I have two papers due at the end of this week. One answering the question: "What sorts of evidence can be adduced for (and against) the view that certain aspects of language are universal and innate?" The other is: "Was there an identifiable central core of Judaism in the period of 100bc to ad100?"

In an attempt to get ahead on the first essay as to give me more time later to work on the second I spent my entire day reading linguistics texts and going to linguistics lectures. One lecture series, however, I do not think I will go to again. It was vastly interesting, and the lecturer seems to be quite a good chap, but I'm afraid I am at a bit of an intellectual disadvantage, and thus have a horrible time trying to follow the whole conversation. It seems that my working knowledge of Greek and Latin are under par, not to mention my Sanskrit, Gothic, Old English, German, and Proto-Indo-European.