Storyboards

The storyboard experiment had three objectives (i) to test classifier overlap, (ii) to reveal anaphoric use of the classifiers in the Oceanic languages, and (iii) to reveal the nature of classifier systems. With intentions for two primary uses: to collect narrative recordings recounting the events depicted in the storyboards, and to create basic literacy materials for the communities in the South Pacific. This involved a print run of the storyboards which were gifted to the local schools to help with vernacular literacy projects.

Method

Participants were presented with eight short stories, each with four pictures. The researcher began by informing participants that each narrative will be explained in Bislama and then asked them to retell the story in their own language. The researcher also asked each participant to tell them how they would claim the object in the picture belonged to the man or woman in the picture. Participants were also told that after the first picture in the story containing four pictures, they did not need to repeat the name of the object after picture one. They were simply instructed to use the term that means “his” or “hers”. Each storyboard depicted different interactions with a particular object to evoke different classifiers.

Results

Participants’ narration of the storyboards reveals the consistency in their use of classifiers. Speakers of North Ambrym had the most consistent use of the same classifier across individual storyboards, resembling a ‘gender-like’ system. Speakers of the two New Caledonian languages, Iaai and Nêlêmwa, were more likely to use different classifiers dependent on the different interactions depicted, resembling a typical classifier system. Whereas, speakers of Merei, Lewo and Vatlongos used more intermediate-type systems.

The results have been published in the journal Glossa, and can be downloaded on our publications page.

Data

Raw Data for all experiments can be found on our project page at the UK Data Service. Supplementary data files for the Glossa publication can be downloaded above.