International success for linguistics student
This time last year, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington graduate Luané Lennox was in the middle of her Master of Arts degree in Wellington. Now, Luané is in Montréal, studying a postgraduate programme in linguistics at McGill University.
“Growing up with a native language other than English, I was always intrigued by grammar, and how even though there are rules to every language, there are also so many exceptions to the ‘normal’ way of saying something,” Luané says. “I was fascinated by the amount of variation in the way we can say things, and how just small changes to a standard sentence can convey additional information.”
This fascination led Luané to study syntax and comparative linguistics at Te Herenga Waka.
“Syntax is essentially math with words, and the aim is to find a formula or equation you could use to generate every imaginable sentence in any given language and have that sentence make sense grammatically,” Luané says. “Comparative linguistics aims to determine how different or similar languages are across the world, and how and why they differ.”
Luané chose Te Herenga Waka because she could study these topics with lecturers who are respected experts in their fields.
“I also felt valued as a student and a future researcher when I contacted the School of Linguistics and Language Studies to ask about studying here, which really helped me make my decision,” Luané says.
Luané knew she wanted to pursue a career in academia, as well as have the opportunity to pursue her areas of interest in more depth. She completed her Master of Arts in Linguistics at Te Herenga Waka, supervised by Dr Victoria Chen.
“The people I’ve worked and studied with during my time at Te Herenga Waka have been amazing. I’ve met some very intelligent and interesting people and made friends for life.
“Most recently I’ve worked with Dr Chen and Dr Eric Potsdam at the University of Florida on a variety of Austronesian languages—it’s been amazing to work with such experienced researchers, as well as really rewarding to work with speakers of the languages we studied.”
Luané knew she wanted to keep going with postgraduate study. The study options for her area of linguistics were very good internationally, so she decided to apply to universities in North America for her PhD.
“It was definitely a stressful and expensive process, but with a lot of support from Dr Chen and a lot of planning I was able to get through the application process.”
Luané received offers for a few universities, but she ultimately decided to go to McGill. Her studies will be fully funded, including a living stipend.
“McGill has a strong linguistics department, especially in the areas I’m interested in,” Luané says. “I’m excited to potentially work with Dr Jessica Coon as my supervisor.
“I’m also looking forward to living in a vibrant, bilingual city—and it helps that Canada is cheaper and safer than the places I looked at in the USA!”
Luané will start her postgraduate studies with two years of courses before writing her PhD thesis.
“I’m excited to learn more about my areas of interest, as well as learn a lot more about some new areas,” Luané says. “In one of the courses I’ll be taking we’ll be learning about Igbo, a language from West Africa, which might lead to some interesting opportunities to work more with West African languages in the future.”
Despite some of the uncertainty people have faced with study and travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Luané is optimistic about the opportunities available in the humanities.
“I know the pandemic impacted a lot of research projects, but I definitely think the linguistics community has been very supportive—there is a truly amazing community built around people with a love of knowledge who want to make sure everyone succeeds.
“It is also worth the effort to make it work if it’s something you’re passionate about. Even if you have to meet over Zoom with your supervisor for months on end because they’re stuck in another country, it’s worth it. Where there is a will, there is definitely a way.”