Proposal for a Psycholinguistics Major
Title and Description
Where do languages come from? How does the human mind, create, interpret, and understand language? To what extent do different people understand the language that they speak? These questions and more can be answered through the study of psycholinguistics. Psycholinguistics is a subset of psychology that deals with the learning and development of language. This also applies to the study of linguistics, which is the study of how languages work, evolve, and change over time. Languages change and evolve due to various changes in society, which can be well analyzed through a psychological lens. I will need to learn about how the brain acquires and uses language, and how languages change over time in different areas of the world. The major will combine courses in psychology, linguistics, and world languages.
Why do I want to major in psycholinguistics?
Ever since ninth grade, when I began to take Latin, I fell in love with grammar systems and how Latin roots are prominent in today’s society. I went to Germany as an exchange student my senior year, and became fluent in a third language. Again, I was amazed at how much more orderly German grammar is than English, and at how Germanic a language English really is. When we read Canterbury Tales in the Great Conversation, I got to read some of the original English. That English was much more Germanic than modern English is, and I again wished to learn about the development of the language we speak today in the USA. I have also always been confused when teaching other people Latin or German. Most people don’t grasp the grammar systems as easily as I do, and I have always wondered why. When I began psychology fall of sophomore year, I immediately saw the connection between the brain and language development, and how that has influenced our changing languages. I saw that metalinguistics, as a subfield of psycholinguistics, deals directly with people’s understanding of language systems. I talked to my professors and did a bit of research, and bought one of Dr. Steven Pinker’s books about psycholinguistics. This book totally enthralled me and convinced me that psycholinguistics is one of the most interesting subjects in the world.
I have always been independent; I graduated high school a year early, applied to be an exchange student spring of Sophomore year, and applied to St. Olaf fall of Junior year. I took a few classes outside of high school in order to complete all of the graduation requirements. I did all the research necessary to complete these applications and finish high school a year ahead of time. Generally, I try to work within the rules, while still keeping my motives in mind. I contacted St. Olaf, for example, to ask if it would work to apply ahead of time, and if so, how should I go about differing my admission. I came to St. Olaf with the intent of majoring in German and chemistry. However, Chemistry 125 was not interesting to me, and I decided not to continue with the chemistry major. However, the German major seemed to be lacking something. I could be fluent in German, but if I didn’t learn how German and English are related through linguistics, my bilingualism would be unimportant. Once I learned that psychology influences linguistic change, I became determined to create a psycholinguistics major to learn and investigate how it all works.
Rationale
Liberal arts colleges encourage students to find out for themselves how different subjects relate to one another, and psycholinguistics is where the study of languages meets the study of the mind, which is a very interesting and important interdepartmental area of study. Psycholinguistics is usually a subject only offered as a major in graduate programs. However, it is still an important area of study at the undergraduate level. St. Olaf already has a psychology major, but this major only offers a few courses that focus on language acquisition and development. The linguistics concentration at St. Olaf is a good springboard, and in conjunction with three introductory courses in the sciences, two in language, and numerous other upper-level courses that go more in depth in areas concerning how languages work, and how the mind impacts human language, I have compiled a curriculum for a liberal arts psycholinguistics major. St. Olaf offers some that relate directly to psycholinguistics, and through these, I can gain skills pertinent to research in psycholinguistics. This major is particularly good at a liberal arts college like St. Olaf, because it involves courses in both the sciences as well as the humanities.
Advisors
Bonnie Sherman studies synesthesia, so would help me with the synesthesia part of my senior project. However, because she will be on sabbatical in 2009, she will be unable to be my full advisor. Dana Gross studies psycholinguistics, but will also be gone in 2009-2010, so she will also help me when she is not gone on sabbatical.
My official advisor is Maggie Broner. As head of the linguistics department, she has experience in psycholinguistics, and will act as my official adviser throughout the remaining two years of my major.