Eleven distinguished linguists reflect on their career-spanning linguistic fieldwork. Over decades, each has repeatedly stood up to physical, intellectual, interpersonal, intercultural, and sometimes political challenges in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. These scholar-explorers have enlightened the world to the inner workings of languages in remote communities of Africa (West, East, and South), Amazonia, the Arctic, Australia, the Caucasus, Oceania, Siberia, and East Asia. They report some linguistic eureka moments, but also discuss cultural missteps, illness, and the other challenges of pursuing linguistic data in extreme circumstances. They write passionately about language death and their responsibilities to speech communities. The stories included here - the stuff of departmental and family legends - are published publicly for the first time.

• Word Hunters
• Editorial page
• Title page
• LCC data
• Table of contents
• 1. Word hunters
  • Sarvasy
  • Forker
  • References
• 2. The magic of names
  • 1. The Amazonian names
    • 1.1 The Tariana of the Vaupés River Basin
    • 1.2 The naming systems
  • 2. The Manambu of the East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
    • 2.1 A multitude of names
    • 2.2 The Manambu clans and naming system
    • 2.3 The totems, and the terms of address
  • 3. New language, new name
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abbreviations
  • References
• 3. Historical linguistics in the raw
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Sarawak
  • 3. Manus
  • 4. Taiwan
  • 5. Fieldwork ‘at home’
  • 6. Conclusion
  • References
• 4. Sharing thoughts, concepts and experiences
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Languages of former hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa
  • 3. Arrival at the African continent
  • 4. Plants and their use in East Africa
  • 5. Languages spoken on islands in lakes of Ethiopia
  • 6. A Nǀuu reader for the ǂKhomani community
  • 7. A Luruuli-Lunyala dictionary project in Central Uganda
  • 8. Contextualizing “fieldwork” on African languages
  • References
• 5. Forty-plus years before the mast
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Clueless in Africa
    • Language learning
    • Mr. Wade’s farm, in search of the pygmy hippopotamus
    • South Africa: The good, the bad, and the serendipitous
  • 3. Lessons from health crises
    • Final words
  • References
• 6. Field linguistics in Daghestan
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Field research as family business
  • 3. Field research with students
  • 4. Field research in a multilingual landscape
  • 5. Conclusion
  • Acknowledgment
  • References
• 7. Drinking of the iceberg
  • References
• 8. Reflections on linguistic fieldwork between Sahel, Amazon and Outback
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Getting into fieldwork
  • 3. Travel and arrival
  • 4. Life in the field – basic survival
  • 5. Working with people
  • 6. Ethical considerations
  • References
• 9. My fieldwork, from Georgia to Guinea
  • 1. A few words on “Kibrik’s field trips”
  • 2. My field trips
    • 2.1 Svaneti: Imprinting
    • 2.2 Daghestan: “Perestroika”
    • 2.3 Adyghea: Complexity and responsibility
    • 2.4 Far East: Language shift
    • 2.5 Daghestan again: Ideal place for fieldwork
    • 2.6 West Africa: Creating a pidgin
  • 3. Why field linguistics?
  • Abbreviations
  • References
• 10. The linguist as a demon and as a human
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. The linguist as an ‘after-death demon’
    • Dyadic relations
    • Fieldwork and witchcraft
    • Cannibalism and unwelcome publicity
  • 3. Dyads with a Dutchman
    • Fieldwork extending over many years
  • 4. Final remarks
  • Abbreviation
  • References
• 11. From here to there and back again
  • 1. An overview
  • 2. How did I get into this?
  • 3. Yánesha’ fieldwork (1953–1964)
    • Drowning and going downriver
    • You and I
    • Should it be -a, -e, or -o?
    • “If we forget to say one, we say the other”
    • Were you ever afraid?
    • Secrets of language learning
    • When cousins turn their backs to each other
    • How do you write -rra?
  • 4. Nomatsigenga fieldwork
    • Aha!
    • Literary criticism or discourse grammar?
  • 5. Comparing notes
  • 6. Language contact
  • 7. Recycled
    • Would I do it again?
  • References
• Subject index
• Language index
• Name index