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Document 684

Conversation 04: Two female students on university life

Author(s): N/A

Copyright holder(s): SCOTS Project

Audio transcription

F745 Okay, erm so, what's your dissertation about?
F746 erm, I actually did mine on Onomastics, //like,//
F745 //Right.//
F746 about, yeah, about kind of, oh God, [inhale] aye, the additional names that people use in my island; the kind of system of naming.
F745 oh right, what what isl- island is it you come from?
F746 North Uist,
F745 Right.
F746 in the Western Isles, I don't know if you know where that //is. [laugh]//
F745 //[inaudible]// I have a vague idea but I've //never been there or anything.//
F746 //oh// //oh, that's good quite cause most//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 people don't even know where the Western Isles is, //so you're doing well.//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 How about yourself?
F745 erm, well my dissertation was about,
F746 [cough]
F745 well, it's for the Grammar paper and //it's about//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 erm second language acquisition. So basically I just interviewed some people who, ehm, had learnt English as a second language.
F746 What kind of people? Was it a //specific kind, like//
F745 //erm//
F746 people at the Uni, //or?//
F745 //Yeah.// Well, they were students but that was just, you know, that's just cause they were easier to find [laugh]
F746 Yeah. [laugh]
F745 But erm, they were people who origi- well, who, their first language was Chinese.
F746 oh right?
F745 em yeah, I just picked that because I already knew one person and so I thought, "I'll be able to find other people".
F746 Yeah, contacts, through
F745 Yeah.
F746 that person, that's quite good. Yeah, I just interviewed members of my local community, which is quite good cause obviously I knew them [laugh] //so I kinda knew//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 who to pick and choose to might be good representatives. [inhale] [cough]
F745 erm, so have you finished writing it or is it still
F746 oh, yeah, I had to hand it in in June so yeah, I think I get my mark back some time in September but [laugh] not entirely sure. How about yourself, have
F745 erm //no, I//
F746 //di-//
F745 haven't finished mine yet; I had to get an extension, erm, so, it's due on the third of September so I've just going into a bit of panic about it now, you know, erm. Feel like it should be done but it isn't. //[laugh]//
F746 //[laugh]//
F745 But I've, I've done, like, all the interviewing and looked at the results and stuff like that, so it's just actual writing //[inaudible]//
F746 //Yeah, that's the main thing.//
F745 [inaudible]
F746 Yeah, so, erm I don't know, I found it was more interesting that I'd kinda done interviews and done my own research for it, did you find that as well, or?
F745 Yeah, because when I asked my supervisor about it he said, you know, "You don't have to do your own research, you can just look at other people's and, you know,
F746 mmhm
F745 say something about that", but, //but I thought, yeah.//
F746 //But it's not as original [?]underneath[/?]//
F745 I thought, you know, "This seems like a bit of a waste //of time", really, you know//
F746 //[laugh]//
F745 all those other people have already said this, //what can I//
F746 //Yeah, sai-//
F745 say about it?
F746 kinda, setting opinions against each other rather than actually, kinda //contributing something new.//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 So, so, what have you found?
F745 erm, I've [laugh] well, it's kinda difficult to explain because, er, the tests I did were only to do with one specific grammatical thing, which is subjacency violations, er, basically I found that, and it's about Universal Grammar, I don't know if you, did you do any //grammar?//
F746 //oh we did a// a wee bit, yeah, but //oh yeah, I did//
F745 //[inaudible]//
F746 the Grammar paper, yeah.
F745 Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, sort of about that and whether, you know I did people who learned, em, English at different ages, //So,//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 I thought I'd see, you know, if it made a difference to, you know, whether Universal Grammar works,
F746 mmhm
F745 And ehm I don't think it really did make much of a difference, but I didn't test anyone who'd learnt it, like, when they were quite old, like, you know, an adult,
F746 mmhm
F745 so they were mostly, like, teenagers when they learnt it or, one of them, erm, was bilingual, So.
F746 That's quite interesting though that the teenagers would be the same as the bilingual //individual.//
F745 //erm// There definitely was differences //erm,//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 especially, like, I got them to do two tests: one was just sort of, ehm, you know, "Are these sentences grammatical?" and some of them were, some of them weren't, //and you'd have to//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 say whether it was or not. And, ehm, on that one there wasn't so much of a difference but I also got them to do just, ehm, a sort of more spontaneous thing, well, it wasn't completely spontaneous cause, erm, I got them to look at, er, a kid's book, //and//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 there was only a few words and I covered them up [laugh].
F746 [laugh] //[laugh]//
F745 //So, you know,// and just say what was happening in the pictures and stuff. And you could definitely tell how, how much more confident the bilingual person was, like, you know, they're just talking away, blah, blah, blah, //telling you//
