Undergraduate student series: an interview with Millie Bucksey

Felicia Lee

Millie Bucksey is an undergraduate student majoring in Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK). Millie is in her fourth year of study and is currently on a student exchange programme at the University of Melbourne.

Felicia interviewed Millie about her passion for linguistics, her exchange experience at the University of Melbourne, and her plans upon graduation.

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Hey Millie, thanks for doing this interview with me. First things first, could you tell us more about yourself, and what you’re majoring in?

I’m from Brighton in England, but I go to university at the University of Birmingham in the UK. I’m majoring in English language and linguistics, and I’ve done three years of study in Birmingham. I’m here at The University of Melbourne doing my fourth year on exchange.

My course is a three-year course, unless you choose to do a year abroad and then it makes it a four-year course. Rightfully, a student should complete their first two years at home, a third year abroad, then return to the UK for the fourth year to complete their final dissertation and exams. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had my third and fourth year swapped so that I could travel in my fourth year for the exchange programme. Essentially, I’ve done all the hardest things; I’ve written up and submitted my dissertation, I’ve done my exams and I’m here right now to enjoy my last year as an undergraduate student on exchange!

I’m glad that your university back home was flexible enough for you to do that. It would be a shame for you to miss the opportunity for an overseas exchange experience! You mentioned that you are majoring in English language and linguistics. What got you into linguistics?

I’d say I first came across linguistics in sixth form college (equivalent to Year 12 in the Australian system). We complete our pre-tertiary studies up until Year 11, take the GCSE exams, and then we do two years of college or sixth form. We get to then select A-level subjects that we would take at sixth form college, and our GCE A-Level exam grades would help us enrol in universities.

Linguistics wasn’t really a thing at school, but when I got to college it was on the syllabus. I did psychology, English language and Spanish in college, and the topics that were covered in English language were language change and language decay, sociolinguistics, and child acquisition, just to name a few. I thought the field was intriguing, so I decided to major it at university. It also helped that I seem to have done quite well in it so when I was thinking about university, I was kind of choosing between doing law or linguistics. Even though law sounds like a good idea, I just figured that my passion lies with linguistics and languages. I’m going to have a more enjoyable time at university doing something I enjoy because I get a lot more motivated to work at it. I’m glad I chose to major in that in the end.

So which field did you enjoy the most in linguistics?

I would say sociolinguistics, and I found things like accents and dialects super interesting. In the UK, we have so many different regional accents and dialects so I think it would be fascinating to study them. I just think that language in a wider sociological aspect was what really interested me, so much so that my dissertation is also related to that. My project investigates the language of gaslighting in film and television through the use of discourse analysis and how the linguistic features of gaslighting links heavily to misogyny.

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It’s wonderful that you found your passion in linguistics, and that’s definitely a very interesting topic for your final year dissertation! Now, let’s talk about your exchange experience at the University of Melbourne, but before that, why did you choose UniMelb for your exchange programme?

I think going back to me my love for sociolinguistics, especially in the study of accents and dialects, coming to Melbourne was a chance to gain a new perspective of a new culture and a new set of accent and dialect variation. Because I love the Australian accent so much and I love comparing like, oh, the slang words for different things with the friends I’ve made here and vice versa. Many times, I’ll say something common in British English and people will ask, “What does that mean?”, and we’ll have a conversational exchange about that.

Also, in terms of the analysis of Australian sounds, I’m fairly familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) because I have learnt it before, but it was interesting for me to apply it here because I’ve obviously learnt it in accordance with British English. So, a lot of words that I would like to transcribe in British English, I had to change it for Australian English.

Of course, another reason is that I think that Melbourne is a fantastic city; it’s very far from home but it’s lovely and I like that the campus is so close to the city. I just think it’s a great place to be!

And I have to say that the campus is so lovely! My campus back home is stunning, and I love it so much, so I’m glad that UniMelb’s campus has architecture that’s comparable to the one back home.

How has your experience been so far?

UniMelb was my first choice, and I’m very, very happy that I managed to get my first choice. I was supposed to be here for a semester, which I was excited about. I was also given the option to be here for the entire year. However, at the time that I signed up for the programme, I was only just 18 and I was thinking, I don’t know if I can go for a whole year. After one semester here, it was actually a bit of a blessing that I am able to stay for the year because I have some friends who are doing only a semester and they are already panicking. They’re like, “Oh my God, I don’t want to go home!” So yeah, I’m very happy that I get to stay for the entire year.

Also, I think personally this stint helps to develop my independence and my confidence. I used to be so shy; I struggled to speak to others, but this experience changed me in this aspect. I would say that I observed some personal growth in this respect. I think living in the university accommodation helped a lot too because I get to meet different exchange students as well from places like Copenhagen, Ireland, or Spain. I’ve made many connections that I wouldn’t have made if I hadn’t taken the plunge to participate in the programme.

Academically, I’m learning a lot of new stuff and getting to do subjects that I don’t usually get to do at home. I’m able to look at different theories and ideas with a different perspective.

However, I know I probably should have got more involved in extracurricular activities at the university for a more holistic experience. I go to school for my four modules here and then I go back to the accommodation. I have made some good friends and I have a fairly heavy social life anyway, so I’m not sure I have the time to join the societies or clubs at the university. But I’m still here for another eight or nine months, so I have a lot of time to get involved with school activities. I would probably join a sports club because I feel like that’s a good way to make friends. I’ll definitely look into that for the next semester.

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I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself immensely at UniMelb! What are your plans after graduation then?

I’m looking forward to graduating and I graduate in July next year. The plan is to find something that is related to Public Relations, like perhaps, a corporate job back home. Apart from taking modules like psycholinguistics or sociolinguistics, I also did a module on business and linguistics, and that was one of my favourite modules I did. In this module, we looked at how businesses use specific linguistic features to communicate with their stakeholders. For instance, we looked at how companies deal with scandals or crises by analysing the linguistic devices that they use, or even the different linguistic resources that they used for marketing campaigns. I think all these relate back to what I like about linguistics and how linguistics is at the core of everything in society.

But I guess I’ll just enjoy the present at this point. Who knows what the future brings?

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Well, you still have about 9 months before you decide what to do after graduation anyway, and I agree that you should enjoy the moment! Well, thanks for speaking with me, Millie. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours!

Thank you, Felicia.