English phonetic fieldwork by trial and error

Abstract

The practical experience of the present writer's own English phonetic fieldwork which has been carried out for six years in Great Britain and Ireland is reported. The processes of trial and error for finding subjects, selecting words for the recording word lists, designing contents of the proforma and things to note on the recordings are included. This paper shows that phoneticians can still discover new things if they are willing to do the fieldwork, and that the secret of success to the fieldwork is getting hold of a reliable indigenous cooperator in the field.