What makes a person want to become a linguist?
Linguists are a rare bunch, interested in (and sometimes obsessed with) the minutiae of language, but not in a way that prevents us from seeing language for what it is: an ever-evolving natural phenomenon that each individual uses in uniquely interesting ways. We see language as an art ruled by logic. We love to edit. We live to analyze. We will spend hours upon hours striving to turn even the shortest, simplest sentence into an information-packed, influential statement that blows minds wherever it goes. We adore clarity and precision so much, we refer to clarity and precision as "elegance".

My life long interest in language was piqued in 1996 when I moved to Mexico and spent a year learning Spanish through immersion. Learning a second language was an amazing experience that led me to become deeply interested in the details of both written and verbal language. Shortly thereafter I chose to pursue a degree in Linguistics. Through my studies I gained a broad knowledge of the way people use language to share information, build relationships and conduct business, as well as a deep understanding of the syntactic and semantic conventions of English. In May of 2007 I graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Dominguez Hills with a bachelor's degree in English: Language and Linguistics and a minor in Spanish.

In my professional life I have used my ambition, intelligence and strong work ethic to become an integral part of each company I have worked for. Before starting college I had a successful career as a Purchasing Agent. The job allowed me to cultivate outstanding interpersonal communication and negotiation skills, saving the company I worked for thousands of dollars every month. It also allowed me to develop exceptional analytic and computational skills since ensuring that the company maintained appropriate inventory levels for hundreds of products called for understanding the connections between the software applications used to track inventory and analyzing the algorithms behind inventory transactions.

Please take a look at my resume to find out more about my academic and professional background, or view my writing samples to learn more about my writing style. If you're still interested in knowing more about me, you can view the miscellaneous section of my site to find out about my hobbies and other interests, which include music and computer languages.

If you know of a company with an opening for an employee like me, please send me an e-mail at lapham.j@worldnet.att.net