View source for User:Svenska84

{{userpage}}{{Infobox Person |
  name=Kirk <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: |
  image=Kirkmendoza.jpg --> |
  caption=Relaxing in the Argentine sun in the [[Andes]], west of beautiful [[Mendoza]], [[Argentina]] (heart of Argentina's famous wine country). No, I was not posing, either. |
  birth_date=[[1984]] |
  birth_place= [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], [[Illinois]], [[United States|USA]] |dead=alive|
death_date=not applicable|
  death_place= n/a|
}}{{Babel|en|en-us-n|AmE-CVS|es-4|fr-3|ko-2|de-1|sv-1|ot-3|ipa}}

{{boxboxtop}}
{{User:The Raven's Apprentice/Userboxes/User Firefox}}
{{user California}}
{{User:Ginkgo100/Userboxes/User non-smoker}}
{{User:Winhunter/Userboxes/No Smoking}}
{{user piano}}
{{user:Mkdw/College}}
{{userbox|black|white|[[Image:Mortarboard.jpg|40px]]| This user studies at the '''[[University of California, San Diego]]'''.}}
{{user:UBX/java coffee}}
{{user:UBX/mate}}
{{user time zone|GMT-8|watch}}
{{user:UBX/bubble tea}}
{{user:UBX/milk}}
{{User:Djr xi/User Omnivore}}
{{userbox|id=[[Image:Ichthus.svg|45px]]|id-c=#FFFEFF|info=This user is a '''[[Christian]]'''.|info-c=#EEEDEE|border-c=black}}
{{User:Menasim/Userboxes/User Google Earth}}
{{user:UBX/ubx-4}}
{{boxboxbottom}}


== Basic Info ==

My name is Kirk--I am currently in my fourth and final year at [[UCSD|UC San Diego]] and am a [[Linguistics]] major. I'm interested in quite a range of eclectic topics. In 2004 (during part of my third year) I studied abroad in amazing [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]], and have subsequently been bitten by the "travel bug." One of my interests related to linguistics is a constant fascination with how people speak, and more specifically, [[phonetics]]/[[phonology]] and [[Dialect|regional variation]] within certain [[language]]s. This interest is reflected in my first wikipedia article, [[California English]]. 

== Where I've lived ==

{{Contains special characters|IPA}}
I was born in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], but three months later my family moved to [[Selah, Washington]], a small town near [[Yakima, Washington|Yakima]] where I lived till I was 5. Then I lived in [[Euless, Texas]] a town in the middle of the large [[Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex|Dallas-Forth Worth metro area]] till I was 11. Since then I've lived in [[California]], and I've just recently considerably updated and expanded the article on [[Turlock, California]] where I lived from the age of 11-18, and where my family still lives. I am a current resident of [[San Diego, California]]. My roommate from this past year and good friend [[user:elefuntboy|T.J.]], is also a wikipedia addict.


== Interests ==

As I said before, I'm very interested in human language, and have studied [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], and [[Korean language|Korean]]. One reason for my continued interest in Korean is that I've considered teaching English in [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]], although I'm not sure if/when I'd end up doing that. My current interest in post-UCSD jobs would involve something where I get to deal with languages/linguistics. This past fall I took my first [[German language|German]] and loved it. I plan on taking it for the rest of my time here at UCSD. I've been trying to teach myself [[Swedish language|Swedish]] by reading some books on it, so I can read moderate amounts of it; hopefully one day I'll be able to speak it. 

== Background ==

I'm an American of varied [[Northern Europe|Northern European]] descent--my forebears were [[Swedes]], [[Ulster-Scots|Ulster Scots-Irish]], as well as [[English (people)|English]] and [[French people|French]] via [[Canada]]. My mom's parents were born and raised in Canada (my grandma from the province of [[Alberta]] and my grandpa from [[British Columbia]]). As adults they immigrated to [[San Jose, California]], where my mom was born. My dad's mom (so, my grandma) was born in [[Minnesota]] to her Swedish immigrant father (from [[Karlstad Municipality|Karlstad]]) and her mother who was a first-generation US-born [[Swedish American]]. They all moved to California in the end of my grandma's teenage years, where my grandma met and married my grandpa, who was originally from [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]] but had moved to [[San Jose, California]], as well. 

== {{IPA|aɪ lʌːv fəˈnɛɾɪks əɱ fəˈnɑɫəðzi}} ==

{{IPA|[æːz    aɪ    ˈmɛntʃn̩d̚     bɪˈfɔɹ    aɪm         ˈɹɪli     ˈɪntʃɹɪstɪɾ  ɪɱ fəˈnɛɾɪks so̜ ˈɹaɪɾiŋ ɪn aɪpʰiˈe həz ˈɑɫweːz bɪn ə fæsəˈneʃn̩ fɚ mi]  .   [ɪf jʉ kn̩ ɹiːd̚ ðɪs æn əv kʰʌm ðɪs fɑɹ jɝ ˈpʰɹɑːbli ən aɪpʰiˈe gik̚ tʰɪɯ so̜ θeŋks fɚ ˈhjʉmɚiŋ mi ən ˈtʃɛkʰiŋ æʊt̚ maɪ pʰeːdʒ]}}  .


[[Image: Kirkfranciscodaviddiegoceci.JPG|thumb|right|With Argentine friends in Buenos Aires, 2004]]

== Articles I've written or contributed to: ==

*[[California English]]
*[[Turlock, California]]
*[[Solana Beach, California]]
*[[Smoking ban]]
*[[Line D (Buenos Aires)]]
*[[Belgrano, Buenos Aires]]
*[[Asian Argentine]]
*[[Rioplatense Spanish]]
*[[Buenos Aires Metro]]
*[[Buenos Aires]]
*[[Asian American]]
*[[Obelisk of Buenos Aires]]
*[[Carlos Thays]]
*[[San Francisco, California]]
*[[Chinatown]]
*[[Hong Kong English]]
*[[Shibboleth]]