The interviews need to be tape recorded because the interviewers are interested in many aspects of the community’s language, not just in hearing one or two unusual pronunciations or a new word. We can’t listen for all the different features we’re interested in all at once — and pay attention to what’s being said — without making a tape that we can go back and listen to as many times as we need to. One of our main goals is to paint as accurate a picture of the language as possible; tape and video recordings help us ensure that the descriptions we develop are based on real-life language use and not on vague impressions.
