#and it is really cool to learn about linguistics and the way language changes and specifically how it's changed in the last 30 years

[infiniteseriesofhalfways]

been listening to a (very fascinating) nonfiction book for two days and my brain is clawing for some fun and whimsy

[jjsanguine]

Increasingly curious about the linguistic situation of Emmaly. We don't know how big the country is so I don't know if it's weird that everyone speaks the same dialect, but more important: why do they sing in English sometimes.

Emmaly was colonised for a while for there to be so much European influence on all their aesthetics and have spaghetti be their national dish, which you'd think would have left a fuckton of less recent loanwords in Emmalian but nope. They just speak central Thai but to the left. I mean, not even everyone in Thailand does that so that is weird.

They speak Emmalian in all social situations but sing in English at the royal ball which indicates English is an aristocrat thing. Cool whatever, that's true to life in much of the world right now. But they also sang in English at the protest which indicates that the impoverished protestors understand all those lyrics.

So like is Emmaly English-Emmalian bilingual from top to bottom? Why? What incentive do lower class people have to learn English? They didn't even go to phonics classes to speak emmalian with the same accent as the aristocracy, but they learn a whole other extremely foreign language? What??

Unless it's the other way round. Here's my theory:

English (or an English creole let's be real) became the lingua franca in this formerly heavily heavily colonised by Europeans country that's like 200 years old max, but has governmental shakeups all the time (so there's internal displacement which breaks native language transmission.)

The aristocracy started speaking a dialect of Central Thai. People living in what would become Emmaly probably already spoke a Tai language, but after years of wars and loanwords it was the Tai branch equivalent of Guernsey French, which the Royalty felt mega insecure about. So instead of bothering with self love or language revitalisation they pinched the speech of the never conquered country next door, and changed some verb endings or something.

Even though the kingdoms are constantly vying for power internally, they have to present Emmaly as a united front to the outside world before one of their neighbours decides annexation is easier than diplomacy for getting a cut of those Emmalian exports.

One of the easiest ways to be like we are a real country actually is linguistic unity. So the crown imposes a language in the lower classes, again. This unity campaign would've only started like 1½ generations ago because Emmaly truly can't have been around that long, but the hold the crown has on the people is extreme so I think it's feasible.

So in the present day they sprinkle in English at royal Balls like "we know this foreign (!!1!) language because we're cultured and not because our national identity basically had to be created wholesale after kingdoms whose rulers hate each other formed a Voltron for sovereignty 🫶"

And the povvos sing in English because life hasn't really changed for them under rulers that are ethically related and not foreign colonisers. So paradoxically English is closer to being *their* language (since those that brought it are long gone and Johnny average doesn't have a cultural connection to them) and Emmalian is the language of an oppressor even if it is the language they actually use every day.

[kiragecko]

@lordlyhour asked me for suggestions about how to get into linguistics. I'm too wordy to stuff all my thoughts into a reply, so here's a post!

Figure out what you're curious about and look into it casually. Don't take it too seriously. Linguistics is a huge field, and it can take a while to figure out which parts really resonate, so explore!

-

You want to understand more about how language changes and develops? I suggest looking up various words on Wiktionary, and clicking on various links in the "Etymology" section. Stop in the middle of thoughts to see if random words could be connected. Read through a page of words on Old-Engli . sh and see which ones you recognize. Look up a list of English prefixes and learn about where they come from and their subtleties of meaning.

Or look up Creoles and Pidgins! They are really cool, and also, because of the way they develop to bridge communication gaps, can work is interesting primers to a lot of concepts.

If you're interested in sounds, I suggest going to a site that shows an interactable IPA alphabet, and just listening to the various sounds and trying to interpret all the gobbledy-gook describing them. I mostly just use Wikipedia these days, but IPAChart is also pretty good, and there are a lot of other sites online with similar things.

Try to transcribe your own words in IPA. (You WILL be wrong, especially if you don't speak General American or a prestige British English dialect. Accept that and have fun doing it anyways!)

Watch some videos by Dr. Geoff Lindsey or Tom Scott's Language Files.

Find a bunch of pictures of your mouth and throat when forming various vowels. Read up on all the structures in your mouth/throat and how they affect sounds.

