My Life as a Linguist

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm majoring in Linguistics at my university. Because this is such a little known field, I thought I should address a few common questions and explain a little bit of what it is that I actually do.
So, jumping right in:

FAQ's

Q. So.. what exactly is Linguistics? And what can you do with it?
A. Well, its the study of language. It includes the study of language acquisition, morphology, syntax, phonology, semantics, historical linguistics, etc. There are research linguists who work in different ways. Some study historical linguistics, tracing back modern languages to their common ancestors, and trying to recreate lost languages. Others travel to remote parts of the globe and document previously undocumented languages. Other linguists work as speech therapists, language teachers, translators, or even forensic linguists. (I just heard about the latest one. Apparently there are linguists working for some police departments who analyze language in connection with possible crimes. This could apply to suicide notes, ransom letters, recorded speech, etc. Cool, huh?)


Q. Linguistics, huh? Are you a cunning linguist?
A. Ha.Ha. No.


Q. Oh? A linguist? How many languages do you speak?
A. This is a common misconception about linguists. Many linguists only speak their mother tongue. You don't have to be fluent in a foreign language to be able to describe its syntax and morphology (Don't worry. I'll explain these terms later). Also, if your focus was on first language acquisition, or how children learn language, you wouldn't need to know a foreign language at all.


Q. What attracted you to linguistics?
A. Well, I took my first linguistics class while I was an English Education major, and it just clicked with me. One of the first things we discussed was how children learn language. Now, if you ask the average person on the street how it is that young children learn language, they would tell you that kids hear things and repeat them. When they make correct utterances, they are rewarded by being understood, and when they make incorrect utterances, they are corrected, kind of like training a dog. However, if that were the case, children would not every be able to create original sentences. It would be based completely on repetition. Also, if that were the case, why do children almost universally make errors like "feets" and "teached". They certainly don't hear these words used. So where do they come from? The child is applying a fairly complex system of rules to the language that he or she knows. Which, for a 2-3 year old, is highly impressive. It is argued in linguistics that children are born with an innate ability to learn language. Their brain is hard-wired to make sense of an extremely confusing system. The specific language they learn obviously depends on the input they are exposed to, which is why children born in Boston speak English, while children in Tokyo speak Japanese.

The point is, there is something about humans that makes us hard-wired to communicate, and that is just amazing to me. 

Also, linguistics radically changed the way I looked at grammar. I had always found grammar to be confusing in school, but as soon as it was explained by a linguist, it was like, suddenly everything was clear. Thats part of the reason that I want to teach English. Students deserve to know that grammar doesn't have to be this big scary intimidating thing. (Also, linguists are "descriptive grammarians", meaning that they don't abide by all those stupid rules you learned growing up. You wanna end a sentence with a preposition? You wanna use a double negative? Go for it. The only ungrammatical sentence is one that a native speaker wouldn't understand the intent of. So, a sentence like "I ain't got none" might hurt your ears, but from a linguist's standpoint, its completely grammatical.)

Q. What are you gonna do with that?

A. Well, I'm getting my certificate in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and then I'm going to go into the Peace Corps to teach English abroad with them. Afterwards, I will probably come back and get my Masters in Teaching and teach high school English (and probably French too) here in the states. 

Okay.. and now for the things that I actually study:

Phonology- the study of the sounds of a language. Studies the way we make sounds, why sounds change over time a certain way, etc. For example, if you are a native speaker of English, you know that to form the plural of a word, you add an -s or -es. However, you probably didn't notice that you pronounce that plural in three different ways. Don't believe me? Say "pigs", "picks" and "pieces". Catch the difference? The first was a -z sound, then an -s, and then a -iz or -uz. Why is it that all native speakers will do that without ever having to be instructed in it? Any its not just repetition either, because we apply the same rules to made-up words!

 Here, I also get to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet, which makes so much more sense than English spelling. There is a letter for each sound made in a work. So, in the word phone, the "ph" would be represented by [f], because that is that sound it makes. Also, the "sh" sound is represented by [ʃ] and the "th" in "thin" would look different than the "th" in "this", because they are different sounds. The problem with writing everything in IPA, because trust me, I would love to, is that IPA transcribes accents and pronunciation differences. For example, my friend Rachel and I would have different spelling of the word "button" because we say it differently. And who is to say that one accent is superior to another?

Morphology- is actually cooler than it sounds. It has to do with morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful parts of words. So, the word speakers has three. speak-er-s. The first is this root verb. The second part turns that verb into a noun. and the last morpheme marks it as a plural noun. Its because of morphology like this that we can play with language like we do. Its why I can say a made up word like "verbify" and you know that it means to turn something into a verb. And we all do this without even thinking about it! 

There's a lot more to it, but I'll leave you with that for now. I could talk forever about language, but I  don't want to bore you all to tears!

