This semester I'm breaking up my own work with a bit of tutoring.
Today was the first lecture. It was surreal sitting in an undergrad lecture for a course I took about five years ago and having the lecturer ask your opinion of things as the lecture progressed. I think I preferred the anonymity of being a student, although I am looking forward to tutorials starting next week.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Verbal Abuse
It was never a realistic delusion that I would be able to write my verb phrase chapter in only one week... but two and a half weeks in to writing all about the verb and the various bits that attach themselves to it (tense, aspect, auxiliaries; all those things you learned or never learned in language classes school) and I'm beginning to feel there is no end in sight.
This isn't surprising - it's one of the most difficult chapters to write, and every exception needs to be accounted for. I've already got a massive list of things to ask about/check/check again for my next field trip.
It wouldn't be so bad, except that I know that when it's done and looks all shiney I'll wonder to myself how it ever seemed to messy and horrid and complected. Let this post stand as testament to how whiny and petulant I am being in this endeavor...
This isn't surprising - it's one of the most difficult chapters to write, and every exception needs to be accounted for. I've already got a massive list of things to ask about/check/check again for my next field trip.
It wouldn't be so bad, except that I know that when it's done and looks all shiney I'll wonder to myself how it ever seemed to messy and horrid and complected. Let this post stand as testament to how whiny and petulant I am being in this endeavor...
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Hole Truth
Today I went to visit my dentist for the first time since spending three months in Nepal bathing my teeth in sugar tea. I was so excited to find out that I have no cavities that I almost fell out of the chair.
A big hazzah for fluoridated water!
A big hazzah for fluoridated water!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Slow Mail Month
Yesterday, my handsome Australian penpal received a letter from me that I sent a few weeks before leaving Nepal.
Most mail took 2-3 weeks to get to its destination, but this correspondence wandered around for two months before finishing its journey. It made me think how glad I am that we live in a world of telephones (and skype), instead of relying on letters alone.
Most mail took 2-3 weeks to get to its destination, but this correspondence wandered around for two months before finishing its journey. It made me think how glad I am that we live in a world of telephones (and skype), instead of relying on letters alone.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
No TB for me
Yesterday I got the results of my post-trip TB test, having spent the preceding 72 hours staring at the test site on my forearm waiting for a reaction ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantoux_test ).
Given that almost half of the population of Nepal has tuberculosis, and spitting is the second favourite national pass-time - pipped only by eatting daal and rice - I'm rather glad to not have a TB sized souvenir from the trip.
Given that almost half of the population of Nepal has tuberculosis, and spitting is the second favourite national pass-time - pipped only by eatting daal and rice - I'm rather glad to not have a TB sized souvenir from the trip.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
It's Not Always That Difficult
As predicted, now that I'm home in a country where I generally understand what's happening, and there is not a flood of data nor chances to embarrass myself during sessions, blog-worthy events have tailed off.
I'm currently writing out my phonology of the language (ie - what sounds people use to speak). It's very slow going, but satisfying to be finally ironing out some of the quirks that have been troubling me from the outset.
One thing that has been troubling me is the word for meat, which sometimes sounds to me like 'sha' and other times like 'shya'. I was playing them through for the supervisor, explaining how my ear can't cope with making the distinction. It was suggested I just put both of them in the phonology and explain they are in free variation (ie. speakers can use which ever they want and others will still still understand them).
It reminded me that just because an answer is simple doesn't mean it's wrong. Unfortunately, not all my phonological problems are going to plan out so easily.
I'm currently writing out my phonology of the language (ie - what sounds people use to speak). It's very slow going, but satisfying to be finally ironing out some of the quirks that have been troubling me from the outset.
One thing that has been troubling me is the word for meat, which sometimes sounds to me like 'sha' and other times like 'shya'. I was playing them through for the supervisor, explaining how my ear can't cope with making the distinction. It was suggested I just put both of them in the phonology and explain they are in free variation (ie. speakers can use which ever they want and others will still still understand them).
It reminded me that just because an answer is simple doesn't mean it's wrong. Unfortunately, not all my phonological problems are going to plan out so easily.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
In The Dark
I'm slowly beginning the process of pulling my massive mess of data into some kind of format that other people can understand... and perhaps I can understand better as well. For the last two days I've been going though session recording, cutting out individual words so I can analyse them using Praat (Pratt is a phonetic analysis program that, while constantly updated, still looks like it's from the late 1990s).
I have to start also pulling together the syntactic rules of of the language (such as, that the order of words is Subject, Object then the Verb - English, by comparison, is Subject, Verb, Object), and relate the whole thing to current theories about such things as typology (what features occur in different languages), Tibeto-Burman linguistics (the family in which my language belongs) and social cognition (the area I'm really interested in - how people use language in a with other people to create ideas about the world they live in).