If you have fun getting thrown in the deep end, Index Diachronica has a lot of good info about historic sound changes, and PHOIBLE has a LOT of info about what sounds languages are actually likely to use, and how complex they can get. Neither is even slightly designed for newcomers, but it can be fun to play with stuff that only sort-of makes sense!

Conlangers (people who design artificial languages) also have a lot of good beginner resources! The Language Construction Kit covers all the basics in an interesting and accessible way.

Getting a book about historical linguistics from the public library can also be a great start. It will go over all the various things about language that can change, and give you a pretty good primer to the broader field while doing it. Also, you get to read about sound changes, and how sounds diverge as languages split from each other, and I LOVE that sort of thing! It's really really neat!

Also, look up the inflection systems of at least one language, because English's case system for nouns is pathetic, and our conjugation of verbs still leaves a lot to be desired. This leaves English speakers at a disadvantage when learning linguistics, because that stuff is kinda fundamental and instead we're heavily relying on word order.

I'm not nearly as interested in syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, but look into them enough to see if anything catches your eye.

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If there's something that seems cool, look into it more. Read up on Latin, or Proto-Indo-European, or explore the Austronesian Comparative Dictionary. Look up the Indigenous languages in your area and try to learn how to actually pronounce the street names and other locations that everyone butchers. Listen to the people around you and notice the variations in dialect. Look at ALL the various meanings of 'for' or some other tiny particle, and try to understand the nuances. Whatever it is, dig in. If something is confusing, look into that. If something is distracting, note it for later, or let yourself get sidetracked.

There are fundamentals in linguistics. It helps to learn them at some point. But please have fun first! Then you'll get a better idea of which type of fundamentals you want to invest in. Because if you're interested in word change, you want to focus on very different things then if sounds systems intrigue you, or you want to understand what's happening in your brain.

[voidxfaithx]

The past six months of working as a volunteer tutor at a conversational English and integration group have genuinely changed my life and as I move on to the next stage of my life I will constantly be thinking about the countless people who have entered and exited my life and made some kind of positive impact on me, even if I only interacted with them for an hour or two.

In all of this time, however, I think one of the instances that I will be thinking (and laughing) about for the rest of my life will probably be the time when at the end of a session one woman from Ukraine asked me to explain a term her son had frequently been using when playing online with his friends. “He keeps saying ‘sigma’. He’ll say with his friends ‘what a sigma’. What does this word mean, ‘sigma’?” I had to try my hardest not to fucking scream laughing. She was also laughing when she was asking the question so she clearly knew that the word was something pretty silly.

Both in the moment, when the shock was still on me, as well as after the fact, now that I have the luxury of thinking through what the best way to answer this question would be, I still have no idea how I could explain it in a way that could be in any way comprehensible. Because I couldn’t just explain to her what a fucking Sigma Male is, since that’s not at all what he actually means when he uses that word in that context. I also think explaining the concept of irony would both be difficult within itself as well as incomplete without an extra explanation of what irony even means in the context of the internet because, like, if I try to explain the origins of the word as a term used by incels that has since become subsumed into mainstream English language Internet meme culture then there are bound to be misunderstandings with regards to the nuances of this kind of language usage. Like, I don’t want this woman to get that idea that she’s left her homeland to flee a fucking war only to find that her seven year old child has been indoctrinated into an esoteric, woman-hating cult. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

This all being said, what this interaction has really got me thinking about is just how much the internet has changed how slang and linguistic memes are formed, making the generational divide even wider than before. And that’s without even considering the fact that is a second language in this case, seeing as I’d have just as hard a time explaining this exact same concept to my own parents. What hope has this woman of understanding? While many might bemoan these internet terms seeping their way into everyday language usage as “brainrot”, I think it also goes a long way to show that our modern, internet-addled form of English (and I’m sure this is the case in other languages as well) has actually integrated more complex forms of irony and linguistic play into everyday usage than previous versions. New slang words can no longer be explained away as just being “another word for cool” or something like that. The etymology and original context of slang is no longer ancillary to its practical conversational meaning.

This all being said, I don’t think navigating internet brainrot is ever going to be a priority when it comes to language teaching in the future. The woman who asked me the question that prompted this whole post isn’t going to be any worse off in her English usage for not being able to accurately drop brainrot into any of her everyday social interactions. Still, I do think there’s a lot to be said about the new challenges that the internet has posed when it comes to language learning. I also think the whole situation is very funny.

