Answers To Your Questions About A Student Of Linguistics Is A An
Daniel asks…
I’m a student of linguistics but I’m thinking about becoming a professional photographer, what do you say?
ok I am 23 years old and next week I will have my BA degree in linguistics. Personally I had to choose linguistics because it was the only English major at our university and in the beginning I wasn’t quite a fan of linguistics but later on things got better. Before studying linguistics, I always wanted to study music but because of various reasons I couldn’t and had to choose linguistics. Recently I have become a great fond of photography and I always had a digital camera with me but because I never got the time to go deeper and learn more about photography. I never really paid that much attention to it. I already know I can be anything and yet be a photographer at the same time too but I study something and become a master of it than doing many things but all as hobbies. I am a great fan of artistic professions and I always wanted to be a musician but things didn’t go as I hoped.
Recently, I have become very tired of linguistics and it has become very complicated and honestly boring and the only job I can have is teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and even for that, I have to study 2 more years and get my MA degree and I don’t really think I can take it. I have always wanted to have a profession that is fun and interesting but as I already mentioned, I had to choose linguistics because it was the only option available for me four years ago.
I know some of you are going to say “you gotta do what you think is right” and stuff like that but please be more precise. I think I have what it takes to become a photographer, especially an adventurous photographer but my big question here is that if I choose to go and study photography, do I have to go back and start from the beginning (go back four years and start from scratch as any other person who is going to study photography) or can I do something else? Do I have to go undergraduate again? I don’t mind doing so since I am still 23 years old but for those who know about studying photography and especially those who have already studied and mastered it, do you think it is worth it? What are the obstacles? And please be realistic, I would accept negative answers as long as they are constructive.
Thank you very much
Green Thumb answers:
You DO have a lot of competition, but that has NEVER stopped those who rose to the top.
Media has changed a lot. I remember having to wait for an entire month for the “National Geographic”, or “Life Magazine” to see wondrous photos. Fewer people traveled, and good cameras were expensive.
Now, all I have to do is turn on my computer and look at pictures on whatever subject I want to my heart’s content. We can look at pictures taken with electron-microscope accuracy, and they are beautiful, if one is into that kind of beauty. I like stills of far away planets, as much as one of a frog in a forest.
Nowadays, people travel to the ends of the world, traveling has become a sport, and decent cameras are very affordable. I am sure you have seen beautiful photos of the Aurora taken by cell phones, NO, one says, YES!!!
Photographers specialize their work, from just taking pictures of anything metal, to just taking pictures of ants. So…what’s your pleasure?
Photos transport me as much as music, they make my world “go ’round”. So, hail to you my friend, try to have fun in whatever you choose, or have to do, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Lisa asks…
what are the easiest way of solfing linguistics analysis nproblems?
I am a student of linguistics/yoruba.but I found sociolinguistics,discourse analysis difficult.
Green Thumb answers:
English would be a start.
Ken asks…
high school student interested in linguistics?
i’m a junior in high school and i’m becoming more and more interested in linguistics. there aren’t any classes available to me, however, but i am reading books on my own.
what activities/classes would be useful? i know that linguistics isn’t about learning specific languages, but i was wondering if taking a variety of languages would be useful in introducing me to different structures and such. if so, which languages would be most useful? would arabic or russian be good choices if i already am studying spanish, french, chinese, and latin?
Green Thumb answers:
Yay! Linguists are always excited when we can drag somebody new into our tiny, obscure field. First of all, let me recommend two books (if you haven’t read them already): “Language”, by Edward Sapir, and “The Shattered Mind”, by Howard Gardner. They’re all kinds of fun.
It’s great that you’re studying a variety other languages – this will be immensely useful to you later on, because you will have so many examples to draw from when you are learning about phonological and morphological processes in the abstract. There are linguists who speak only one language, but I’ve always felt that they were a disadvantage. It’s kind of impressive that you’re already working on those four languages. Both russian and arabic would be good choices, but I would go with arabic because it’s not related to any of the other languages you’ve studied. Also, arabic morphology is fascinating (!).
Anyway, good luck. I hope you find enough to occupy you until you get to university 
.
Maria asks…
Linguistics help! Pictographs, Ideographs, Etic….?
Any linguists or linguistics students out there?
I need to know what is a pictographic system? What does that mean?
What is an pictographic-ideographic writing system? What does that mean?
What is emic? What is etic?