-D

Deluges of Books and Water-- A.K.A Welcome to Winter Term

       Hello, all. Its Monday. The beginning of the third week of winter term, and I am completely overloaded with assignments. And we all know what that means! A new blog from me to you while I procrastinate. (I'm doing laundry while I write, so that makes it okay, right? Right? Guys?) Not to mention, I needed a coffee cure to the monday blues, so I'll be up all night anyway. And trust me when I say I needed the coffee.. it wasn't a desire, it was a need. You try sitting through six solid hours of 400 level linguistics classes and let me know how your brain feels. Moral of the story- Mondays suck.
       While I still have your attention, I'll apologize for the inordinately long previous post. Obviously, I get a little excited about the Peace Corps. Long story short: I finally got to start my application, I still won't even know if I'm accepted for about another year, and, oh yeah.. I'm really freaking excited. Thats pretty much it. =)
       So, the last few weeks have been a blur. I can only hope the rest of winter term goes by this fast. Unfortunately, this has resulted in my room looking like a class five tornado just ripped through it. There is laundry everywhere (though hopefully that gets taken care of tonight), jewelry and shoes scattered everywhere, and books covering every conceivable surface. I kid you not. You remember this scene from the Beauty and the Beast?

Yeah. My room is like that. But less organized. And with more clothes on the floor.
      Now, I'm not above admitting that I always dreamed of one day having a library like that. I just had always imagined that the books would be... ones I actually enjoyed reading. I mean, like the ones that you go back and read again and again. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Diary of Anne Frank. And sure, maybe I would throw in Paradise Lost or Dante's Inferno just to be pedantic, (I love that word, by the way. I also love pairing it with "pontificate" and "prodigious". Alliteration is the shit, and words are fascinating) but it wouldn't matter, because I wouldn't actually have to spend hours trudging through it unless I wanted to.

In other news, I almost died a couple days ago. Okay, so I didn't really almost die.. but my town did flood.

.

   
 Finally, it has stopped raining. The river is receding, and so far as I've heard the damage was really pretty minimal. But living across the street from a river during a flood is.. a little terrifying. Especially when you hear about nearby towns evacuating. But no worries. We're all fine here. Unless you count the 20 extra minutes that it takes me to get to Salem until all the roads open back up.
     Anyway.. just a short update for you all. Time to get back to work. =(     I've got the start of another blog in my head, so I'm sure I'll be back here before long.
-D

   

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Peace Corps, and then some

I've been waiting for this day for years. And it has finally arrived. What's so special about January 13th, 2012, you ask? Well, I will tell you. Today, I begin my application to the Peace Corps. =D

When you begin your application process (which should last around 9 months to a year) one of the first things you are asked is what date you are available to begin your service. After that question, they have a nifty little drop down box which gives you options of months. Unfortunately, the options only extend a year and a half in advance. So, until now, exactly a year and a half (hopefully!) before my departure date, I was unable to start my application.

What on earth, you may be asking, would cause the application to take a whole year? Well, let me give you a little overview of the application process:
1) I fill out the application itself, which is no small task. It will probably take at least a few week to get my references together, write my essays, and give an account of every relevant class, job, or hobby that could help me out. Not to mention gathering up all my financial information, health status review, and college transcripts.
2) Roughly two weeks after my application is received, I should hear from my regional Peace Corps recruiter to set up an interview time. The interview could be conducted in person or over the phone. (More likely over the phone since the nearest Peace Corps office is in Seattle)
3) If the recruiter determines that the Peace Corps will be a good fit for me, and all of my application materials have been received, I will be nominated. This means I will be told in general what region of the world I will be working in, general type of work and an approximate departure date. Nothing is set in stone at this point.
4) After nomination, I will be required to complete a medical review to make completely sure that I'm not dying.
5) If I'm not dying, they will do a legal review, to make sure I'm not secretly a felon, or married, or skipping out on loans, etc.
6) Then, I'll be evaluated on the basis of my skills. They call this a competitive review, where basically they take stock of what I have to offer, compared with other candidates.
7) Finally, if I survive all of that, and there is a position that I qualify for, I will receive an invitation letter. This letter contains the specific country I will be serving in and a detailed job description, and the specific date of departure. You usually receive your letter about 2 or 3 months in advance. It also comes with the "welcome book" for that country. These are actually really cool.. I've found some PDFs online of welcome books for different countries, and there is a lot of information in them. There's a map of the country, a brief history, overview of politics, religion, culture. Information about the climate, the food, the language. A description of what your training will be like. Packing lists specified to that country (so useful! You're only allowed to pack 80 pounds so its nice to know what you'll be able to find there and what you'll need to bring with you). There's also a pretty detailed section on safety in that country and what you need to do to stay protected and safe. Oh, and there're letters from past volunteers to that country! I think this is really cool. The letters will often tell you about challenges that volunteer experienced and how they overcame them, or give you advice or warnings, and they all give a ton of encouragement.
8) After receiving my invitation, I can choose to accept it or I can wait for another invitation. However, its important to be flexible. Just because a country isn't the one you initially hoped for doesn't mean you should reject the invitation. The Peace Corps prizes flexibility in their volunteers, and if you come across as unwilling to compromise, you are not going to be seen as as competitive of an applicant.
9) After I accept an invitation, the Peace Corps will buy me a ticket to my "pre-service orientation site" also called staging. I think this is usually in DC, but I'm not sure. This is short, basically just a chance for the volunteers to meet before leaving the US. Then, we'll all fly out together, and the real training begins in country!
10) I'll have 11 weeks of in cAountry training in the country's capital city, which includes language and cultural training, as well as technical training for your field. Volunteers usually live with host families during their training. After that, I'll receive my official site assignment and off I go to begin my two years!