[apfel07]

For context, my girlfriend uses he/it pronouns.

In august I was on holiday in poland and I texted my girlfriend, telling him about some polish guy who I had talked to. I compared his way of speaking english to Käärija's english. And my girlfriend said: Yeah makes sense, Finnish and Polish are both slavic languages so that's probably why.

I just stared at him (metaphorically, we were texting) and said: No, no way Finnish is a slavic language. It didn’t believe me, because they sound so similar so I did some research and learnt about the existence of uralic languages.

I immediately texted my girlfriend "told you so", but then I started to dig a bit deeper and I realised how cool uralic languages are (they are so silly and make absolutely no sense, I love them)

Then, the school year starts and we learn about language history. I realise that I just generally really like linguistics. Each time uralic languages are mentioned my arm flies up at an embarrassing speed and I start to stim because I'm so excited.

I decide that I want to write my VWA (Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit (basically a scientific paper that is a big part of your final exams and that can be about any topic)) about uralic languages.

I haven't started writing my VWA yet but I'm also thinking about studying linguistics once I finishe school.

This silly green man single-handedly changed the direction of my academic future and I couldn't be happier about it.

[wordmoth]

Commonly Asked Questions!

1. How words like “tea” and “chai” traveled the world

Ever wondered why some people call it tea and others call it chai? Turns out, it all traces back to China, where the word for tea is cha (Mandarin). Depending on how tea left China- overland via the Silk Road or by sea with Dutch traders- different languages picked up different words. Overland? You get words like chai (Hindi) and sha (Japanese). By sea? That’s how English got tea (Dutch thee). Geography really said, “let’s make vocab spicy.”

2. Why does English have silent letters?

Silent letters are basically ghosts of English’s past. Back when Old English became Middle English, spelling wasn’t standardized, so people just wrote words phonetically. Then came the printing press and Norman French influence, and suddenly we had words with French-inspired spelling that didn’t match English pronunciation. Fast forward: English kept evolving, but the spelling didn’t. Now, knight is pronounced nite, and the k is just there for the vibes.

3. Why do accents exist?

Accents are basically linguistic fingerprints. They form when groups of speakers are separated by geography, class, or culture and start tweaking the way they speak. Over time, little changes in pronunciation stack up, creating new accents. Add in migration and colonization, and boom- you’ve got English sounding wildly different in New York, London, and Sydney. It’s evolution, but make it phonetic.

4. What is a contranym?

Contranyms are those sneaky words that mean two opposite things. Like, dust. Are you dusting to remove dust or to add dust (e.g., icing sugar)? Same with cleave-it can mean “to split apart” or “to cling together.” English is chaotic, and I, for one, respect it.

5. Why does ‘lol’ no longer mean ‘laughing out loud’?

Remember when lol meant you were actually laughing? Yeah, those days are gone. Now it’s more of a punctuation mark for tone. It can soften a sentence (that was awkward lol) or add distance (yeah lol sure). Basically, lol stopped being literal and became cultural-welcome to the evolution of internet slang.

6. Do animals have languages?

Animals communicate, sure, but do they have language? Not really, at least not in the way humans do. Human language has syntax, grammar, and infinite possibilities. Animals tend to have signals- like bee dances or whale songs- that are cool but limited. So, while dolphins are smart, they’re not writing Shakespeare.

7. Why do we say ‘on the bus’ but ‘in the car’?

English prepositions are a mess. But here’s the gist: we say on the bus because buses, trains, and planes are seen as shared, open spaces, like platforms. In the car works because cars are private and enclosed. It’s less about logic and more about vibes.

8. How many tenses does English really have?

If you’re out here thinking English has 12 tenses, congrats- you’ve been bamboozled. English actually has two tenses: past and present. Everything else (will go, has gone, is going)? Those are aspects, not tenses. Linguistics likes to complicate things, but now you know.

9. How do newborns start learning language?

Babies are linguistic sponges. From birth, they can tell apart sounds from any language. But by 6 months, they’re like, “I’m only focusing on the languages I hear daily.” They pick up patterns, learn stress and intonation, and start babbling. By 12 months, they’re onto their first words. Tiny geniuses, honestly.