F746 //Yeah.//
F745 millions of stuff. And the other people were more, sort of, you know, they kept things more simple, and some of the things they didn't know the words for it at all, like, a rake. [laugh]
F746 oh right. And perhaps they were like translating in their heads from Chinese //to English as well.//
F745 //Yeah.// Yeah, I mean, I cou- it was the last person who was the oldest; I could definitely tell that she was having a hard time with it, and what she actually wanted to do was read through the book first well, look at the pictures first and then tell me,
F746 mmhm
F745 instead of looking at it page by page, and I could see that was trying to, you know, translate what she was going to say and then say it. //But//
F746 //Yeah.//
F745 I couldn't let her [laugh] do that because //that was not//
F746 //That.//
F745 what the other people had done, so,
F746 Yeah, I know, erm, in my own community, like, a lot of people are bilingual, cause it's, ehm, mainly a Gaelic-speaking area,
F745 mmhm
F746 So, yeah, a lot of [cough], a lot of the, kind of, older people you can tell that they're actually kinda translating it in their head before they say it, and sometimes, they can even say things, things that sound just a little bit odd in English, not quite right, although i- although obviously they are bilingual, but Gaelic's their first language, so
F745 Right, do you speak any Gaelic yourself?
F746 Not really, a little bit; my boyfriend's, er, speaks it as his first language //in his//
F745 //oh right.//
F746 family and things. But, yeah, I really should learn, I've got the //perfect opportunity//
F745 //uh-huh//
F746 [laugh] so, [inhale] but jus-, yeah, bits and pieces
F745 Yeah, I didn't realise there still were any people who spoke it as their first language.
F746 Yeah, in the Western Isles it's still quite strong, but it's dying even there I think. Like, I think it probably will die, which is a shame, but
F745 Yeah.
F746 [cough] But, yeah my dissertation kind of, erm I think it's because it's a Gaelic-speaking area partly is why there's all these kinda additional names, cause one of the main categories it's kinda patronymics.
F745 mmhm
F746 Like, there's a really strong community there and people are known by their kinda father's name and their grandfather's name and, like, it's really deep-rooted. So, I don't know, I find, I find that quite interesting. It's strange though cause I've, because I've grown up with it but I've had to try and put everything into categories and sort of
F745 Be more objective, //I suppose.//
F746 //Yeah.// I, I found I was able to do it but only kinda after interviewing other people and trying to be d-, really detached about it, so But no, it was good. [inhale] [yawn] But, hmm Also kinda pretty much everybody's called MacDonald. [laugh] //Well,//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 Not, kind of, everybody but, like, about thirty percent of, like, the area that I was doing, the people are called MacDonald, and something like, is it fifty-five percent of the population have one of five surnames, so it's kind of like so many people are called the same name they kind of have to have some kind of additional system or else it just, you know, you just couldn't identify people properly, //You'd//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 have to go through some big spiel of, like, "oh, such and such, who lives in such and such, who does such and such, and is married to", basically. //But you can like//
F745 //It's weird,// because I don't think I've met anyone who has the same second name as me except family, obviously. //[inaudible]//
F746 //Yeah.//
F745 My second name is, ehm, well, my Grandpa, whose name it is, is Irish, so I think that's where it comes from,
F746 mmhm
F745 erm, and, er, well it's Forde; a lot of people have F.O.R.D. but mine's got an E at the end. I //I don't think I've//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 ever met anyone who has it that's spelt that way.
F746 oh right. Yeah, I mean I've got quite an unusual name, which is k-, which is probably why I don't have, like, one of these community names. [laugh] But, like, my surname's Bramwell, and we're the only family called that in, like, the whole of the [laugh] islands //pretty much,//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 so, so yeah. Yeah, my Dad gets called Bramwell as, like, his, kind of, name cause my mum gets called, like, "bean Bramwell", like "wife of Bramwell" //instead of,//
F745 //oh right.//
F746 you know, it's her surname as well, but because he's identified with that.
F745 mmhm
F746 And I'm, like, "nighean Bramwell", like, "daughter of Bramwell" [laugh] or whatever. It helps that my dad's a teacher so, kind of, everyone in the community sort of knows him
F745 Right, so is it quite a small place then?
F746 Well, there's sixteen hundred people on the island, but, em, like, the west side of the island that I did there's f-, I think it was three-hundred and twenty people roughly. So it's, yeah, it's quite a small sort of //area.//
F745 //mm// That, that's weird because, you know, I've always lived in Glasgow so,
F746 Have you? //What part?//
F745 //Well, I've// briefly lived in Aberdeen but, you know, that's just a big city as well, //so,//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 don't know, don't know really what it would be like to live in such a small community.
