In the previous lesson, we learned what a crucial step transcription is for linguists documenting language. Transcription is the method linguists use to put spoken language on paper. However, they don't just transcribe interviews and everyday conversations; they also compile extensive vocabulary lists, attempting to document as many words of the language as possible. This collection of words is referred to as the documentation of the lexical features of a language.

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To gather these words, linguists often collaborate with bilingual native speakers, employing the method of active retrieval. In this process, linguists prompt native speakers to list words of specific categories, such as food, family members, or animals. This method, also known as active elicitation, is more flexible, as participants can list words specific to the particular language. If they were simply asked to translate word lists, specific words or categories might be overlooked.

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However, word collection is only the beginning. Linguists explore the linguistic world through grammar, utilizing their transcriptions. Let's take a closer look at a grammatical category as an example: syntax.

You might have already encountered syntax in your native language class. Syntax describes the order of words in sentences and the rules upon which sentence structure is based. Syntax can vary significantly from language to language. In English or German, the order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), as seen in the sentence: "He hears me." In an interrogative sentence, the blocks would remain the same, as in: "Who hears me?" Here are the sentence components for repetition:

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- SUBJECT: The subject is the part of the sentence that performs the action. For example: You are very kind.

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- VERB/PREDICATE: The predicate provides information about the action and contains a verb. She likes to play volleyball.

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- OBJECT:

--> Direct Object (DO): They answer the questions What? or Whom?. Example: She gave him a present.

--> Indirect Object (IO): They answer the questions To whom/what? or For whom/what? Example: She gave him a present.

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However, in Ikota, a Bantu language, the order is entirely different. The order in questions is Verb-Object-Subject. In this case, the same sentence would be: "Hears me who?" This example illustrates that different languages have distinct syntactic systems, making the learning of a language both fascinating and challenging. Let's explore various syntaxes in the exercise!