Daniel Laine

Returning to school, Daniel Laine found his new path forward in the Linguistics program. 

Fun fact: I am a member of the Barreau du Québec and practiced law for 10 years, three of which I spent as an attorney in Nunavut.

Favourite thing about Concordia: My favourite thing about Concordia is its downtown campus. Its location is ideal and well-integrated in the city.

Why did you choose Concordia?

I very much knew I wanted to study Linguistics, but the idea of going back to school and away from my career as a lawyer had not fully taken root yet. To narrow down my options, I emailed several professors from different institutions asking questions about their program. Concordia held my attention because they were the only ones to email me back.  The professors were quite informative in their answers and not mercantile at all. I really appreciated that they had taken the time.

What has been your best university experience?

This one is tough! The curriculum as whole was an amazing experience, but exploring linguistics as a gateway to cognitive science proved quite enlightening. In one class, we surveyed the relations (or absence thereof) between language, reasoning and recent applications of artificial intelligence.  More than anything, this experience left me with the assurance that the Linguistics program at Concordia teaches notions that are even more relevant today, in a time of destabilizing technological advances.

What does campus life look like for you?

I like to arrive on campus some time before class and head to one of the coffee shops on campus and just chill. Sometimes it can be after class as well. I’ll often pass by the Linguistics department to see a prof about something or go in the teacher's assistant room to bounce things off other students. At some point in the semester I’ll spend a little more time at the library. 

What kinds of projects have you done during your time?

I had the immense privilege of working with Professor Alan Bale on a semantics project where he wanted to investigate certain aspects of quantification employed by the language faculty, namely plurals and the mass-count distinction.  Specifically, we looked at how Haitian Creole handled these concepts.  We did so by going over the existing literature on the subject but also by conducting interviews with native speakers of Haitian Creole. 

Do you have any advice for new students?

Make a conscious effort to allow and nurture curiosity during your journey. It could very well be your most reliable source of motivation.

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