F746 Yeah, uh-huh it's quite nice erm Well, it's quite nice in some ways but then you have the disadvantages as well, Because it's, it's, in a way it's a great advantage that kinda everyone knows you and, it's really nice, people know your name, and i- say you're walking home at six o'clock in the morning, someone would give you a lift, they wouldn't, like, [laugh] beat you up //or whatever, you know.//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 [inhale] But then, on the other hand, gossip's just horrendous, [laugh], so. [laugh] Honestly everybody knows everything about you, which can just get really claustrophobic after a while. I mean, I think, I think that's maybe the b- biggest disadvantage of living in a small community.
F745 So, is that why you decided to come to Glasgow then? Because it's bigger? Or was it just, you know, Glasgow University itself that you wanted to
F746 Yeah, well I knew, like, I'd have to go away to go to university //anyway, and//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 and I just quite fancied, well, first of all I went to Strathclyde to do Engineering. [inhale] //Not entirely//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 sure [laugh] why
F745 [laugh]
F746 [laugh] but then after a year I changed to Glasgow, so. But yeah, I'm still not quite sure why I thought Engineering was for me [laugh] at all [laugh].
F745 So, it didn't, you didn't like it then? [laugh]
F746 It was just really really dull. I mean there were people in my class who absolutely loved it, but for me, I just found it just really really really dull, I don't know. [inhale] Like, I know it's necessary but //[laugh]//
F745 //[laugh]// //Not for//
F746 //Yeah.//
F745 you, then? [laugh]
F746 No, not for me at all. Have you, er, what subjects did you do at first? Were you always really sure you wanted to do English Language? //[inaudible]//
F745 //No, I// I, my original plan was to do English Literature and Greek. [laugh]
F746 oh right.
F745 erm, yeah, because I'd done a little bit of Greek at school and then I did it again in first year and, erm, I did like it, but it, doing a language is so so time-consuming. It's like, there's always a lot more work to do for that than for anything else, you know, there'd be something every night, some translation or whatever, //erm//
F746 //mm//
F745 and I felt like it was just, you know, stopping me doing any work on, e-, on English Literature or, had to do English Language in first year as well,
F746 mmhm
F745 so then in in second year I didn't do Greek any more so I couldn't have done that as my degree. And then, I was still thinking I would do English literature, but, when I went to the pre-enrolment meeting that was, and they showed me the list of papers that was the //moment when I thought//
F746 //mm//
F745 "Maybe this isn't for me" because, like, I looked at them and I thought, "I don't want to do any of these, maybe like one, but not eight"! [laugh] //[laugh]//
F746 //Yeah,// //[inaudible]//
F745 //Let's do English// Language instead, and I'm really glad that I did.
F746 Yeah, I'm really gla- I mean I took one English Lit paper; Irish Literature, which was the only one that appealed to me, I have to say [laugh]. [inhale] But, erm, yeah, and I'm really glad I did English Language as well.
F745 Yeah, also there would have been, erm, talks [laugh] for English Literature. I hated that. That was like,
F746 oh what, the //presentations?//
F745 //Yeah,// presentations. erm
F746 mm
F745 that was like the worst bit of English Literature for me.
F746 Yeah, I had to do one for Onomastics for English Language anyway, so, [laugh] I suppose that it didn't matter that I had to do them for Irish Lit as well. But yeah, I think most papers in English Language you don't do you?
F745 No, I don't think so. [laugh] I hope not //anyway.//
F746 //[laugh]// [laugh] So what //did you//
F745 //Don't want to// suddenly discover I've got one to do this year, or something.
F746 ah, I know. What are you taking this year, do you know yet?
F745 erm, I'm doing Old Icelandic and I'm not sure about the other two, cause I did five in third year so I'll just be doing three //in fourth year.//
F746 //Yeah, I'm the same.//
F745 erm, yeah, I should probably talk to someone about that but I haven't even th-, really thought about this coming year cause I'm still doing my [laugh] dissertation. //[laugh]//
F746 //aw I suppose// you don't really, haven't really had a chance to. But, yeah, I know, I had a friend who did, I, I still have a friend in fact [laugh] who did Old Icelandic last year and she found it really hard work but she really really enjoyed it; I think it's something you do have to work hard at, but it's worth doing.
F745 Yeah.
F746 [cough]
F745 Well, I've always, you know, been into languages and stuff, even if it's a weird wee language that I'm never gonna use like, you know, I did Greek, that was Classical Greek so //obviously//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 no-one speaks it any more and, erm, in second year I did Russian [laugh] //erm that was//
F746 //oh right, wow!//
F745 that was really hard, I've, cause I'd done, you know, German and French and stuff,
F746 mmhm
F745 but, Russian is just so different, it's like, it's nothing like any European languages; it's got all these wee rules and the whole way it works is just completely different, [laugh] so it's really hard.
F746 That must make it quite interesting though //[inaudible]//
