LingLit Journal
Vol 7 No 3 (2026): Linglit Journal: Scientific Journal of Linguistics and Literature, September

Reading the Sky, Documenting the Word: Methodological Intersections of Cultural Astronomy and Linguistic Fieldwork

Belay Sitotaw Goshu (Department of Physics, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia)
Muhammad Ridwan (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
05 Oct 2026

Abstract

This review examines the methodological intersections between cultural astronomy and linguistic fieldwork, arguing that these disciplines share foundational epistemological and practical commitments that remain undertheorized as a unified research program. Cultural astronomy, encompassing archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy, investigates how human societies perceive, interpret, and operationalize celestial phenomena. Linguistic fieldwork documents languages through systematic observation, elicitation, and recording within community contexts. Despite parallel development and shared reliance on ethnographic methods, these fields often proceed in isolation, overlooking synergies that emerge when the sky is approached as a semantic domain and language is recognized as a repository of astronomical knowledge. Drawing on recent scholarship in semantic typology, linguistic relativity, and Indigenous astronomy, this review identifies three primary points of convergence: (1) shared ethnographic commitments to community engagement and ethical knowledge production; (2) complementary elicitation techniques for documenting celestial terminology, narrative, and grammatical features; and (3) the co-constitutive relationship between linguistic categories and astronomical cognition, evidenced in event-based time systems, absolute spatial reference, and evidential marking. The Ethiopian Mekdes case and the Bororo ethnography illustrate how celestial phenomena authorize speech acts and structure social organization. The review concludes that an integrated methodological framework would enhance both fields by treating celestial vocabulary as linguistic data and grammatical categories as astronomical evidence, while centering Indigenous data sovereignty and the right to withhold knowledge. Such integration demands rigorous documentation and ethical accountability to knowledge-holding communities.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

linglit

Publisher

Subject

Description

LingLit Journal: Scientific Journal for Linguistics and Literature is an international journal using a peer-reviewed process published in December, March, June and September by Britain International for Academic Research Publisher (BIAR-Publisher). LingLit welcomes research papers in linguistics, ...