Sherzer (in Ryan and Bernard, 2003) presents a detailed analysis of a two-hour performance by Chief Olopinikwa of a traditional San Blas Kuna chant. The chant was recorded in 1970. Like many linguistic anthropologists, Sherzer had taught an assistant, Alberto Campos, to use a phonetic transcription system. After the chant, Sherzer asked Campos, to transcribe and translate the tape. Campos put Kuna and Spanish on left- and right-facing pages. By studying Campos’s translation against the original Kuna, Sherzer was able to pick out certain recurrent features. Campos left out the chanted utterances of the responding chief (usually something like "so it is"), which turned out to be markers for verse endings in the chant. Campos also left out so-called framing words and phrases (like "Thus" at the beginning of a verse and "it is said, so I pronounce" at the end of a verse). These contribute to the line and verse structure of the chant. Finally, "instead of transposing metaphors and other figurative and allusive language into Spanish" Campos "explains them in his translation".

Who is the lesser evil for you?

Naomi Quinn (in Ryan and Bernard, 2003) has analyzed hundreds of hours of interviews to discover concepts underlying American marriage and to show how these concepts are tied together. She began by looking at patterns of speech and at the repetition of key words and phrases, paying particular attention to informants' use of metaphors and the commonalities in their reasoning about marriage. Nan, one of her informants, says that "marriage is a manufactured product." This popular metaphor indicates that Nan sees marriages as something that has properties, like strength and staying power, and as something that requires work to produce. Some marriages are "put together well," while others "fall apart" like so many cars or toys or washing machines.

“How old were you when you discovered your disease?”

Bill and Jessica were almost done taking turns choosing the players for their teams. It was Jessica’s turn to choose, and only Kurt was left. Jessica said, “Kurt.”

Would you like to continue that kind of relationship?

Interview Segment 

Q: What are your views on homelessness? 

A: Well, I think it’s a terrible thing that in a modern society we have a problem such as this. I don’t know though what we can do about it. I want to do something but I don’t know what. You are constantly reminded of the problem if you go to town. They are always there asking for money. You don’t know though if they really need it or if they are in fact doing quite well from begging. But if you have any caring qualities you can’t ignore requests for help, when you have so much for yourself.

They say a lot of people choose to live on the streets – well I don’t believe that. I think that is an easy thing for the authorities to say – it lets them off the hook. So really I guess the answer to your questions is that I am not sure what to think about homelessness. I feel that something should be done but I feel powerless to do anything personally. I think that the time has come for the government to do something. It makes me feel uncomfortable; I don’t know what to do. 

Source: Grbich (2013) 

Homelessness is hopeless to be solved.