But this summer, it is different. I have not only crossed the country, I have also crossed disciplines.
Now I am immersed in Chomsky and Trubotskoy. I am sitting through lectures on vowels, grammar relations in a language, diglossia. I have done hundreds of phonetic transcriptions.
The truth is, I really enjoy both economics and linguistics. They also have a lot in common.
They both try to make sense of this world in systematic ways. I love being able to understand language more fully. I also love being able to understand scarcity more fully. Also, both economies and languages are concerned with efficiency: in terms of economies, in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, the goal is to get the most benefits out of the least resources. Languages, meanwhile, have the goal of communicating an idea the most clearly using the least effort. Personally, I love efficiency and am always trying to do things more efficiently. I think it's cool how economic systems and languages have evolved over the years as people have used their ingenuity to make things the most efficient.
Analyzing things systematically makes me feel secure. I guess that probably is a tendency for ISTJs like me (Myers Briggs anyone?). So that is why I love both economics and linguistics.
I love reading your blog. You are so insightful. I finally get why you like both economics and linguistics. I would love to study linguistics if I was going to university at this point. Also, many languages. It is so fascinating to learn other languages and they do tell you a lot about the culture. You don't really understand people unless you speak their language.
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