Informed Consent in Linguistic Research

El consentimiento informado en la investigación lingüística: Impresiones desde el Noroeste de México

Abstract

The boom in linguistic documentation, particularly in recent years and recently in response to the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Languages (2022-2032), in parallel to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is the reason why this work raises an ethical issue involved in this methodological task, specific to linguistic research, which has to do with the gathering and use of language samples: informed consent. The linguist is obliged to comply with the process of informed consent, but two of its requirements compromise fieldwork in indigenous communities: one, that it be prior, two, that it be expressed in writing. The first in reference to the paradox of the observer and the second to cultures without a written tradition. The method selected for this study is the open interview. The results point to two remedial measures: first, that informed consent can be forged in three phases: prior, post facto and subsequent consent. The second is that the consents can also be documented electronically (visual and/or audible), since this can be of greater advantage in manifesting defects that written consent does not reflect.