10. Why do some languages have gendered nouns?

Grammatical gender isn’t about logic- it’s about history. Proto-Indo-European, the ancient ancestor of many languages, started with animate vs. inanimate categories. Over time, these split into masculine, feminine, and sometimes neuter. English dropped gendered nouns, but French, Spanish, and others said, “Let’s keep it for ✨drama✨.”

[marbles-for-breakfast]

So, I kept hearing people talk about transabled and other transid people, and I didn’t know what that was, so I decided to look it up. I feel like I didn’t get a real definition of some identities, and I still have some questions.

All of the people I see calling themselves transautistic are literally just undiagnosed autistic ppl. Which like, me too. I get it. I don’t get the label though.

Still, at the end of the day, I don’t care what labels ppl use for themselves when it’s something like this. If transautistic feels more true to yourself than undiagnosed autistic, go ahead. I’m not gonna throw a fit about it. But here are my current thoughts/opinions. I’m certainly not about to die on this hill and actually, I’d really like to hear other ppls opinions about this.

(TL;DR: What is the difference between transautistic and cisautistic and why do you find the terms useful?)

So, isn’t being trans (and I’m not trans so correct me if I’m wrong), isn’t it about being assigned something at birth that you come to realize isn’t who you are? I feel like ppl don’t get assigned allistic/autistic in the same way. Like yeah, I think ppl always assumed I was allistic, but it’s not something I was told in the same way I was told I was a girl. I can certainly see it being kind of a similar feeling/journey in some way (both involve realizing who you are and stuff), but ultimately I don’t think the transautistic label would be useful to most people with that experience. Though obviously that’s just my opinion, and I only just learned about this label for the first time.

The experience described seems like an experience that would be shared by most people who realize they’re autistic sometime after childhood. Are we all transautistic, or is it something more specific than that?

I also just feel like the word transautistic gives the wrong impression of what people actually mean. I mean, trans implies a transition, right? The root literally means “across”. And while I could maybe see coming into an understanding of yourself and your autism being described as a transition, it just seems like such a different thing to me.

I also really don’t see the use in distinguishing between transautistic and cisautistic people in the first place, at least with this language. Although maybe that’s partially because I don’t really understand what the difference is. But if it’s a diagnosis thing, that really doesn’t make any sense to me. If you get diagnosed do you become cis? Cause that seems backwards. If there is a change, shouldn’t you be changing into the identity that means “across”? And if it’s about when you found out you were autistic, how does a prefix meaning “same side” describe learning about your identity as a child? I get that words are often more than the sum of their parts, but going from the concept of identifying with the gender you were assigned at birth to the concept of being diagnosed with autism as a child instead of as an adult seems like a really big linguistic leap to me.

But again, I didn’t see an actual definition anywhere, so maybe I’m wildly misinterpreting all this. If you’re transautistic and have the desire/patience to explain some of this to me, that’d be really cool. I’m sure you guys get a lot of people asking things in bad faith and I hope it’s clear that I really am trying to understand, and even if I might personally think the label is unnecessary, I do not for a minute doubt your experiences with autism. Feel free to rb or message me if you want. And this isn’t something I’m dying to learn either, I just saw posts complaining about transid and stuff and I figured I should probably learn what that is since I keep seeing ppl mention it. But yeah, at the end of the day, if you’re autistic, you’re autistic.

[nihongoseito]

Hello!

Say, I've been trying to find sources to teach me how to read/understand the fundamentals of 草書 that are not in Japanese. So far I found "The Elements of Sôsho" by Cpt. F. S. G. Piggott but that's pretty much it. Do you happen to know any good books/websites/blogs/videos/anything about that? I can read French, English and Spanish.

I love your blog, by the way! I kinda gave up learning Japanese after a bad experience but I'm slowly getting back to it and your posts played a big part in accepting I'll take this one step at a time.

hi, thanks for your ask!! i'm really happy to hear you enjoy my blog :) i understand completely about giving up on something you're studying after it goes awry....in college i studied a lot of another (not japanese) language, and thanks to *gestures broadly* stuff, i lost what feels like all of it and it often feels like trying to return to it would be really insurmountably difficult. i think for me part of it is like, it's hard to feel like you've moved backwards from where you were in the past. so i'm so proud of you for trying to pick up your japanese study again!! 一緒に、ゆっくりと頑張ろうよ！

as for 草書 (そうしょ = calligraphy/cursive), i honestly know nothing about the topic! a quick online search gives lots of results if you ask in japanese but sadly almost nothing if you ask in english. i found a couple blog links about 草書, but the entries are very short:

something nice about this ^ blog post is it talks about how the hiragana were derived from 草書, it's so cool to see the connections between kana and kanji!

