学生范文 - Personal Statement (Chinese Language)

发布者:管阳阳发布时间:2017-03-18浏览次数:100

Personal Statement

(Chinese Language)

Qian Daxin, a very famous philologist in Qing Dynasty once said “Someone who likes idly talking about semantics, without having a good knowledge of phonetics, can’t really get the point of syntax”. Coincidentally, the greatest English phonetician, Henry Sweet described phonetics as “the indispensable foundation of all study of language”. These words really inspired me who was a senior high school student at that time to ponder a variety of questions: Why phonetics is so important? Why we live in a lively “hearing world”, with all kinds of sounds surrounding us, but only speech turns into the most important sound in human society? Why speech sound can be called phonetics, but yawn and cough which are also made by human vocal tracts can’t be classified as phonetics? How people organize limited consonants, vowels, tones, syllables and other systematic phonetic units to convey their infinite ideas or feelings? Since then, I have been hypnotized by phonetics. All phonetic phenomena can deeply attract me: the uvular in Spanish, the apico-alveolar trill in Russian, the flap in Japanese, the pharyngalized sound in Arabic and the complicated tone categories in Chinese. In my view, they are all like musical notes, making our speech more melodious.


Out of my strong curiosity and deep love for phonetics, I chose to learn Chinese language at Fudan University, one of the most prestigious tertiary institutions in China. Over the past three years, I have learned a series of linguistic-related curriculums, including Ancient Chinese, Modern Chinese, Phonology, Phonemics, Phonetics, Experimental Phonetics, Historical Linguistics, Social Linguistics and other specialized courses. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time reading various relevant theses, periodicals and treatises written by many distinguished phoneticians, which indeed expanded my scope of knowledge and broadened my horizons. Through the systematic and assiduous study, I laid a solid foundation of expertise and gained valuable insight into phonetics.


Of course, only integrating theory with practice, one can really grasp professional knowledge. Consequently, I participated in two dialect surveys in Jiangxi and Fujian Province with Prof. Tao Huan, who is an outstanding dialectologist in Chinese linguistic circle. It was under his guidance that I learned how to handle peculiar sounds in an unfamiliar dialect, and how to record and describe the phonology with the IPA( International Phonetic Alphabet). It was also in the practical surveys that I did know how important the meticulous observation, critical thinking and logical analysis are for a language researcher.


Digging into theories and accumulating practical experiences, my capabilities and skills was enhanced a lot, which was reflected in my excellent academic performance and prominent achievement. As of now, I have been awarded a succession of honors that endow me with a strong sense of pride, including the two First Prizes of the Scholarship for Outstanding Students at Fudan University in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years. In addition to maintaining a high GPA throughout my college career, I also took an active part in many activities to achieve a balanced personal development: acting the leading roles in dramas, working as an editor in Shanghai Television Station, struggling in table tennis competitions, and being a volunteer in commonweal organizations. All of them made my college life more energetic and colorful. What’s more, they cultivated my ability, maturity and responsibility. These qualities are also very beneficial to my academic study.


After setting a good foundation of knowledge and skills, I began to devote myself to doing independent researches. In 2011, I designed an academic research project entitled “Experimental Analysis on the Tone Categories of Xinchang Dialect”. Xinchang dialect is my mother language. As a typical Northern Wu dialect, it has extremely complicated tone and tone sandhi categories. So myproject aims at accurately describing the tone contour, tone value, tone duration and tone sandhi pattern, by methods of dialect surveys, phonetic experiments and mathematic statistics. Obviously, it needs a new perspective, which combines art and science. During the two-year research, I almost tasted all the sweets and bitters. Fortunately, the result was satisfying and inspiring. Not only did I obtain the essential thinking and basic skills for a good language researcher, but also noticed some valuable phonetic phenomena in Xinchang dialect and proposed various creative opinions which had not been mentioned by other scholars. It was my great honor that my report drew much attention in the linguistic field as soon as published.


Nevertheless, as I get deeper into my study and research, I have become increasingly aware that Chinese phonetics as a whole remains out of pace compared with the overall international development, in terms of not only theories but also methodologies. On the macro level, phonetics in Chinese is not really independent from traditional philology and usually merged into phonology or dialectology. It is in an urgent need of a new theoretical frame, including systematical concept category, experimental and statistical methodology. On the micro level, during my research, I have encountered some problems and challenges that can’t be solved by my current knowledge reserve. For instance, what’s the relationship between citation tone and tone sandhi? What are the evolution and acquisition mechanisms of tone system? How can we recognize and pick up the common social features from various individual phonetic characteristics?


Under such circumstances, I am eager for a further systematic study program to learn the latest theories and methodologies in phonetics. Among large numbers of world-renowned institutions, University of California-Berkeley becomes my best choice.


UCB is famous for its prominent reputation and faculty. It has the most advanced language laboratory that occupies a leading position in the present-day world in phonetics. Numerous capable scholars converge at this lab, including Peter Ladefoged, who is supposed to be the greatest phonetician of our times. So I’m particularly attracted by its vibrant intellectual atmosphere. That is why I plan to apply for a Ph.D. degree program in Experimental Phonetics in UCB.


Experimental Phonetics is an important branch of linguistics, whose primary object is to analyze the speech sound by all kinds of experimental methods. It contains three sub-categories: 1.Physiological Phonetics, which focuses on the actions of nervous system, organs and vocal tracts. 2. Acoustic Phonetics, whose main purpose is to analyze the physical properties of sound-waves in the airflow, such as tone-color, pitch, intensity and duration. It is also my long-cherished interest. 3. Auditory Phonetics, it concentrates on how people decode and identify the incoming signals as specific speech sounds in the human auditory-perceptual system. There is no doubt that it is a cutting-edge subject in Experimental Phonetics and a main orientation of my future research.


Now, I would like to show my research proposal in my graduate career:

  • First, I will record the phonology in Xinchang dialect with IPA by systematic surveys and found an audio language database through digital techniques.

  • Second, I will analyze the acoustic characteristics of consonants, vowels, tones and syllables of my dialect, by using of praat, voiceprint instrument, laryngeal instrument and other relevant acoustic instruments in order to accurately interpret types of initiation, articulation and phonation. Accordingly, we can construct its synchronic phonetic framework and describe its diachronic phonological change.

  • Third, I will focus on the cognitive mechanism of native speakers through psychological experiments, exploring how they perceive and utilize their unique phonetic features. By doing this, we may find the corresponding relationship between auditory and acoustics.

  • Finally, I plan to cooperate with computer programmers to write an intelligent speech synthesis software, so that we can perfectly synthesize Xinchang dialect by inputting specific acoustic parameters.


I believe my research proposal reflects the developing tendency of Experiment Phonetics, namely paying close attention to realizing humanistic care and culture protection by science application. In the rapidly developing 21st century, we have stepped into the stage of artificial intelligence. So how to realize man-machine conversation is causing more and more concerns, which starves for plenty research achievements of Experimental Phonetics. I also want to make a contribution to this exciting work. Though it is a long-term and arduous task, I will try my best, like the two sport advertisements said “Nothing is impossible” and “Just do it!”


I am really looking forward to being an honored graduate student in the language laboratory of UCB. It is my conviction that, in UCB, the cutting-edge theories, innovative methodologies, advanced hardware and software equipment will immensely facilitate my academic study and research. It is also my heartfelt wish and my confidence that, I will be an accomplished language researcher who is looking up at the star-filled sky, but still standing on the solid ground. In all sincerity, please give a chance and I will return you a surprise!

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