I'm trying to work as hard as I can - but unlike in Nepal, I have more of a life here, so it can be easier to be distracted (I've certainly not has a 10 hour working day since I got home). I can say that I miss Nepal at the moment though, the enforced power cuts known as 'load shedding' have gone up from 5-6 hours a week when I left to 9 hours every day:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25306890/Load-Shedding-Schedule-Kathmandu-Nepal-17th-January-2010
I have to start also pulling together the syntactic rules of of the language (such as, that the order of words is Subject, Object then the Verb - English, by comparison, is Subject, Verb, Object), and relate the whole thing to current theories about such things as typology (what features occur in different languages), Tibeto-Burman linguistics (the family in which my language belongs) and social cognition (the area I'm really interested in - how people use language in a with other people to create ideas about the world they live in).
I'm trying to work as hard as I can - but unlike in Nepal, I have more of a life here, so it can be easier to be distracted (I've certainly not has a 10 hour working day since I got home). I can say that I miss Nepal at the moment though, the enforced power cuts known as 'load shedding' have gone up from 5-6 hours a week when I left to 9 hours every day:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25306890/Load-Shedding-Schedule-Kathmandu-Nepal-17th-January-2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Trip Statistics
As promised, here are some of the more, and less, enlightening statistics from my field trip.
Days away: 104
Days in Nepal on which I did no work: 11
Number of hours of audio data collected: 42 hours, 41 minutes and 52 seconds
Number of K. words currently in my Toolbox lexicon: 694
Number of notebook pages used: 354
Total number of leads used in my favourite pink mechanical pencil: 11.3
Amount over budget: AUD 245.84
One month's rent: 10 000 Rupees
Average exchange rate during my stay: around 65 NRS to 1 AUD
My rent in Nepal as expressed as a percentage of my rent in Australia: 25.74%
Most expensive meal in Nepal (inc. drinks): AUD 23.82
Percentage of weight gain attributable to cheese: 0%
Days away: 104
Days in Nepal on which I did no work: 11
Number of hours of audio data collected: 42 hours, 41 minutes and 52 seconds
Number of K. words currently in my Toolbox lexicon: 694
Number of notebook pages used: 354
Total number of leads used in my favourite pink mechanical pencil: 11.3
Amount over budget: AUD 245.84
One month's rent: 10 000 Rupees
Average exchange rate during my stay: around 65 NRS to 1 AUD
My rent in Nepal as expressed as a percentage of my rent in Australia: 25.74%
Most expensive meal in Nepal (inc. drinks): AUD 23.82
Percentage of weight gain attributable to cheese: 0%
Friday, January 8, 2010
The First Meeting Back
Yesterday was my first meeting with my supervisor since I left on my trip. For the three months I was away she was subjected to emails from me if I had a problem. I was, to say the least, apprehensive about showing my work - I had visions of the conversation ending with 'so that's all that you did in three months' or 'you forgot to check whether it had x/y/z important feature.'
Much to my relief there were no comments along those lines. It was relieving when I was told 'well, it looks like you'll have enough to actually write a thesis.' It kind of scares me that it takes until almost 1/3 of the way through to come to that conclusion.
And no, I haven't forgotten those all important statistics, I'll put them up over the weekend.
Much to my relief there were no comments along those lines. It was relieving when I was told 'well, it looks like you'll have enough to actually write a thesis.' It kind of scares me that it takes until almost 1/3 of the way through to come to that conclusion.
And no, I haven't forgotten those all important statistics, I'll put them up over the weekend.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Confirmation
I think, in an earlier post, I made passing reference to that dreaded C-word. That distasteful word that makes me cringe every time I hear someone say it. Yes, that's right - it's coming up to confirmation time...
Christian initiation rites aside, confirmation is the 12 month point of a PhD research program, which for me is early March. It involves a variety of horrors. One is that I have to write a 10,000 word paper, which I haven't even started thinking about. Considering I spent 9 months writing a 12,000 word piece for Honours this gives an indication there might be a few sleepless nights over the next month or two. The other thing is that I have to present my research-to-date and future plans in a talk to the entire department.
My plan, at the moment, is to just fill my slides with lots of pretty pictures of the landscape that I took on my field trip. I'm sure this plan can't possibly fail me!
Christian initiation rites aside, confirmation is the 12 month point of a PhD research program, which for me is early March. It involves a variety of horrors. One is that I have to write a 10,000 word paper, which I haven't even started thinking about. Considering I spent 9 months writing a 12,000 word piece for Honours this gives an indication there might be a few sleepless nights over the next month or two. The other thing is that I have to present my research-to-date and future plans in a talk to the entire department.
My plan, at the moment, is to just fill my slides with lots of pretty pictures of the landscape that I took on my field trip. I'm sure this plan can't possibly fail me!
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