((also, if you're interested in hiragana at all, you should def look into the history of 女手 (おんなで = women's script), as in fact the hiragana were innovated and used by women who were disallowed from learning kanji! which is a really cool large-scale example of how women are typically at the forefront of cultural and linguistic change. here's another blog post about women's usage of hiragana, although it seems you might have to create an account to read it.))

heading back to kanji, here's another blog post that talks about calligraphy in both chinese and japanese:

also, looking at the sources for the wikipedia page for east asian calligraphic styles, there also seems to be a book from the 70s called the art of japanese calligraphy by yujiro nakata, which seems to be available at this site or you could try and get it from a library, especially if your library has contact with any nearby university libraries. it's a little old, of course, but researching it might lead you to more modern sources too!

anyways, thanks again for your message!! if anyone else knows of any other resources about 草書, please feel free to reblog or put them in the comments :)

[odinspattern]

What is Tav and Astrid's speech like? Do they have distinct accents? Or any other notable ways of speaking, like using particular phrases, slang, or terms of endearment?

Bonus question: What do their voices sound like?

So I have been thinking about this a lot, hence why this took me so long. Language in dnd and adjacent media facinates me as someone who has studied linguistics.

One if the best and worst things about it is that one is free to interpit what you want it to be. It can be daunting tbh.

Back when Tav was an Adventure Leauge character I was working on, I envisioned them having an US southern drawl, specifically Texan, because I thought it would be funny to imagine the Drow as having that. Their soceity is often portrayed so over the top and chaotically that what comes to mind is the expression; «Helt Texas.»

(For those who are not Norwegian, a common expression for something being over the top or chaotic, possibly insane is «Completely Texas.» Aka the joke.)

However, I have rethought this stance. Instead I have gone more classic. Dnd elves are often inspires by the elves of Lord of the Rings, and fun fact. Tolkien’s Elvish was inspired by the Karelian language, which is really cool.

Now I do not know Karelian, but I am learning Finnish, which is related. So yeah, I am claiming that the elves of Underdark speech sound Finnish, it developed diffrently in isolation and with both Svirfneblin and Duregar neighbours it took on some changes.

When it comes to expressions, they have this one that for the longest time took everyone completely by surprise, because they took one from their own language and translated it directly, and even Astarion and Shadowheart was like. What are you saying?

«This swings like a hook-horror.»

If they are impressed by you they might also claim that you have sisu.

As for Astrid. The dwarves are Norwegian, because this is my city now, and I do what I want. Also a lot of Dwarven names are Scandinavian in Origin, so I am claiming them. Miss me with those bad Scottish accents y’all are putting on them.

Fun linguistics fact about Norwegian. Did you know it is considered a Macro-language? It just means that it has many standardisations, both written and spoken.

I honestly considered giving her a Fredrikstad accent. Partly because it is considered the uglist Norwegian accent, but I found it very funny to imagine the scourge of the world speaking like she came out of Lange Flate Ballær

Because many of you do not know what the Fredrikstad dialect sounds like, here is an example.

Another linguistics fact, that thick L sound is very specific to Eastern Norway and there is some Northern Norwegian dialects that have it, which may suggest it came from the East. It showed up in the 1300’s, and has barely moved since. It is also hotly debated as it started moving the last 20 years after standing still for centuries.

I could also have gone all Oslo on y’all, because I am proud of Oslo, it is my shit city, the jewel and the ass of Norway. we have three dialects (four if you include Kebabnorsk, which would also be funny. I am old enough to remember when media actually took note of it, I was in High School at the time when you could watch a program where they spoke it on NrK, I Even remember that they made a Midsummer Nights Dream performance where they spoke Kebabnorsk.)

I decided not yo go there, for several reasons. Fist off, the kebabnorsk that I know is older already, it is like many other languages changing. But mostly because if I did, I would have to decide what other languages would stand for Arabic, Turkish, Balkan languages and Somali just to name a few that has influenced Kebabnorsk irl.

Not to mention that I doubt that Astrid grew up quite that urban. Which also cancelled out Groruddøling. (And no way she would speak the dialect of Oslo Vest.)

