I have four classes. I am taking Sociolinguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Phonetics, and Morphology and Syntax (Generative Grammar)– a total of ten Masters Credit hours. (Imagine drinking from a fire hydrant– that’s how it feels. My brain reaches short term full capacity and tells me, “no more!”)
We just had our Syntax and Morphology Finals, and they were hard— not because of the material, but because my head wasn’t clear at all and I didn’t feel good physically due to sleep deprivation for time spent on other projects. I often spend more time on Projects than I should, though I do well, but I am learning that if I had stopped two hours ago, it would have been a better use of my time.
For these finals, however, I had inner arguments. Put yourself in my shoes: It’s ten o’clock, and you feel drugged, and you are not in the mood to make morpheme cuts. Here’s my inner argument:
I am not going to do this. I don’t wanna do this. Maybe I should just leave.
Jessica, you WILL do this. You can’t turn this in later. It’s the f-i-n-a-l.
And day two:
get it done… and hurry, ’cause honey,
you don’t have much time left and you’ve got ten more questions!
I’ve had this sort of mindset the whole Summer. I like what I am doing, but I don’t feel equipped to do it or particularly skilled at it. What I don’t know, however, is if I don’t think I am skilled at it because I am so green and I’ve only had an intro class. I think time will tell on this one whether or not I should keep pursuing Applied Linguistics or just let it go. It’s very math-y (i.e. technical) and I am not a math-y person– even though I love the “puzzle side” of Syntax and Morphology, and if it had been later in the afternoon, I would have thoroughly enjoyed making morpheme cuts. On the other hand, I love the social and cultural side of language and would love to explore its political implications as well as people’s language rights.
I also am uncertain about where and when I would use a Masters in Linguistics. A lot of people here want to be full-time missionaries and translate the Bible into various languages which currently do not have an orthography (i.e. writing system.) I think this would be cool, but I am not sure I trust myself. And I don’t know how I feel about being tied down to one place for so long. I think I would be better at doing something akin to Language Survey, but I think this might be me being flighty and unsure rather than my real feelings on things. I also wonder if my interests (i.e. Central and Eastern Europe) will convege with Linguistics.
Well, that’s all for now… gotta go to skit night!
