Schools are often seen as natural parts of everyday life. However, they are saturated with cultural peculiarities, social rituals, and locally specific linguistic displays which provide rich data points for ethnographic research.

Woman standing in a classroom

Why is school an important site for ethnographic research? 

The singular they can be confusing, even for native speakers of English. However, if you take a closer look, it's not as new and confusing as some critics make it out to be.

Pronouns

Is the singular “they” grammatically correct? How can you know who it refers to? 

A linguistic ethnographer’s research tools (aside from pen and notebook) are not always evident. This post briefly explains these tools and how they can be used by anyone.

Two women having a conversation

What does a linguistic ethnographer do? 

In physics, the “observer effect” is seen as a problem. In social sciences, however, the observer is simply another person in the room. This post discusses how no social phenomena occur in isolation.

Looking through a camera lens 

Don’t research participants act differently when they know you’re watching? 

Eurac linguists are exploring gamified data crowdsourcing methods to engage Tyrolean citizens in linguistic and cultural heritage research. We present to you Ötzit!, our first game with a purpose (GWAP) designed to collect transcription data while teaching players how to read German Fraktur.


Ötzit! game screen

Are Eurac Research linguists really gaming during work hours?!

Quotidiniamente ci imbattiamo nell'attività di traduzione, specialmente nei contesti multilingui e questo non accade solo a chi traduce professionalmente. Sebbene ci possano essere differenze sostanziali tra una traduzione professionale e una svolta da un non professionista, tradurre resterà sempre un'attività trasversale a molti ambiti della vita umana.

Translation

 Tradurre: una professione o un’attività per tutti? 

I pronomi neutri sono ormai molto diffusi nella lingua inglese e il loro utilizzo continua ad aumentare. Se si vuole adottare un linguaggio neutrale anche nella lingua italiana, è necessario anzitutto analizzare la struttura e le limitazioni della lingua stessa.

Pronomi inglesi di terza persona

Pronomi per le persone non-binarie – come si può dire “they/them” in italiano?

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Eurac Research is a private research center​ based in Bozen-Bolzano. Our researchers come from a wide variety of scientific fields and all parts of the world.

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https://webassets.eurac.edu/31538/1643816274-eurac-research-social-fallback-image.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=1200

Ask a Linguist

Why is school an important site for ethnographic research? self.__wrap_b(":R5ahlajlm:",0.9)

Is the singular “they” grammatically correct? How can you know who it refers to? self.__wrap_b(":R5ailajlm:",0.9)

What does a linguistic ethnographer do? self.__wrap_b(":R5ajlajlm:",0.9)

Don’t research participants act differently when they know you’re watching? self.__wrap_b(":R5aklajlm:",0.9)

Are Eurac Research linguists really gaming during work hours?!self.__wrap_b(":R5allajlm:",0.9)

Tradurre: una professione o un’attività per tutti? self.__wrap_b(":R5amlajlm:",0.9)

Pronomi per le persone non-binarie – come si può dire “they/them” in italiano?self.__wrap_b(":R5anlajlm:",0.9)