F745 //Yeah.// yeah, I mean I enjoyed doing it but, you know, couldn't tell you anything about it now because it's just like, you know, I'd just scraped a pass and that was it, and then I thought, "never thinking //about that again". [laugh]//
F746 //[laugh] oh right.// Yeah, I've got a friend who did Ancient Greek actually, she was probably in your class. Do you know [CENSORED: forename] [CENSORED: surname]? //I don't know.//
F745 //oh// //erm//
F746 //Maybe you had// quite a big class in //first year?//
F745 //No.// //It wa- it was//
F746 //I don't know.//
F745 quite a small class, yeah I think //[?]what is[/?]//
F746 //She's//
F745 is it short for [CENSORED: forename]?
F746 Yeah.
F745 Yeah, yeah, //I definitely remember her.//
F746 //Aye, she's quite wee.// But,
F745 Yeah, [laugh]
F746 [inhale] Yeah, I think she gave that up after second year as well, cause it was just such a ridiculous amount of work. //[inaudible]//
F745 //Yeah.// Also, the, erm I was more interested in the language side, well, they did make us do a little bit of history and and I did Classics at school and I really liked that but //the history//
F746 //mm//
F745 they made us do was, like, you know, reading Herodotus and him going on about wars and it's just like so boring cause all he, all he says is, you know, "There was these guys and they wearing this type of armour, and there was these other guys", and it's all just, like, big lists of people and stuff.
F746 Yeah. //That's not//
F745 //And//
F746 really the kind of //history you want to do.//
F745 //[?]and and no[/?]//
F746 [laugh]
F745 I didn't like that at all.
F746 No, erm I don't know, I'm, I'm actually thinking I'm so glad I'm not doing English Literature now,
F745 [laugh]
F746 [laugh] I, I can actually read books again that I'm not forced to read by my subject, which is quite nice [laugh]. Like did you //not find that//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 that
F745 Yeah, I was thinking, you know, I don't have time to read anything I want because I'm reading these other things //that//
F746 //mm//
F745 I didn't think [laugh] much about.
F746 and then analysing them to death, which is a //shame because//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 because it kinda, it ruins things that you really, really love in a way. Well, I don't know, that's just totally my //opinion [laugh] on it, but//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 [inhale]
F745 No, I suppose you have to be able to just switch off and just read books for enjoyment as well.
F746 mm which I'm finally finding myself //able to do//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 again after [laugh] after two and a half years of English [laugh] Literature.
F745 I mean, some of the things were good, cause it was things I probably wouldn't have read, you know, otherwise, like Shakespeare, I mean I quite like Shakespeare but it's hard to sit down and read it if you don't have a reason.
F746 Yeah, and things like "Paradise Lost", //like, as well.//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 I would never probably //sit down and read that normally.//
F745 //[laugh] I don't think// I ever, I even finished that. [laugh] //[inaudible]//
F746 //uh-huh I really liked it.//
F745 erm, but "Ulysses", oh I just thought that was a waste of time. //I didn't//
F746 //Didn't//
F745 read the whole thing but I read, kind of, more that the prescribed passages, //but//
F746 //mmhm// You didn't think much of it?
F745 No, I mean, I suppose, you know, it's all very interesting how it's, you know, completely different from other books that were, you know, had been written previously but it just, it just felt like a chore just getting through one page and I thought, "If you're not getting anything out of it, //then what's//
F746 //Yeah.//
F745 the point?" //Really?//
F746 //Yeah.// I don't know, I think I was going to say I quite liked it, but I think I liked it more once I'd finished it, //which, [laugh]//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 p- probably defeats the purpose of liking a book [laugh], but, [laugh] yeah, I thought some sections were so, were, you know, quite good, and then other ones, it was, it was like a chore, //even//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 even a paragraph, you had to, "Right, I have to read this, so I'll read this", and
F745 Yeah. No, I mean, I suppose I'm glad I had a go at it but, [laugh]
F746 Yeah.
F745 I can't see myself ever picking it up again to read the bit that I didn't read.
F746 oh [inhale] I don't know, I could maybe have another go at it but I think it's because, er, like, again because I finished it I'm thinking, "oh, maybe it wasn't so bad", //but no, no it probably was. [laugh]//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 [inhale] [inhale] [cough] So what part of Glasgow are you from, anyway?
F745 erm well, I was living in Shawlands, but I just recently moved to Partick.
F746 oh right, so nice and close to the uni then. [laugh]
F745 Yeah, well I was thinking it'd be closer than Shawlands but, you know, walking, it takes half an hour and it took half an hour to get the underground and bus //from Shawlands,//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 so it's kind of the same diff-, er, the same time but it's, er, it's much nicer to walk than to be on the bus. [laugh]
F746 Yeah, true. [inhale] No, I'm up in Anniesland just now.
F745 oh right, that's quite far away then, isn't it?
F746 A wee bit but it's quite good, like, bus service between, like, just straight down Great Western Road basically //and then get off//
F745 //oh right.//
