tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 28 14:53:14 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
RE: Thesis
On Fri, 26 Apr 1996, Steven Boozer wrote:
>
> So, what was the reaction in your department on your choice of tlhIngan
> Hol as a thesis topic? (Tell us the stories of the glorious battles you
> fought!) I know that a few other students have requested information and
> have monitored the list gathering data for papers on the "Klingon language
> movement." Do you know if any of them ever published?
>
I'm finally awake again, so I guess I can tell you a few of the stories.
I haven't heard anything from the rest of the students who were using the
list as a source, so I don't know the status of any of their projects; if
they're listening, though, I wish they'd tell us!
The initial reaction in my department to my proposal that I work with
Klingon as a thesis topic was skepticism; they didn't think that it was a
full-fledged language. I had to go out and find enough information to
convince them otherwise, and the speakers on this list were a big part of
that. Initially I did two papers on the language for two different
classes (some of you may remember me asking questions about phonology and
morphology over a year ago...); the professor basically told me, "Let's
see how the papers go before you commit to using this as a thesis
topic." Once I was done, though, I had enough evidence to convince three
professors into being my committee members and allowing me to continue.
I still got a lot of questions, both serious and joking, from faculty and
other students all the way up to the present; it meant, though, that the
turnout for my defense was pretty hefty. The finaly document was a
survey of the language: its history, phonology, morphology, syntax, and
governing metaphor structure. I went into the defense a little
apprehensively, not because I was unsure of my material, but because one
member of my committee has a reputation for throwing wild questions at
examinees. However, about a week before the defense a group of my
friends had gotten together and bought me a mek'leth, so I took that into
the defense hidden in a bag. Before I began, while my handouts were
going around, I pulled out the mek'leth, showed it to the committee (who
were sitting right in front of me), and announced, "A few days ago some
friends bought me an insurance policy to make sure I'd pass my defense.
I'll just leave it sitting here so you can see it..." and laid it on the
table in front of them, then began my talk. If that isn't "defending" a
thesis, I don't know what is! The defense itself took about an hour and
a half, and the questions were finally shut down by the chair because we
were about to exceed our time limit allowed by the department. Questions
about the KLI were a great part of that; it may be that we'll get a few
new recruits out of this. The final result is (besides the fact that
I'll receive my degree in a few days) that we've managed to convince
people that Klingon is a language worthy of serious study, and that it's
ok to have fun while doing it. I may continue working with Klingon on my
PhD; I certainly won't just leave the language and the culture behind now
that I'm finished with this project.
Thanks again to everyone who was involved with this, either directly
or indirectly; the thesis will become available for you to read in the
near future. I'll now return you to your regularly scheduled discussions.
Teresa Wells
Arizona State University
Linguistics