Andrea Berez-Kroeker of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa will be co-teaching a course on digital methods in language documentation with Colleen Fitzgerald of the University of Texas at Arlington. With the theme of the 2019 LSA Institute at Davis being “Linguistics in the Digital Era,” the class is set to equip students with the knowledge of creating useful digital records of fieldwork data. You can read more about Professor Berez-Kroeker’s current projects and her artist-colony (which we would definitely want to join) in this interview:
Professor Berez-Kroeker received her MA in linguistics from Wayne State University (2006) and her PhD in linguistics from UC Santa Barbara (2011). Andrea is currently an associate professor in the Dept of Ling at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she has worked since 2011.
Can you please tell us about your linguistic background?
I specialize in language documentation, language archiving, and data standards. I’ve conducted research with the Ahtna and Dena’ina language communities in Alaska, and the Kuman and Kere language communities in Papua New Guinea.
When did you first join the LSA?
My first LSA Annual Meeting was the one in Boston in 2004, so it must have been that year.
Can you tell us about the course you are teaching at the Institute?
I’m co-teaching a class on digital methods in language documentation with Colleen Fitzgerald. Our plan is to make sure that students are well-equipped with the knowledge they need to create long-lasting, useful digital records of linguistic fieldwork. Our exact syllabus is still in the works, but we’ll talk about audio and video standards, transcription, archiving, and ethics, and we’ll cover some of the major software in the field like ELAN and FLEx, and we’ll talk about different kinds of equipment.
What research are you currently working on?
Currently, I’m working with an excellent international team through the Research Data Alliance to develop and promote standards for the citation of linguistic data, and to increase the valuation of data management as a necessary practice in linguistic science.
What is your favorite hobby or pastime?
I’m on an outrigger canoe team, and I make stained glass.
In a parallel universe in which you are not an academic/linguist, what would you be?
I would definitely open an artist colony. All the artists would be people who’d be academics in a parallel universe.
What are you most looking forward to about Davis?
I’ve never been to the LSA Institute before, so I’m really looking forward to experiencing the camaraderie of students and professors all coming together to share knowledge and learn from one another.
Ice cream or Cake? Cats or Dogs? Quarter system or Semester system?
Both, both…and both!
Learn more about Professor Berez-Kroeker here: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~aberez/