F746 just, the end of Byres Road. Well, quite a good bus service, apart from this morning, but, //[laugh]//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 [laugh]
F745 Yeah, that's the thing about buses, they're not really very reliable.
F746 No, they're not the best, are they?
F745 Like, especially early in the morning; I mean, I was lucky because last year I didn't have, er, in first year I didn't have classes very early,
F746 mmhm
F745 so, i-, you know, it was not too bad but then, you know, in third year I had classes, like, quite early, so I had to leave, erm, and i-, at a time when it was really, really busy because the s- the road where I live, er, well it was right next to Pollockshaws Road which is quite a busy road.
F746 Yeah.
F745 so there was, like, always millions and billions of people going to work at //that time.//
F746 //And then you// find buses just going past you //and past you and past you, because they're full.//
F745 //Yeah, cause they're completely full.//
F746 Yeah. th- that's annoying. mm
F745 So, did you go away anywhere during the summer, or did you go back home?
F746 No, I haven't, well, I went back home to do my dissertation for about a month, well, just to do the research //for it and interview//
F745 //mm//
F746 people and things, so tha-, yeah that was kind of my being back home for the summer, and I haven't been home since then. I'm just working, basically. So, yeah, em, I'm doing, like, erm, William Hill, Bookmakers.
F745 [laugh] oh right.
F746 [laugh] It's actually alright though, erm I was kinda thinking, "hm, little bit dubious", when I got the job but, yeah, no, it's actually fine; it's quite interesting.
F745 Right, I didn't quite manage to get a job. I was sort of half-heartedly looking but now that, you know, I've got into this big panic about my dissertation I'm just,
F746 Yeah, well even the fact //like you have to//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 do your dissertation, I //mean//
F745 //Yeah.// //[inaudible]//
F746 //it's not really compatible [laugh] with work.// So,
F745 Yeah.
F746 But yeah, no, I was helping out with, like, a conference earlier in the summer at the uni, that was //quite cool.//
F745 //oh right.//
F746 Like, colour studies, I don't know, if you heard //about it.//
F745 //oh yeah,// yeah. erm, yeah, she told us about it in the tutorial but, you know, I thought, "You have to pay to go and hear stuff that you can hear in tutorials, no thanks".
F746 oh no, I didn't have to pay cause I was kinda //helping out and volunteering and stuff, so//
F745 //oh right, [laugh]//
F746 no, it was quite cool actually; it was really really interesting.
F745 Yeah, I mean, I did like the stuff we did about colour semantics, erm, although some of it I found a bit too scientific [laugh]. //[laugh]//
F746 //oh right.// [inhale]
F745 But I liked the things about, erm, well, what we talked about in the tutorial about, erm, the connotations and, you know, "Why is black associated with death?", that kind of thing, //I found it quite//
F746 //mm//
F745 interesting. But the things about hue and s- eh tones and stuff I found that a bit difficult. [laugh] //And you know,//
F746 //I had//
F745 she gave us all these you know, erm, sheets of wee graphs and stuff, [laugh] [laugh] I don't think I really looked at it. //[laugh]//
F746 //oh right.// I don't know I think cause, erm, I've got the whole, like, sciency background thing, I quite
F745 Yeah.
F746 like that sort of thing. I mean it's like the phonetics; I quite like //all the sciencey bit of phonetics.//
F745 //Yeah that's, that's why I didn't// do any phonetics papers, //because//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 I thought "Too sciency; take it away!" [laugh]
F746 oh right.
F745 But, ehm, I did History of English and that does involve some phonetics so I was glad that I'd done a bit of it //at least//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 you know, so that I could understand what they were telling us.
F746 Yeah, it's really good actually, the first and second year that you kind of do a bit of absolutely everything, I think.
F745 Yeah.
F746 Like I'm, like I've done mainly modern papers but I'm planning to do, erm, [cough] Germanic Philology.
F745 Yeah, I was thinking about doing that one.
F746 Might be quite interesting. Yeah, aye, I think I'm going to do that one anyway. I think it's the last year that they're having that paper, //according//
F745 //oh right?//
F746 to my friend [CENSORED: forename] anyway; [laugh] I don't know whether that's totally accurate or not, //but,//
F745 //Well,// I don't know, could be. I suppose we should do it then just to, you know, [laugh] make sure some people are in the class. erm, yeah, I think the historical papers really struggle, it's, well, it seems so to me anyway because, erm, when I did, erm, Old English Literature there was only, like, six people in the whole entire class and so the tutorials were, like, two and three sort //of thing.//
F746 //oh right.//
F745 I mean, it was qu- in a way it was quite good to have such a small class, you know, it meant you could spend more time more things and stuff like that, //but,//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 it's a shame that not more people want to do it.
F746 I know, I think Onomastics there was only, like, about twelve or thirteen or something, maybe slightly more than that but but that's, I don't know, that's definitely my subject, I think, I'm quite into that. [laugh]
