Suboptimist

Syntax II: The Syntaxening.

And now we play the waiting game. I may go crazy in the interim.

Anyway, at the beginning of each semester I usually give a rundown of the courses I’m taking. I’ll go ahead and do that, you know, to keep in line with tradition.

· Drawing for non-art majors. When I tell people this, the response is usually something like, “Oh, I didn’t know you liked to draw.” I don’t necessarily, but I needed another art credit to graduate. A drawing class sounds kind of fun, and since it’s for non-art majors, it should be pretty low pressure. I won’t be expected to be any good.

· Syntax II. If you’ve followed my internet life long enough, you know how I feel about syntax. Syntax I was the only class that almost made me not major in linguistics. I mean, holy crap, this is hard. I’ve already cracked the textbook open. Within the first couple pages, it seems like a bunch of Chomsky worship. I can explain that later. Also, if I had a dollar everytime a linguistics book started with something along the lines that this book does, “Just about everybody has something to say about language: poets, comedians, philosophers,” I’d have, well, several dollars. What’s shocking is that this book starts with this overused cliche. Chances are good that if a student is tackling the Minimalist Program, he’s taken at least one other syntax course, not to mention various intro courses that have taught him what linguistics is and how it’s different than what poets, comedians, philosophers, and William Safire have to say about language.

· Language and cognition. I’ve wanted to take this for a while. I’m also expecting it be compete with Syntax for the hardest course this semester. The professor, Patricia Hanna, is known for her very anti-generative views. Also, her very, very difficult reading lists.

· Typology and universals. I’m excited for this class. I took my historical linguistics class from the same professor, Lyle Campbell, and it turned out to be one of my favorite classes. There are a couple of downsides, though. For one, it’s in the CAIL building at Fort Douglas. I hate walking up there. If anyone who works at CAIL is reading this, shut up, you are used to the walk. The second thing, it’s three hours long. Those almost always kill me.

· Senior capstone. Honestly, the course description and the descriptions I’ve received from faculty have been really vague, so I’m not totally sure what to expect. I know it’s basically a senior-seminar type thing, but the exact mechanics may be different. If I judge by the textbook, it may be an intermediate or advanced sociolinguistics class…I will report.

EDIT: So, it’s been, what, 2 hours since I just turned in my last application, and I am already losing my mind.