# Assyria | Optional oral-history interview prompts

Use these suggestions only after discussing the purpose of the project and agreeing on the recording and access conditions. The interviewee may decline any question, change topics, pause or end the interview. Avoid pressuring people to discuss trauma, displacement, private family matters or living third parties.

## Place, language and everyday life

1. How would you like to describe the community, language or locality in which you grew up?
2. What did an ordinary day look like for you at different ages?
3. Which places mattered in your life, and have their names or use changed?
4. What languages or local varieties were used at home, school, work and worship?
5. Which objects, recipes, books, music or celebrations are meaningful to you, and why?

## Personal history and change

6. What do you remember about learning a skill, trade, song or craft?
7. Were there institutions or people who helped maintain language or community connections?
8. If you moved, what would you like people to understand about that experience?
9. Which memories do you think are often missing from published histories?
10. Are there details you would prefer to leave out of a public account?

## Review and access

11. Would you prefer your name, a pseudonym, or no public identification?
12. Which portions, if any, could be heard by researchers or the public?
13. Should the transcript or translation be reviewed before any access is granted?
14. Whom should the custodian contact regarding later corrections or restrictions?

Do not treat this list as a survey or consent form. The narrator's consent and any recorded rights agreement must be negotiated separately, before recording.