Instead, I have chosen the Hallingdal dialect.

Why?

Again, my city now. Also I am surrounded by it, so it makes sense to me to use it.

She uses the Word krimsjuk, which is specific to where I am located, it means to have a cold. Also pøse, which means bag, and she does love a good vaffel og svall.

[athetos]

Ttyd is the game that got me really interested in game localization and even briefly had me trying to learn japanese on my own in jr high, studying with flash cards and putting in more effort than my actual classes, so I could be a game localizer. It’s still something I find so cool and fascinating from both a linguistic but especially a cultural perspective. It’s so fun playing the ttyd remake and seeing what they changed to be more accurate to the original game’s Japanese script, or what’s different entirely… I know this game so well and know a lot of random trivia about the game’s localization and even some of the dialogue changes in languages outside of English and Japanese. This game is so important to me for not just being a good game but inspiring me in a lot of ways

[schmilsson]

tagged by @aurelien1944 to talk about five things i like :-)

1 - well the first one has to be chess the musical my best friend.. is it in any real sense "good"? difficult question. is it incredibly fun? yes forever. i personally like it when it's sad and fucked up and florence's father died twenty-five years ago and everybody loses <3 but honestly all versions (and oh boy are there so many versions) have at least some positives to it and a lot of negatives too Perfect Chess does not exist and i don't think it ever will. thank god. i saw it a few days ago they made several weird as shit choices that i didn't like i had the time of my life 💜

2 - hm i have a great fondness for horror i love being scared. that's a lie i hate being scared in general but i love it when a scary movie scares me. you get it. also disgusting bloody gorey body horror practical effects they're so so so cool. im much more fascinated than scared or disgusted usually... sick is the perfect word because wow it IS disturbing usually but also i love sounding like a teenaged boy from the nineties or something. i love a good podcast too archive 81 my best friend archive 81 for example.. i don't read enough horror novels only like 19th century gothic lit i should get into something more modern actually that could be fun...

3 - twin peaks :-) i love it when things are a little strange and unexplained and incredibly earnest about it all. dale cooper is there. i have a lot of feelings about twin peaks but i don't think i can go into it all right now... i have cried to the soundtrack several times let's leave it at that. twin peaks ❤️

4 - i love linguistics most things about language fascinate me the way they change over time the way their rules work the way they interact with each other etcetera... also there's logic to it i love logic. it's like science but with less numbers. waugh i just love languages.... sad thing is you have to memorise words to learn languages i have a knack for grammar rules but i hate learning words especially if they have genders </3 oh well.

5 - discworld i love discworld i started reading them in chronological order AKA from left to right on our entire bookshelf of discworld books a few years ago which from what i've heard from everyone ever isn't ideal but it was FINE i think. (after the tiffany aching books that is i started with those) i only have like two or three books left idk what i'll do with myself if i don't always have one of them lying around somewhere.. they're so good i love them a lot i really enjoy this type of fantasy that takes well-established fairytale and fantasy tropes and subverts them.. like howl's moving castle the only book i read as a five/six yr old that i still like that's a bit off topic though. terry pratchett is a true master of his craft the specific way he writes is delightful to me the books are all so funny the way things that appear to be throwaway gags often come back to be narratively significant is also just incredible. waugh they're good books

tagging @locallibrarylover @porciaenjoyer @nickclose @sludgecorpse or whoever wants mutuals tell me about things u like pleasee

[letterslaura]

Writing as an articulating axis and practices involving Educational Technologies

Coucou everyone! 

Today we are going to tackle a very important topic: developing writing skills in school. 

What memories do you have of writing practices in school? In my case, it was always fun and natural, just because I was so eager to practice my writing skills, but we know that this may not be the reality for most children. When I was in school, the methods were pretty strict and mechanical, with very little room for imagination. In Portuguese we were taught (a lot of) fixed rules, systems, genres (not the cool ones) and structures, everything for the sake of Enem’s essay. In the English classes things were not so different. In a room full of people, with a diversity of confidence and enthusiasm, imagine trying to apply the same monotonous pattern. What could it lead to? This rigid approach to writing can turn it into a monster for students, a real struggle, especially when in another language. It should not be like this. Students should be encouraged  to see writing as a simple skill that helps us convey messages in the best possible way. And they should know that they are all capable of learning it!

