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How I got into Linguistics

ling.upenn.edu · 3,684 words · saved by 1 readers

The following is an essay I first wrote for a 1987 publication addressed to undergraduates, which contained various answers to the question, "How did you get into your chosen field of work?" I recently revised it to answer the same question that I got in email messages from undergraduates in different parts of the world. -- W.L, October 1, 1997 When I first went to college (it was in 1944, while the war was still on), I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and even more time trying to guess if I could do it. Some people say I'm a quick study, but it took me a good fifteen years to work up the answers. If you are in your sophomore year and don't have your own solutions yet, I'd encourage you to reflect that it doesn't always pay to be too fast in replying to important problems. The kids who sit at their desks with their hands in the air often don't know what the question is all about. "What is success?" That's one of the questions that I asked people in

How I got into Linguistics How I got into linguistics, and what I got out of it by William Labov, University of Pennsylvania The following is an essay I first wrote for a 1987 publication addressed to undergraduates, which contained various answers to the question, "How did you get into your chosen field of work?" I recently revised it to answer the same question that I got in email messages from undergraduates in different parts of the world. -- W.L, October 1, 1997 When I first went to college (it was in 1944, while the war was still on), I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out wh

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