F745 Yeah, I didn't, I don't think I really liked that one when we di- well, you know, we only did a wee bit of it in second year but, don't know why I didn't, think it was very good, don't know. //[laugh]//
F746 //[laugh]// [laugh] I know it is strange, like, some people just get into certain things; I suppose it's like me absolutely finding Engineering the dullest thing ever, //and yet,//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 other people in my class just found it fascinating so, So do you have one subject that you just think, "Right, that's my thing", or,
F745 erm Well, I quite, you know, I quite liked Old English Literature, I suppose, because it was, erm, you know, translation and stuff like that, because I was used to doing stuff like that, whereas other people found it quite hard, like [CENSORED: forename], I don't know if you know her?
F746 oh right. //Yeah.//
F745 //ehm// she dropped out of it because she, she th- was more interested in the literature side of it, which there was less of because we had to spend a lot of time on the translation itself.
F746 mmhm
F745 erm, but I thought that was goo- [laugh] I thought it was great, the translation, because I had a background in languages, so I found it a lot easier than some people. So, yeah, I suppose I quite liked that, and Grammar, that's why I did the dissertation.
F746 It is strange cause I, I think, when I revise Grammar more, I'll like it more, [laugh] if //you know what I mean?//
F745 //[laugh]//
F746 [inhale] I don't know. Yeah, it's something I'll have to definitely do more of this year cause I think it's something I'm kind of lacking, [laugh]
F745 Yeah, I heard a lot of people wanted to do a dissertation in Grammar because //they didn't//
F746 //[inaudible]//
F745 want to do it in the exam.
F746 Yeah, //quite a lot of people said that to me.//
F745 //[unclear] that's a bit of a weird// //reason [laugh]//
F746 //[inhale]// Yeah.
F745 And I actually //wanted to do it,//
F746 //it is quite strange.//
F745 because, you know, because I already thought I want to do something to do with Second Language Acquisition.
F746 mmhm
F745 erm, and that was why I picked it. And I was like, "I hope", you know, because I knew that a lot of people were picking it and some people weren't going to get it and I thought, "I hope some of these people who are just doing it because they don't like it, don't get my place!" //[laugh]//
F746 //oh I know! [laugh]// Cos an awful lot of people did that, from what I heard anyway, //a lot of people//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 were telling me. But, yeah, with Onomastics I just figured, "Right, just do something you really enjoy, cause you're going to spend, like, what, two, three months on it", //so,//
F745 //Yeah.//
F746 might as well do something //that you like.//
F745 //Yeah, I mean// that's the thing; I don't know why //people want//
F746 //[cough]//
F745 to do it if they don't like it, cause really you've got to spend a lot more time on it than you would for preparing for the exam, I would have thought anyway.
F746 Well, exactly, so, Yeah, it makes sense. [cough] [cough] [inhale] I don't know, it quite appealed to me doing something that no one else had really done before as well, cause, I mean, there was, like, so little secondary material that I could go on, I basically just had to go out and do it myself and I don't know; there was something about that that just appealed to me.
F745 Yeah, I suppose it must be quite nice doing something that's new, [laugh] //and//
F746 //Yeah.// But then again, same with yourself, doing the research.
F745 Yeah, but, I mean, I suppose there already is a lot, I mean, you know, not a lot written about the specific thing that I was doing but, I mean, there is a lot of things written about second language acquisition or first language acquisition, so, there was a lot to look through [laugh] as well.
F746 Yeah.
F745 erm
F746 Aye, in a way that probably helped me; I didn't have to, kind of, spend a month just looking through books and things. I think I found, like, two articles which were specifically on what I was talking about and not even in the area of Uist, kind of thing. //I think one//
F745 //Right.//
F746 was written in Lewis in the early eighties, and one was in Sutherland in the sixties, or something, and that was literally all I could find on this particular thing, so, [cough]
F745 Wow, that's weird because I found, like, so many books, you know, just searching for, I found, you know, so many books and you obviously can't look through them all because there's just not enough time and then some of the ones you get are just [laugh] not very useful,
F746 uh-huh right.
F745 or a a lot of them were just sort of theories and stuff. You only need to know so much of that. What I really wanted to see was, you know, studies that other people had done, so I could //see what kind of//
F746 //mmhm//
F745 methods they used and stuff like that and that was a lot harder to find.
F746 Did you manage to find any //or//
F745 //Yeah, I// I did find, erm, a couple eventually, but, I, I don't know why it was so hard to find because obviously the people that write about theories are basing it on studies that people have done but no one actually, I d-, I don't know, the studies themselves were quite difficult to find.
F746 oh, that's really strange, cause you'd think people would find the studies, like, really quite interesting as well, do-
F745 Yeah, w-, yeah, they were a bit more interesting than the, just the whole theoretical side of it.
F746 Yeah, a bit, little less, kind of dry and academic.
F745 Yeah.

