Why We Should Save Linguistics

When I tell someone that I'm concentrating in Linguistics, by far the most common response is, "What is that?" I must then try to explain the unconscious system of knowledge of language, the universal principles underlying all languages and the formal, rigorous analysis of linguistic phenomena.

The other, less common response is more fun to hear: "That's awesome! I took a Linguistics class last fall and I loved it. Let me tell you what I think is cool about human language.." Then sometimes I'll be asked about my senior thesis, which is on child languages acquisition, and maybe I can explain my experiment, or even the theory behind it.

Unfortunately, the frequency of Response Number Two will decline drastically over the next few yeas. in fact, it may disappear entirely. This coincides with the emergence of a new response to "I'm concentrating in Linguistic." This new response is something like: "Oh no. It must be terrible having your department eliminated;" or, "Are you going to be able to graduate?"

The reason underlying both decline of Response Number Two and the rise of Response Number Three is that, if the Harvard administration has its way, there won't be a Department of Linguistics here anymore.

There's no point in my rehashing the arguments over whether or not linguistics is an autonomous discipline and whether or not the Harvard Linguistics Departments is up to snuff. Most of the arguments for eliminating the Linguistics Department, such as the supposed "tremendous linguistic strengths" in other departments, are completely specious.

For my thesis, I need to understand the case-marking properties of unaccusatives and their relationship to A-chains, and how and when children come to know these properties, One would be hard pressed to find anyone outside of the Linguistics Department who studies these issues and anyone who tells you otherwise really has no idea what linguistics is about.

Instead of responding to the administration's vague and contradictory allegations, which have been convincingly refuted in The Crimson and elsewhere, I'd like to explain why so many of us are strongly attached to the Department itself, and why I think that (contrary to what the administration says) Linguistics is actually one of the best run departments at Harvard.

The Linguistic Department is one of the few at Harvard that approximates the feel of a small liberal arts college. It's just what I wanted at Harvard.

Graduate students are like friendly older siblings, and faculty and undergraduates are one a first name basis. "I'm even on a first name basis with professors with whom I've never studied.

Furthermore, the undergraduate concentrators are a pretty tight group. When there's a phonology problem set due on Friday, drop by the department lobby Thursday night and you'll see 10 young linguists gathered over Entenmann's cookies and Coke, formulating hypotheses and arguing over their implications.

Or then there was the "Linguistics Lunch" my junior year, held once a week in Eliot House, right after Intro. to Indo-European. At the Department's biannual wine and-cheese parties, it's become a tradition for the undergraduates to put on a humorous five-minute skit satirizing the department (or, more likely these days, the administration).

At cold and impersonal Harvard, the Linguistics Department is a cozy friendly home. I don't think most undergraduates can say the same for their departments.

From the perspective of "the undergraduate experience," the Linguistics Department is a resounding success which few other departments can match.

Eliminating or decimating it would be a grave mistake.

I still don't' understand why the administration originally decided to eliminate ("restructure," as they euphemistically call it department. Whatever the original reasons, which were never made clear, I don't think anyone in the administration was prepare for the response from the undergraduates.

They probably expected a protest from the faculty and graduate students; after all, their careers are involved.

But why do I protest? I'll be able to graduate without difficulty and I already have a job for next year. My roommates sometimes ask me, "Why do you even care?"

The best answer to this question often comes from undergraduates who have transferred into the Linguistics Department from other concentrations.

They'll say, "I was in X and I felt like nobody cared about me," or, "I was in Y and my sophomore tutorial was the same size as my Core sections," or I was in Z and everyone was always worrying about the curve."

Small classes and intense faculty-student interaction aren't for everyone; some people like to sit at the back of Science Center C or Harvard 201 for their entire undergraduate careers.

These people shouldn't concentrate in Linguistics.

As a second semester senior, I'm a bit philosophical about the whole thing now.

When I asked my advisor to write me a letter of recommendation, he only half-jokingly asked me to remember him when I have a job and he doesn't.

One of the professors in my department is thinking of going to law school.

The atmosphere in the basement of Gray's hall, where Linguistics is headquartered, can sometimes get like the final episode of "M*A*S*H."

I'll be okay; I'll have a Harvard degree. In Linguistic. And maybe someday my diploma will be a collector's item.

But for now, place ask me what I'm concentrating in. And you can even ask, "What is that?" Just don't ask," What wasthat?"

Ronald A. Fein '94 , of Kingston, New York, is a Linguistics concentrator living in Cabot House. His senior thesis is titled, "The Acquisition of the Genitive of Negation in Russian."