Ethical considerations and good practices in linguistic work on endangered languages: the case of a research programme on Cypriot Arabic

Abstract Linguist-centred approaches to fieldwork on endangered languages aim to advance scientific knowledge while minimising unintended risks for participants. However, the situated nature of this fieldwork often calls for more community-centred ethical approaches so that research also translates into benefits for the researched community and not solely for science. Focusing on the relation between research and society, this article reviews macro- and microethical approaches from diverse fields and exemplifies their application in a research programme on the documentation and maintenance/revitalisation of Cypriot Arabic, a severely endangered language spoken in Cyprus. A key principle in this context is collaboration, both with the community and among experts in theoretical and applied linguistics, didactics, language technology, etc. Such multiple-disciplinary collaboration is essential for addressing community-driven goals, such as writing system codification, teaching material creation, etc., which exceed the scope of theoretical linguistics alone. Ultimately, the paper calls on theoretical linguists to embrace multi-disciplinary teamwork and to collaborate with the language communities where they conduct their research in order to align their research with the communities’ needs.