Biography

Born in Montréal, Québec and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, I have always been aware of language and its role in identity. As an undergraduate at Swarthmore College studying Biology and Linguistics, I became interested in endangered languages and their conservation. My research and senior thesis explored the endangered Papua New Guinean language of Yokoim, and my study of Arabic led me to love Semitic languages. Language is an incredibly complex system, and the sheer diversity of language is testimony to humanity’s creativity and the breadth of perspectives on our world. As a repository of knowledge, history, and memory, it is also a key component of personal and communal identity. Yet about half of the world’s ~7,000 languages are classified as endangered, at risk of dying out and becoming lost to their communities and the wider world. I am grateful to the Gates Cambridge Trust for the opportunity to pursue an M.Phil. in Linguistics at Cambridge. There, I aim to build a foundation for my future work in the classroom and field with these languages and their speaking communities.

Interests: Cooking, origami, knitting, traveling

Previous Education

Swarthmore College

Links

http://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleine-booth