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Conversation 04: Two female students on university life. 2024. In The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved 10 October 2024, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=684.

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Information about Document 684

Conversation 04: Two female students on university life

Audio

Audio audience

Adults (18+)
For gender Mixed
Audience size 2

Audio awareness & spontaneity

Speaker awareness Aware
Degree of spontaneity N/A

Audio footage information

Year of recording 2004
Recording person id 631
Size (min) 27
Size (mb) 102

Audio medium

Other Private conversation - not broadcast

Audio setting

Education
Private/personal
Recording venue Lecturer's office, Dept. of English Language
Geographic location of speech Glasgow

Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers

Acquaintance
Speakers knew each other Yes

Audio speaker relationships

Members of the same group e.g. schoolmates
Other Fellow students

Audio transcription information

Transcriber id 631
Year of transcription 2004
Year material recorded 2004
Word count 5577

Audio type

Conversation

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 745
Gender Female
Decade of birth 1980
Educational attainment Highers/A-levels
Age left school 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs Agnostic
Occupation Student
Place of birth Glasgow
Region of birth Glasgow
Birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Glasgow
Region of residence Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Social worker
Father's country of birth England
Mother's occupation Librarian
Mother's place of birth Glasgow
Mother's region of birth Glasgow
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes All circumstances
Scots Yes Yes No Yes At home, informal

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 746
Gender Female
Decade of birth 1980
Educational attainment University
Age left school 17
Occupation Postgraduate student
Place of birth South Uist
Region of birth Western Isles
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Glasgow
Region of residence Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Teacher
Father's place of birth Whitehaven
Father's region of birth Cumbria
Father's country of birth England
Mother's occupation Librarian
Mother's place of birth Croydon
Mother's country of birth England

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes All circumstances.
Scots No No No Yes

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