22.1050, A: Linguist is Work in Progress

Thu Mar 3 16:29:51 UTC 2011

LINGUIST List: Vol-22-1050. Thu Mar 03 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.1050, A: Linguist is Work in  Progress

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1)
Date: 03-Mar-2011
From:  linguist [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Letter from Linguist of the Day Eno-Abasi Urua

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:28:58
From:  linguist [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Letter from Linguist of the Day Eno-Abasi Urua

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Apart from my father who introduced me to the 
beauty and complexities of language in the spoken 
and printed word, one other person who inspired 
me to take an academic interest in language 
structure was my undergraduate lecturer at the 
University of Calabar, Dr. Roland Sodowsky, a USA 
citizen. He had the (mis)fortune of teaching the 
most difficult courses in the Department of English 
where I was taking courses as an Education major 
with English Language as my primary teaching subject. 
One of such courses was the Structure of English. 
Although students dreaded the course, some of us 
persisted because Dr. Sodowsky was such a 
conscientious and dedicated teacher. He never missed 
any class, come rain or shine, quite literally. I 
recall once when he actually arrived the class 
dripping wet after one of those torrential rains 
that characterises the city of Calabar in the south 
of Nigeria.

My curiosity thus piqued, I seized the opportunity 
which presented itself in the form of a two-week 
summer school in linguistics, literature and culture 
organised by a group of linguists and literary scholars 
including professors Monday Abasiattai and Okon Essien, 
and late professors Kay Williamson and Ime Ikiddeh 
during the long vacation period of 1984 to learn more 
about this subject that Dr. Sodowsky was so devoted to.

It turned out to be quite enjoyable as we learnt about 
phonemes, morphemes, aspects of literature, culture and 
translation. At the end of it all, there was a final 
assessment. Based on our performance at that examination, 
three of us were offered temporary appointments as 
teaching assistants with the then University of Cross 
River State which metamorphosed into the University of 
Uyo in 1991.

Obviously, that didn't make me a linguist. I was sent 
for training at Nigeria's premier university, the 
University of Ibadan. That was where my training as a 
linguist began. But my dream of becoming a linguist was 
almost scuttled in Ibadan. It was a nightmare at the 
beginning and I almost packed my things and left but 
for early lessons in perseverance. Because I had very 
little background in Linguistics I had to audit several 
undergraduate linguistics courses while concurrently 
studying for the MA Linguistics programme at the 
University of Ibadan. I arrived Ibadan in the middle 
of the semester and my first introduction to Linguistics 
in Ibadan was a phonology course where 'distinctive 
features' was the day's lesson. It was a third year 
undergraduate class and the lecturer was leading the 
students to fill in the values of the features for 
different segments. I had no clue what was going on in 
the class - all I heard was 'plus', 'plus', 'minus', 
etc. I had never felt so frustrated as a learner in my 
whole life; and to think that these were undergraduate 
students. Fortunately for me, my lecturers were very 
helpful, recommended books and answered questions and 
I was determined to understand the basics of linguistics. 
The good news is that I eventually graduated with a PhD 
in Linguistics (with concentration in Phonology) from 
the University of Ibadan. My teachers in Ibadan included 
distinguished linguists like Professor Ayo Bamgbose, 
Professor Ben Elugbe, Professor Kunle Adeniran, Professor 
Akin Akinlabi, Professor Augusta Omamor, Professor Kola 
Owolabi and not the least Dr. Isaac George Madugu.

I have learned the business of linguistics from wonderful 
mentors like Professor Munzali Jibril, Professor Ben 
Elugbe, Professor Dr. Dafydd Gibbon, Professor Akin 
Akinlabi, Professor Bruce Connell, Dr. Geoff Lindsay, 
Professor Bob Ladd, Professor John Harris, and Professor 
Kay Williamson of blessed memory.

Being a linguist has provided me with innumerable 
opportunities to travel extensively to various parts 
of the world, places I never imagined I'd ever get to. 
These opportunities have been even more rewarding when 
I get to meet with famous linguists I previously had 
met on the pages of their books and articles - linguists 
like Larry Hyman, Helen Aristar-Dry, Anthony Aristar, 
Fiona McLaughlin, James Essegbey, Felix Ameka, Firmin 
Ahoua, Bob Ladd, Steven Bird, Mark Liebermann, and many 
others.

I have enjoyed my work as a linguist, especially on 
fieldtrips. I recall once when we went on a fieldwork 
with a class of third year students and then the heavens 
opened up and we had a deluge. Our vehicles were stuck 
in the mud; our clothes and shoes were all covered with 
mud as we attempted to extricate the vehicles out of the 
mud. Unfortunately, the students couldn't get to the 
destination but we had to find a way to get to the chiefs 
and community leaders because they had been expecting us 
and were waiting expectantly all day! We learned an 
invaluable lesson - taking the weather into consideration, 
especially in our part of the world where torrential rains 
are common, sometimes without much notice! Being a 
linguist is a process really; a linguist is work in 
progress!

Eno-Abasi Urua
University of Uyo
Nigeria 

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