary or interlinearized texts have already been done by a non-mother-tongue linguist, of course these should be used or at least consulted. However, keep in mind that the writing of speakers themselves can be a better starting point for the workshop, since they will have helpful intuition toward a workable writing system in the language as well as errors that an outsider will not have. If the preliminary work is not completed within a few months, it may be helpful every so often to ask the language group if they need any further instruction or help. Just reminding them of the opportunity for the workshop or showing examples of what books can result, may be enough to encourage them to complete the preliminary work. I have waited for over a year for some groups to complete the wordlist and texts. I don’t mind waiting, since I always have enough work to do in the meantime. My administrators in the South Sudan Group SSG are very kind to allow me to budget potential RGC workshops in a certain fiscal year, only to delay some of them until the following year. I recommend that all administrators be as flexible as those in the SSG. Help those who have legitimate difficulty with the request, but don’t lower the requirement if at all possible. Important decisions for the writing system can only be made in an RGC workshop if there are sufficient data to work with. As difficult as it may be to get sufficient data before the first workshop, if may be even more difficult to get the data afterwards, once translation work has begun and funding requires it to continue at a steady pace.

2.3 Schedule an RGC workshop

When the wordlist and texts are in hand, it is time to schedule the first RGC workshop. Ideally the workshop would be done in the home area, such as in a central town or village. Electricity is not required, since computers are not used nor recommended, at least until the participants are using computers for language development. However, it is important to have a quiet location with tables and chairs, as well as two white boards or chalk boards at least one meter by one-and-a-half meters. If no 3 In working with the Caning [shj] who have mainly been educated in Arabic, the author worked for one week with an individual speaker in collecting words and translating stories of literacy books to prepare for an RGC workshop. This was because the preliminary work was too challenging for them to do alone. For all other RGC workshops the author has led, the speakers prepared the texts themselves. boards are available, bring some and leave them for following workshops in the area. A local church, home or office is normally fine for the workshop. See appendix C for a list of budgeting considerations for an RGC workshop. Let the language committee, church leaders, or others with authority and interest in language development be the ones to decide who should attend the workshop. Send them an official written invitation with all important details in simple English or in the national language. The more participants in the RGC workshop, the more challenging it is to keep everyone engaged in the grammar collection process. On the other hand, the fewer participants in the workshop, the smaller the pool of trained personnel will be for doing the work of language development. Thus, six participants is a compromise between both of these factors and may be the ideal number to invite. Schedule the first RGC workshop: • Agree on the time, place and other details of the workshop. • Send a formal invitation inviting six language speakers who have the authority to make decisions about the writing system and who are the most likely individuals to continue development of the language. The participants should speak the language well, understand simple English or the national language, and be able to read any literacy materials already produced, or be able to read the national language. Also, briefly state the aims of the workshop and any logistical details such as what food, transport, and lodging will be provided.

2.4 Prepare the data for an RGC workshop