What are typologies?
I am studying the Western Apache Silas John writing script, basically, and these concepts are a little confusing and new to me.
If anyone can answer just one, or two, or all of these questions, that would be great!
Thanks!
Green Thumb answers:
First, realize there is no such thing as a word. What you have learned in your life about words is a concept but the reality is.. There are no words. Our minds have an area for the spoken word and making sounds for an object but the written word is not there yet. Now, you can draw a picture and communicate, as in the drawing of a horse, which will tell the mind to make the sound for a horse. This is a pictograph yet to do it quickly, you make a simple drawing, such as w…nn..y where the w is a head, the two ns a body, the y a tail and you can say it is a winny and that makes a sound that we associate with a horse. This way using letters you have combined a picture and letters(idea) for a early type of ideograph. The word horse is more abstract for the word horse doesn’t look like a horse so, it is a total idea and the letters each mean something as in the h (as in chair) is a seat and the o means movement. So, making letters instead of pictures is faster but the letters themselves started out as pictures.
As for emic and etic:
An “emic” account is a description of behavior or a belief in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor; that is, an emic account is culture-specific.
An “etic” account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer, in terms that can be applied to other cultures; that is, an etic account is ‘”culturally neutral”.
You can use my name as an example:
Constellation can mean the stars on the flag to an American, to a American Navy person it is a ship, and to people who do horoscopes all over the world it means a prediction. So, the ship meaning is known to a small group within a culture, the flag meaning to a culture, and the horoscope to many over the world as well as meaning a group of stars to everyone.
Chris asks…
how is comparative literature as a major?
Hello everyone, I’m a junior in college and thinking of switching to this. I speak German, I’ve studied Dutch and Russian, and I wouldn’t mind a future job using languages. I find the comparative aspect of this field interesting, but I am wondering if this is a lightweight major, or if it is viewed that way by employers. I’m currently a linguistics student.
Green Thumb answers:
Well, as a more liberal arts major, it doesn’t lead directly to a specific job, but rather develops skills that can be used in a wide array of jobs, skills that can be employed by a wide array of corporations and governmental posts.
Jenny asks…
essay on History Of Historical Linguistics?
well see i am trying to write an essay about the History Of Historical Linguistics.
heres what i’ve done so far but im not so sure, can someone please help me out..
Thank you it will mean alot!
” Linguistics is the study of human speech including the units , nature , structure , and
modification of language .Student in linguistics do not study a specific language ,
such as English or French nor is it entirely clear which profession they will have
after their studies , but then , what is the content of the study linguistics , and
what can you become after completion of the study ?
People speak between 3000 and 6000 different languages. What is that these
languages have in common, and what is that differentiates them? Each language
is very complicated system with many difficult rules how these words can be into
sentences. Since languages are so complicated the study of linguistics is divided
into several disciplines that each studies a different aspect of language.
Morphology, for example, is the study of word form. Phonology is the study
of the sound patterns in languages. Phonetics is the physical description of speech.
The study of linguistics is not just (pen and paper) study that is carried out
individually. A society without language is unthinkable .Speech and language is present
almost everywhere and almost all the time. It is really interesting to study linguistics because it
can help you understand other people and how you are and are not alike. It may also help you if
You plan to learn about a foreign language someday. Linguistics is definitely a topic that is
Worthy of being studied. It is also the first branch to be placed firmly footing in the beginning of
The nineteenth century. There used to be a distinguish between historical linguistics and
Descriptive linguistics. So study linguistics because it is so much fun.”
Green Thumb answers:
Robert asks…
help a poor graduate student by participating in a short linguistics survey?
Dear Readers, Please participate in this survey to help a linguistics graduate student. Thank you!?
The linguistics survey is located at http://www.georgetownroundtable.com and it will take less than 3 minutes of your time. It’s very very short obviously and pretty self-explanatory with its guidelines. Your participation will greatly help my term project. If you have been a researcher, you know how precious data can be for you when your final projects are due soon. If would like to know what exactly the purpose behind this survey is, please let me know and i will email some more info later on. Many many thanks, J.
Green Thumb answers:
Uh, you aren’t supposed to use this site this way.
But, done and done.
And I’m keen to know your results and analysis. You aren’t the first to promise to do this, but you COULD be the first to actually DO it, and let us know. Posting it on this site won’t work (it’s unlikely we’d see it, and it would be another abuse of this site).
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