Graduate / SOP - PhD Linguistics [9]

Prompt:
Prefers the online Statement of Purpose
1200 word limit, encourage limiting to (the equivalent) of one to two printed pages.
Essay should include:

* Your main theoretical interest(s) in linguistics (perhaps a subfield that engages you, or a specific linguistic topic);
* Relevant preparation for graduate study in linguistics, including coursework, research experiences, or field work;
* Any interests in specific languages or language groups;
* Most importantly, which aspects of the University X Linguistics department make us a good match for your main interests and professional goals.

***

Amazingly, with a little luck and fortitude, my first job after college graduation was as a linguistics consultant at a small start-up software company called AF (later IQ) developing a natural language enterprise search engine. I had taken one computational linguistics class in college and performed somewhat poorly so I was determined to redeem myself. Since the company was a start-up, employees were required to wear many different "hats", not the least of which was research but also programming, business analysis, and training clients. Using many techniques from the field of computational linguistics as well as other sub-disciplines of linguistics, I worked on the underlying algorithm of the search engine and helped develop an ontology of concepts mapped to a corpora from a particular industry such as telecommunications, aerospace, or IT.

One of the highlights of working at AF includes programming a finite state machine for automatically identifying common noun phrases in a given industry specific corpus (e.g. "Sun Blade" or "low fuel burn") and then also mapping their morphological variants to an underlying concept. Thus, for example a search for "planes with low fuel burns" will return a string like, "The Tomcat jet has a low fuel burn." However, a search for "Does the Tomcat have a low fuel burn?" would not return a string like, "The Tomcat flies low, uses diesel fuel, and burns the competition." Since English noun phrases occur in certain places and obey certain rules my linguistics training in syntax and morphology was invaluable in developing this program. Additionally, the linguistics team at AF also conducted much research on discourse analysis. Actually, several articles by Professor Andrew K. regarding ellipsis were recommended readings and influenced some of our work. Working at AF has given me much insight into the field of natural language processing and increased my enthusiasm for computational linguistics in general.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that one of my areas of interest is in computational linguistics. I appreciate it as an invaluable tool for modeling and understanding language. However, my main theoretical interest is in phonology and syntax along the lines of improving understanding of code-switching. I grew up in a diglossic (triglossic?) community speaking English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Thus, in interactions with my bilingual (or trilingual) friends and family members I've always been fascinated by the patterns of code-switching and the ease or lack of ease in understanding each other when code-switching. My wife is bilingual in Mandarin (native) and English, therefore we often code-switch when speaking to each other and at times we run into miscommunications and outright incomprehensibility. As a result I think I have personal experience to help formulate hypotheses on the nature of code-switching.

Code-switching, along with the related phenomena of loanwords and nonce borrowings are not completely idiosyncratic. Studies have shown that they are governed by phonological, morphological, or syntactic constraints. Phonotactics, for example, plays a big part in the comprehensibility of English code-switched words in Chinese sentences. Reportedly, if the English word contains a consonant-consonant cluster (e.g. stripe) it takes longer for Chinese-English bilinguals to recognize the word due to the fact that Chinese lacks this phonotactic structure. It is trying to understand these types of problems that draw me to the field. I believe that there is still much research to do regarding understanding the constraints of code-switching as well as the entire continuum that leads to borrowing and language change.

I believe University X would be great place to combine both my professional and personal experience into fruitful academic research. The program has an excellent convergence of expertise in computational and psycholinguistics that may allow me to further explore issues in code-switching. As I understand, University X Computational Psycholinguistics Lab currently has multiple projects researching issues of comprehension and production, so hopefully there is a project for me that may fall under their umbrella.

Professor A., on her homepage (linguistics.edu/~A/at_a_glance.html*), welcomes students to apply to University X. She has conducted research in the past concerning diglossia. Also, code-switching offers blatant contrast of linguistic variation. Through personal experience, differences in prosody between English and Mandarin are often causes of failure in understanding when code-switching Mandarin words into English sentences. Thus I think there is a fit and hopefully Professor A. will welcome my application.

Finally, why am I applying to Graduate School? Because I've spent six years working at non-profits trying to be an activist, Bush isn't in office anymore, and I'm disillusioned with trying to change the world. Therefore, at the very least I can participate in expanding our knowledge of the world-at least the small part that allows us to communicate with each other. So I guess I'll come back to my first career choice and do linguistics. Teachers of Linguistics change the world don't they?

*the part on her homepage I am referring to: "Prof. A. welcomes applications for prospective graduate students interested in working on any topic pertaining to the production and perception of prosody, the relationship between phonetics and phonology, and the role of variation in language structure and use."

***
Am I getting a little too "punchy" with my last two paragraphs. I'm trying to interject a bit of my personality too keep it from being too dry. Not sure if it works.