Because the environments in which linguistic fieldwork often takes place may be logistically challenging, not every type of recording tool is necessary or ideal, and compromises must often be struck between quality, cost and usability.
The First Peoples' Cultural Council and Endangered Languages Project have released a Linguist's Code of Conduct for engaging in documentation work.
Some example guidelines from well-used repositories are given below: Most current archive standards for video use MPEG-4 (H264) as an encoding or storage format, which includes an AAC audio stream (generally of up to 320 kbit/s).
Arguably, however, good recording techniques (isolation, microphone selection and usage, using a tripod to minimize blur) is more important than resolution.
Other (cross-platform) tools to assist this process include Audacity and Transcriber, while a program like ELAN (described further below) can also perform this function.
However, the audio does not always meet the criteria of minimal needs and recommended best practices for language documentation (uncompressed WAV format, 44.1 kHz, 16-bit), and is often not useful for linguistic purposes such as phonetic analysis.
Modern digital recorders achieve a very high level of quality at a relatively low price.
Several types of microphone can be effectively used in language documentation scenarios, depending on the situation (especially, including factors such as number, position and mobility of speakers) and on budget.
It is an advantage in most fieldwork situations if a condenser microphone is self-powered (via a battery); however, when power is not a major factor, phantom-powered models can also be used.
However, omnidirectional microphones may be preferred in situations involving larger numbers of speakers arrayed in a relatively large space.
Depending on the recorder and microphone, additional cables (XLR, stereo/mono converter or a TRRS to TRS adapter) will be necessary.
[11] By comparison with ELAN and FLEx, Toolbox has relatively limited functionality, and is felt by some to have an unintuitive design and interface.
However, a large number of projects have been carried-out in the Shoebox/Toolbox environment over its lifespan, and its user base continues to enjoy its advantages of familiarity, speed, and community support.
Toolbox files can also be easily converted for storage in XML (recommended for archives), such as with open source Python libraries like Xigt intended for computational uses of IGT data.
The 2021 Indian documentary film Dreaming of Words traces the life and work of Njattyela Sreedharan, a fourth standard drop-out, who compiles a multilingual dictionary connecting four major Dravidian languages Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.