Monday, March 9, 2009
There was a gas leak in my dorm
We were all kicked out because gas leaks are bad. I was sleeping when the alarm went off, so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when I walked out into the rain. It was a good day. Aside from all the work. Anyway, I'm primarily writing this post as an excuse to not start my humanities paper. I have lots of work. I'm probably going to fail many classes this quarter. Or not do as well as I'd like, anyway. But yeah. Today is not as good a day as yesterday. Secondarily, or perhaps more accurately co-primarily, I'm writing this post because I haven't had much contact with TASPers lately. Sad day. Also, I've gotten the impression that recent blog activities have been a little boggarted by Ms. Kling. I think I probably should have made a new paragraph somewhere back there, but I'm not going to check. I also think you should all know that the Core is stupid. For all its vaunted depth, the UChicago Core consists of nothing more than some mediocre survey classes and infantile unit manipulations. I find this frustrating. Oh well. My writing TA for hume(anities) is hot. You should all know. She's 30. But also hot. This is so far the best thing that's happened to me in a Core class. I don't know if this is a testament to my shallowness or the Core's. I wrote a paper about phonological and morphological patterns in the writings of Dr. Seuss. I find phonology to be one of the most useless disciplines ever imagined. Maybe I'm not that imaginative. Laura will probably disagree with me, but hours with Halle and Sapir have taught me that the human mouth can make sound. This is probably the most senseless post I've ever written. Also, a victory for all TASP, Valentin and I have finally become friends on facebook. It's been a long time in coming. So I'm going to be staying in Chicago for spring break, which falls between March 21st and March 29th. If anyone is in the area and would like to visit, feel free. I'm pretty sure Kim's going home. And Ms. Rachel Meng has been notably absent from both our lives. Living in Snitchcock has not done good for her intraTASP relations. At any rate, I will be here. So come visit!
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Mac! Yes yes I ought to be very forcefully flogged or whacked. I am sad. :O( But we should meet up; then you can yell at me; getting four-ish hours of sleep a night is not the most ideal; we should meet up!
Mac! Mac Krumpac!
I've missed you!
I still have yet to visit the House. I feel like I should do it with a TASPer, and I refuse to do it without one.
I'm working in the Society for the Humanities house (AD White House), and this summer, I'll get to see all the critical theorists who stay in the apartment there. So much nostalgia already, though. It was where we had our picnic that one day.
Laura, stop stealing Mac's thunder.
One of the TA's for my chemistry class is really hot. He was talking about polyprotic acids the other day, but I couldn't really concentrate on what he was saying. That's how gorgeous he is.
Also, my roommate and our other friend are in love with Martha Nussbaum and got really excited today when I told them I'd had lunch with her. Now I understand Telluride Association name-dropping...
Also, I love you very much, Mac Krumpak. And I really wish you would come and visit me for spring break instead of staying in Chicago. It's really warm here...
You always pick on me.
Also, I saw this being filmed on campus. The main kid's in one of the a cappella groups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH0SoDcR3_A
Also, phonology is so useful. Like, in many obvious ways. Not as an end, but as a means.
Rachel: We should meet up! When and where? Kim had this whole plan to do dollar shake day at Hutch, but that sort of fell through.
Olivia: I miss you, too! I wish I could come visit the house with you. Or just visit Cornell in general. We should talk some time.
Ana: Why are you such a snob? 'I ate lunch with Martha Nussbaum.' Also, did we actually eat lunch with her? She teaches somewhere here. I don't know where.
Laura: Like what?
Well. Sociolinguistically, the ways in which people pronounce words can often be correlated to the community with which they associate themselves (see Martha's Vineyard, Detroit, Panama City, etc. Pretty much anything by Labov).
Historically, languages that have similar sounds or systematic correspondences among differing sounds can be shown to be related, and the sound changes that have taken place can be used to date population migrations and periods of contact, etc., and to place them in chronological order.
Anthropologically, similarly to historically, groups of peoples with similar sets of phonemes often share common histories or periods of contact and exchange, even if the groups are no longer in close contact.
Really, are you asking me why studying sounds is a legitimate thing to do in linguistics? Because if anything is, sounds are. I mean, that's like saying dissection is worthwhile but genetic study is not. They're all just different parts of the whole.
It seems like they should've addressed some of that in your class. I don't understand what you guys are studying. I think we spent most of today's class talking about how people say "comfterbul" instead of "comfortable." I wasn't really paying attention, though.
So I can identify what region someone is from? Not a very valuable skill.
I question the accuracy of phonological analysis to identify specific migratory patterns or 'periods of contact.'
It has been shown that, for the most part, all languages draw from a basic set of possible sounds. Obvious connections can be made between language groups in a region, and anything beyond that is speculation. If there is anything to be said for anthropological linguistics, it is that morphological borrowings can be identified in various language groups that make borrowings from each other.
Comparing dissection and genetics and linguistics and phonology is not valid. This completely mischaracterizes the relationship between phonology and linguistics.
Also, on the whole, the usage of phonology is not derived inter-lingually, but from the different realizations of phonemes within a specific language. Or so my professor says.
Anyway, I don't like phonology.
no. you misunderstand the analogy. Maybe I didn't represent it well enough, Mac Grumpak, but it's not dissection : genetics :: linguistics : phonology. I'm not crazy. Linguistics and biology are two fields. Dissection and genetics are tools, so to speak, of the study of biology. Both are used for a greater understanding of the whole. As phonology is used for a greater understanding of linguistics. Rather than as an end.
In Latin American Spanish, the influence and duration of contact (and the amount of time it took for assimilation to occur) between indigenous and African groups and colonists from different areas of Spain can be examined through the sound systems present in the varying dialects.
Also, Grimm's Law. I guess you could say that's ultimately irrelevant, but I wouldn't.
You ignored the sociolinguistics thing, which is one of the most interesting things in the world.
You're such a grump. I still like you.
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