straits

If you look at the case Sanderson is making for Shallan's perfectly symmetrical alternative, Sh-alla-sh, you can notice that it is phonetically symmetrical but not syntactically symmetrical. Going by that logic Laral isn't phonetically symmetrical: La - ra - l. If it were La - ra - la you'd have a central sound with two identical sounds to either side. Since the Alethi use glyphs you can assume they don't think in single letters. Think Arabic or Hebrew letter "sounds". Or many other real languages.

Willpower isn't exactly a magical, endless resource at people's disposal. I would say the entity that is Taln can not be compared to other personalities. Kaladin is far more human than Taln, and so far, a more realistic character (what with his dilemmas and failings in WoR).

I think Kaladin's Wangst makes him more human. Maybe sitting down and revealing his abilities would have been the logical thing to do, but he, much like all other characters, doesn't have the benefit of the reader's omniscient perspective. And on top of that, he is a man with trust issues specific to lighteyes. A "regular" person would be cautious with revealing information, let alone a paranoid foot soldier with PTSD.

It could be that the boon is both the intelligence and the compassion, whereas the curse is the fact that these two traits are split such that they do not mix to a useful degree at any given day. I might be repeating what others said though.

It could be directly because of the oath he made, but I thought that Syl was losing sentience because Kaladin was actively going against what his morals dictate.

I agree with edgedancer. I think Szeth's inability to gauge whether his sense of honour, duty and dedication are worth the lives of innocents is what damns him.

I don't know if the poll reflects what people think will happen or what people want to see happen. I'd prefer to see a strong friendship between Shallan and Kaladin, and I doubt it will progress in a different direction. I'm curious about how Kaladin and Jasnah would interact, though. I imagine she'd wind him up harder than Shallan.

I'm not really sure what Dreder refers to, but it is only lightly implied and not stated that he was the person accompanying Shallan's mother during the incident. Shallan mentioned that her mother arrived "with a friend she did not recognize". Keep in mind that Dreder was mentioned in the flashback, when Shallan met the messenger, which was before the confrontation took place. She could not have known who "Dreder" was other than by word of mouth.

What strikes me as odd over the course of WoR is the instances of silencing and shunning people who point to symptoms of the return voidbringers, as opposed to being actual causes of the coming troubles.