An Introduction

Hello everyone! 

1. Who am I?

I am Shashi Armstrong, a senior at BASIS Tucson North. I am a writer, reader, guitarist, student, daughter, sister, and friend. I love the works of Walt Whitman, Ken Grimwood, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

2. What do I plan on doing?

In my senior research project, I plan to explore the linguistic trade and the relations between language, culture, and literature. My goal of one day becoming a professional writer and my love for the works of Tolkien have inspired me to pursue linguistics for my project. By the end of my internship, I will have created a culture with their very own language. I plan to demonstrate the language by writing several poems about my made up culture in the language I create. By doing so, I will be able to show the interactions language, culture, and literature have with one another. I will be interning with Mike Hammond at the University of Arizona Linguistics Department and looking into the poetic “rules,” meter, and syllables in Gaelic poetry. I will also be doing my own research outside of my internship. 

I am very excited to begin this project and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!