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| The Clarendon Institute - Location of the Linguistics Dept. |
So I'm now into the third week of Michaelmas Term at Oxford, and I'm sure people have lots of questions. Here's a summary of what I've been up to in terms of my studies.
Two notes: In this post, I'm going to mention a whole bunch of linguistic subfields. This is for largely the benefit of my fellow linguists academics and the terms may be unfamiliar to you. You can ask me what they all mean independently if you want to know, but I'm not going to define them here. Secondly, the Oxford year is divided into three terms (not two or four as in SA); this "first term" is from October to the beginning of December and is known as "Michaelmas Term".
This term for all members of my course involves lots of intensive lectures and reading with not so many assignments (those will come next term). There are a couple of compulsory lectures that all MPhil and MSt candidates have to attend, with the intention of getting us all on an "equal footing". These are largely in areas of formal linguistics and include: a basic Phonetics (undergrad) lecture, a postgrad Phonetics and Phonology lecture, a Semantics and Pragmatics lecture and a Syntax lecture each week. In addition, I'm attending lectures and practicals on "Formal Foundations of Linguistic Study" (which is important in helping me with Formal Semantics, something I haven't done before, and with the more formal type of Syntax they teach). I am also attending a series on Research Methods and two weekly seminars (on General Linguistics and Philology).
For those of you wondering where the "Historical Linguistics" part of my course comes in, it is there, just not very dominant this term. There's going to be more exciting stuff for me to attend next term. The course I'm doing could be described as "General Linguistics with a Historical focus". I have to choose three topics on which I will be examined at the end of my course. My choices at the moment are "Historical Linguistics", the "History of a Language" (Greek), and a third linguistic subfield I have yet to decide on (probably one of the formal areas that my lectures are currently on). I will also be writing a thesis which will probably take on some kind of historical aspect.
Apart from the weekly Philology seminar, there aren't any specific postgrad historical linguistics lectures this term. There are a couple of undergrad courses that I would love to attend, but unfortunately they all clash with my compulsory formal lectures. At first I was upset about this, but then I realised that I whatever I miss this year I can go to next year - one of the advantages of doing a two year Masters. My supervisor has suggested I brush up on my Greek, but these lectures also clash with others I'm attending (though, I will be able to pick these up next term). So instead, I am practising reading on my own. To help with this, I am attending a graduate seminar on Herodotus VI, run by the Classics department. I didn't realise when I arrived at the first, that one of the men overseeing this seminar is Simon Hornblower. I knew I recognised the name as one I had cited more than once in Classics essays. It turns out, he's one of the main editors of the Oxford Classical Dictionary (the pre-eminent reference book for information on all things Classical).
And now for some non-academic updates. The "heat wave" Britain was experiencing on my first couple weeks here is most definitely over. Last week Wednesday I woke up to -1°C weather, and went of to the weekly market to buy some warm jerseys in 6°C weather. While it has "warmed up" a little since last Wednesday, the daily temperatures (low teens) are colder than anything I've ever experienced during the day in Durban. People just laugh at me when I tell them this and remind me that it's going to get much colder.
I'm still getting used to this strange phenomenon in which it is freezing cold outside, but when you enter a building it is nice and warm. It's rather awkward walking 'round a shop with a heavy coat over your arm, but I need the coat for travel and can't keep it on indoors. My house is also very warm at the moment, for which I am very grateful. Although we put the heating on last week, I haven't had my radiator on much since then, and I strip off my coats and jerseys whenever I get inside. I've even opened my window a couple times to "let in some fresh air". There's also been very little rain. I believe more will come when we get into "real" winter, but I've needed my umbrella on less than 10 occasions since I arrived, and the rain showers are very short.
My next post will hopefully discuss more about my college and the church I've been attending. I thank you for all your support and appreciate your prayers. For those praying, I ask that you particularly pray I will be disciplined in my time management, especially in doing readings (the arrangement of which is largely our own responsibility - we simply get very long reading lists from which we must select). I also appreciate prayer for my health and sleep patterns, especially as the "real cold" comes (and the dark - we're going back an hour from Sunday which means it will get dark very early). I had a cold (what is apparently known as "Freshers' Flu") last week and am almost totally recovered.
Until the next post then, farewell.
