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What do linguists do? | ||
Tags: Linguistics | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Alfonso Octoglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6867 days ago 511 posts - 536 votes  Speaks: Biblical Hebrew, Spanish*, French, English, Tzotzil, Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Greek Studies: Nahuatl, Tzeltal, German | Message 9 of 20 19 May 2006 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've met at least two anthopologists especialized in linguistics who speak perfectly Maya-Tsotsil. One of them is particularly skillful and gifted because he's able to reproduce the local intonation (pitch of the voice) of the dialectal variant in the town where I work.
I think that the bests linguists are those who are able to describe and explain scientifically the structures of a given language and, at the same time, they could speak it at a high level mastering it. I also would like to study linguistics and to be proficient in many languages. I also want (and like) to learn some of the most widely spoken languages in the world and some of the lesser spoken as well. As soon as I have time to study linguistics I'll subscribe myself. Edited by Alfonso on 19 May 2006 at 2:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy_Liu Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong leibby.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6792 days ago 255 posts - 257 votes Speaks: Mandarin, Cantonese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 10 of 20 20 May 2006 at 2:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Alfonso: I'm glad to hear that you MAY have a chance to study the language(s) you prefer in future. Yes, I do believe it would sound better if a linguist TRIES to acquire different kinds of languages to have a better understanding of theories he learns.
So, would you tell us some details about your plan? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6874 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 11 of 20 21 May 2006 at 2:32am | IP Logged | ||
I think that is true, about not making things easier. That was one of my ill-conceived ideas about what it might do, though. ;-) Global Studies? Very good question, and I don't really have the answers, which is a bit scary since I'm majoring in it. Frankly, as you pointed out, it is very wide, so it's hard for me to be specific. I chose it because I want to work in live outside of the United States, and see as much as the world as I can from the perspective that tourists don't see. Perhaps I'm just a romantic about it all... Global Studies seemed fitting to me because it is a bit of a universal major for me: it includes a lot of what I am interested in, such as Language, history, anthropology, and it is on something of a global scale. As of right now I haven't figured much out, but I'll be in Germany studying next year, and I'll have to give a presentation about something German. As of late, however, I'm wondering if this is where I want to be, as far as majors go. It looks at the world very analytically, and I'm not sure that's how I want to see it (although I'm just coming off of a Politcal Science class, so that might be what I am talking about). I simply haven't taken enough classes to figure it out much. If I don't take any linguistic classes, I'm sure I'll read up on at least a little of it on my own. It's what I do for fun I guess. To me, the idea of going through a grammar book can be as entertaining as reading a novel (but a bit harder to stay focused, sometimes). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mga Groupie United States beastie.redirectme.n Joined 7129 days ago 67 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 12 of 20 21 May 2006 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Having a good knowledge of phonetics is very useful when learning languages. In my opinion, learning new sounds is impossible without understanding how they are produced. I've seen the Hindi retroflex stops described as "hard". Hard? What does that mean? Why not call them what they are? Or the Arabic ﺡ. I've read descriptions saying to pronounce it as a very emphatic H. Again, what does that mean? No matter how hard I tried, I could not pronounce a good Haa' by trying to articulate an "emphatic H". Only when I found out that the sound was a voiceless pharnygeal fricative did I have any success. Edited by Mga on 21 May 2006 at 1:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strings Newbie United States Joined 6759 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 13 of 20 30 May 2006 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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You might pick up Teach Yourself Linguistics (or a similar book). Don't be fooled by the title, it's deeper than Dummie's Guide to XYZ.
I've spent a few hours dabbling in linguistics. I think it is hard to very hard. And I read relativity and number theory books for fun, so i'm not afraid of new subjects. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6874 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 14 of 20 30 May 2006 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hmm, I have never heard of that book, but I might have to give it a look-see. Thanks. =)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6955 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 15 of 20 30 May 2006 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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One linguistics book I particularly love is The Power of Babel. I believe the author's name is John McWhorter. It's one of those books that are very informative and fascinating, while very humorous and pertinent at the same time. The subject of the book is how one "proto-language" could have evolved into the thousands of languages we have today, and most of the content is dedicated to discussions about pidgins, creoles, and dialects (including the language vs. dialect issue). He's very knowledgeable about foreign languages, both the popular European ones and lesser-known African and Australasian ones, and draws from examples from probably 20 or 30 different languages in his writing.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BookishAcolyte Newbie United States Joined 6774 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish | Message 16 of 20 02 June 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know much about linguistics myself, but I've been wondering about
it, and I'm signed up for the introductory course next quarter. At my university, the major requires either math or foreign language courses, probably depending on which area of linguistics you want to go into. There's also a language studies major, which requires the equivalent of nine quarters of foriegn language classes, plus various linguistics courses. The language classes are either broken up into up to level six of one language and three of another, or up to level nine in one, depending on how many courses are offered in you main language of choice. The major only accepts modern languages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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