33.3159, Staff Letter: Matthew Fort

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3159. Tue Oct 18 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3159, Staff Letter: Matthew Fort

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Joshua Sims <joshua at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2022 17:21:13
From: LINGUIST List [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Staff Letter: Matthew Fort

 
Dear LINGUIST readers,

My name is Matthew, and I’ve recently joined the team as a web developer and
part-time editor. You might have seen some calls or conferences published by
me, but now I mostly spend my time working on technical support requests that
come up.

This year is my first with LL, and it’s been a great experience to find out
more about the world of linguistics through LL. I enjoy reading through the
issues to find out more about all the different areas of linguistics which you
all pursue and study. As much as it is a service which supports linguists
around the world, it’s also a service to me as I get to learn more about the
ways linguists research and collaborate.

My undergraduate degree was in mathematics at the New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology - quite a different environment than where I find myself
at Indiana University - Bloomington. Trading the mountainous deserts and dry
climate for humidity and a green color palette has been somewhat of a shock,
but I find my current studies can distract me from the views. Starting from
math and shifting into my current program - a M.S. in Computational
Linguistics - has felt like a stretch at times, but I’ve found interesting
areas of study within semantics and syntax, allowing me to pursue scholarly
research focused on various Eastern Slavic languages, like Rusyn.

When not studying, I enjoy fiddling time away with various books - and I’m
always accepting suggestions on good books to read. Most recently, I’ve been
going through a philosophy of history, some new Turkish authors I hadn’t heard
of before this semester, and a whimsical anthology of absurd scientific
questions (and answers!).

Through the LL, I’ve been able to fund my graduate studies - and through
supporting the LL, you’re also supporting the team of graduate students we
have here. While you’ll hear about portions of our research through these
staff letters, I know that all these graduate students have been able to
pursue multiple areas of research beyond what they can fit in one letter - and
we have you all to thank for that!

By supporting the LL, you’re supporting a global system for linguists to
communicate, collaborate, and find resources. But, you’re also supporting
graduate students like myself who are able to begin our academic careers in
linguistics and enter into a rich information environment because of the LL.

Best,

Matthew Fort







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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3159	
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