Luiza Newlin Lukowicz
editor
luiza
linguistlist.org
I've just started my work in the Linguist List and my graduate degree in English linguistics at Eastern Michigan University. I come from a small but extremely pictoresque town in the heart of the Polish Kaszuby region called Bytow, reminiscent to some of the Hobbit Shire. I was lucky enough to be brought up in a family where travel was nothing short of a family tradition and so I had the opportunity to explore far-flung countries. By now, all of us have left this seemingly idyllic place: my parents moved to Northern Ireland and my brother, by far my favorite guitar player as well as a linguist himself, lives in Poznan. For my part, I followed in his footsteps and headed for Poznan to take up undergraduate, and afterwards, graduate studies in what is called English Philology in the School of English at Adam Mickiewicz University.
I loved Poznan from the start. It is an amazing city, throbbing with life (especially nightlife). At Adam Mickiewicz University I met outstanding professors who were a motivating force for me until my graduation and will, even unconsciously, continue to influence my research decisions. One of the people I am most indebted to are prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, head of the School of English and the supervisor of my M.A. thesis entitled "Influence of demographic factors on language change in urban Southern American English on the example of the Southern Shift in Dallas", who is also the most dedicated phonetician I have ever come across. I'd also like to mention dr Radoslaw Dylewski who, as the supervisor of my B.A. thesis, infused me with his passion for American dialects, which is the field I have done most research in.
During my studies at UAM I took up another faculty, Romance Philology, with a major in French. My B.A. thesis was (surprise! surprise!) once again on dialects, but this time I studied Acadian French and from a syntactic angle. My thesis "Modes dans les relations syntaxiques en francais acadien" was written under the supervision of dr Jolanta Dyoniziak.
When I'm not traveling or reading books on linguistics there's a big chance I'm having fun in a club or pub, or jogging, or watching Prison Break, Desperate Housewives or the Sopranos, or drinking coffee with friends.