As you can see.. its going to be quite the process. But I am so excited! I feel like I've waited forever to begin the process, and now that its here, I'm actually a little bit nervous. I mean.. what if I don't make it? What if all the anticipation, all the hours of lost sleep, all the planning isn't enough? I suppose I'll have to cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

While I'm on the subject of the Peace Corps, I think I should probably answer a few questions that I am always asked:
Q: What is the Peace Corps?
A. The Peace Corps is a US Government agency. They send Americans overseas to work in developing countries for 27 months. They only send volunteers to countries who have requested volunteers. The Peace Corps is not about invading and Americanizing the developing world, but providing trained workers for interested countries while promoting cross cultural understanding, both on the part of the people being served and on the part of the volunteers.
Q: Do you get paid for this?
A: Yes. In a few different ways. During my service, I will receive a stipend that allows me to live comfortably at the level of the locals. This means, yes, I will have enough to eat. No, I won't be living in the embassy. Peace corps also pays for my plane tickets to and from my country of service. In addition, some student loans are eligible for deferment or even cancellation, I'll receive $7,425 (before taxes) upon completion of my service, and I'll have free medical and dental care during my service. Also, if I should choose to go to graduate school after my service, I can earn college credit for my service, and in that way, save myself some money!
Q: What will you do?
A: The Peace Corps has a few different program areas. These are: Education, Agriculture, Business and Information Tech, Youth and Community Development, HIV and AIDS, Health, and Environment. Since I will have my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification, its a pretty good bet I will be teaching English.
Q: Where will you go?
A: The short answer is... wherever they send me. I don't get to choose my country of service, although I can indicate if I have a region I prefer. But, there are some ways to try to determine where you're gonna go. For me, because I have a background in French, and TEFL, its a pretty good bet (though not set in stone) that I'll end up in a French speaking country that also has an Education program set up today. Because so many people ask me this, and I was a little curious myself, I looked through all the peace corps countries to figure out which ones I was most likely to end up in. Here's a list of the French speaking education countries (the numbers next to them indicate how many volunteers are currently there, which can help determine the likelihood that I will get that place. More volunteers now means more open positions for me!) Cameroon: 221, Burkina Faso: 155, Madagascar: 148,Togo: 118, Benin: 112, Vanuatu: 68, Guinea: 31, and Niger, where the program has currently been suspended. Now, these are the countries where my skills fit the best, but its just as likely that the Peace Corps will see that I know French, and take that to mean that I could just as easily learn Spanish or Portuguese or Kiswahili or Wolof. Basically, it could be one of the countries I mentioned, but it could also be the Philippines or Albania or Kazakhstan or Samoa. I just won't know till I get my invitation. And that's all part of the adventure. =)
Q: Will you have running water (or electricity, or internet, or phone)?
A: Well, that's all dependent on my placement. Not only on the country itself, but also my location within the country. For example, if I'm in Cameroon, but I'm in the capital I might have access to a lot more than if I were in Romania, but living in the rural countryside. Chances are, I will probably have a cell phone. Even the least developed countries usually have cell phones, though service may be iffy, (Though that's not a big change from my AT&T service now!) and phone calls to the states will be expensive. Even if I don't have internet in my home, many larger cities have internet cafes, but the prices vary and so does internet speed. If nothing else, the peace corps office in my country should have internet, and when I make trips into the capital city, I'll be able to use it.
Q: Is it safe?
A: Well.. again, thats dependent on the individual assignment. Some countries are safer than other, some volunteers safer than others. Medically speaking, each peace corps office maintains medical staff for care of volunteers. If for some reason, a volunteer cannot be adequately treated within the country, they can be medivacked (on the Peace Corps dollar) to the states. Also, the Peace Corps has evacuation plans in place in every country, in case of some revolution or natural disaster. The Peace Corps works very closely with the Embassy to be sure that in case of emergency, all volunteers can be safely evacuated. As far as other safety issues such as theft or assault, common sense reigns supreme. There is a lot you can do to keep yourself safe. Don't go out alone after dark. Lock your doors. Don't keep valuables where they are easily seen. The Peace Corps does everything in its power to keep volunteers safe, but accidents do happen.