Grammar: The set of basic units of language and rules for combining those units of language to form understanding; considers syntax and morphology, and sometimes phonology.

Writing Rules: The systems of recording a language in text; orthography. It could be important to consider if your language has a written orthography. If so, this is something your language committee may need to include as you develop a project. In Module 2, we will discuss the importance of data management and meta-data and using a standard orthography could be important.

Traditional Uses: The ways that people use language in the contexts in which it grew and developed; connections to culture, environment, lifeways, relationships, etc. Documenting 'traditional uses' might mean recording in writing, audio and/or video things like talk that occurs when people engage in traditional cultural practices; talk that occurs in the home in child-rearing and household work, connection with the ecology, environment and lifeways, etc.

New Uses: The ways in which language use is changing, evolving, or adapting to today. Living languages are always changing and adapting, and for a language to maintain its vitality it might need to be used in contexts that differ significantly from those in which it originated. Documenting the process of new-word creation, or 'neologism', recording people using the language to engage with modern technology, to create new songs, poetry and art might be an important component in a language documentation project.