This course took a look at the English language from a purely linguistic perspective. We started from the simplest units of language, phonemes, and then continued on discussing English on all levels, from morphemes to grammar to stylistics. I found that some elements of the class reflected aspects of my high school AP English classes, but then Prof. Webster would often extend these more basic ideas to something more complex that required students to make conscious the many lingustic processes we perform so naturally without notice. I was forced to think about my own English tendencies, strengths, and shortcomings, and I feel that now I have many tools I can use to improve my own version of the English language going forward.
At the beginning of the quarter, Prof. Webster had every student write what they believed to be their "language self-profile," a summary of our own idiolect and thoughts about the English language. By the end of the quarter, our profiles had clearly changed, so the final writing assignment was to write a part II where we outlined in greater detail what our English really is. Below is my final product, with part I attached at the end.