Child language documentation: A pilot project in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The central aim of language documentation is to comprehensively document the characteristic speech practices of a community. Such practices necessarily also include child language and child-directed speech-and yet there are only very few documentation projects that focus on language from and with children. This paper argues for studying first language acquisition and socialization within a language documentation context, focusing on the types of data needed for such a study and drawing on the insights from a pilot project among the Qaqet of Papua New Guinea. The aim of this pilot project was to investigate the feasibility of a comprehensive child language documentation project, and this paper discusses the central challenges to such an endeavour and shows how they were addressed in the project.