Now, let’s move away from the past and take a look at what schools are teaching today. From the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC), we can grasp how things should be done inside the classroom. Regarding writing practices in primary education, the BNCC states that writing is an essential competency that crosses many areas, not being restricted to language itself. In other words, writing practices in school should not focus only on language or on grammatical rules. Instead, it should aid students express their ideas and communicate adequately in the other disciplines as well. Could you spot the difference from the previous approach? I was so thrilled to read about how much has changed!

Further on, the BNCC stresses the relevance of integrating educational technologies into the writing practices, such as softwares, collaborative platforms, multimedia resources, etc. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources at our disposal and they can greatly enhance the teaching learning experience. This integration opens up a world of possibilities.

After that, according to Liberali, “social activities in second language teaching focuses the study on activities where the students interact with each other in determined and historically dependent cultural contexts.” (LIBERALI, 2009, p. 12). Educational technologies are able to facilitate social interactions with speakers of the target language (in this case, English) and there lie glorious opportunities to teach writing practices smoothly. 

One of my favorite writing activities (if not my favorite) was a movie review requested in the third period of the English discipline. Learning every aspect of an adjective was never so fun! In my opinion, it is a brilliant idea, since there are many interesting literary and linguistic aspects to be explored in a movie review and it can be done with just the amount of difficulty you want. How cool would it have been to write a review of "Finding Nemo" back in the day?

Movie reviews are also easily relatable, as everyone has a favorite movie, making it much easier for the students to connect and really engage with the proposal. To make the experience even more realistic, if the students' age group allow, it is also possible to introduce the Letterboxd website, according to the students' age group. In this site, they can read reviews of the movies they like and maybe even post their own later. In order to enrich the activity a little more, there can also be held peer reviews and presentations.

Another idea is to explore the world of comics! What Brazilian kid does not know Monica's Gang? Comics are very appealing for primary students, it is usually a genre that they are comfortable with and it really stimulates creativity. You can begin with reading and understanding the components of comic books, leaving the writing to the end. By creating setting and characters first, the story will be less difficult to write. It is important to get to know your students in order to pinpoint what activity would be a better fit to them.

Finally, there are plenty of writing resources online, which can be used to help students in their process. My favorites include: Thesaurus, Cambridge Dictionary, Collins Dictionary, Linguee and Grammarly. These tools can give a little extra confidence to those embarking on the adventure of writing in another language.

Now that you know a little more about writing practices and educational technologies, make sure to leave a comment below with your own experiences. I want to know all about it! 

XOXO

Laura

[scmantic]

(Adem Kartal) picked up their key from the front desk (four years) ago. The (thirty-two) year old uses (he/him) pronouns and is a (carpenter) from (Istanbul, Turkey). According to their apartment application, people have told them they look a lot like (Alperen Duymaz), and the character they identify with most is (Peeta Mellark from THG). Santa Moneda gives you a warm welcome, and we hope you enjoy your stay. 

BASICS 

full name: adem selim kartal  hometown: istanbul, turkey  sexuality: heterosexual  birthday: may 5  zodiac: taurus sun, capricorn moon, pisces rising  height: 6’0”  languages spoken: english, turkish, spanish, arabic marital status: single  children: 1 (seven-year-old daughter, emine)  traits: resourceful, honest, sensitive, protective, stubborn, defensive 

HISTORY tw pregnancy

adem was five when his father left, raised by a single mother alongside one younger sister, he grew up in a hotel where his mom was part of the cleaning staff

he spent much of his free time in the library, reading anything he could get his hands on — and in any language, even if he didn't know it

this fostered a love of linguistics and words and he set his sights on studying linguistics when he grew up and eventually becoming a teacher

his mother only made enough money to send him or his sister to university, though, and adem immediately let his younger sister be the one to go and study law

he picked up a trade, carpentry, and became incredibly skilled at this

in his late teens/early twenties, he fell in love with the owner of the hotel's youngest daughter; her family didn't approve of their relationship and so they ran away to spain together

all of this went well enough for a few years, until she got pregnant; neither of them were really ready for a baby, but she had their daughter, emine

when the baby was one, adem's ex was all like 'i can't do this anymore' and he was all like ???? and was heartbroken tbh but was like ok i guess?? and she moved back to turkey with her family

a few years ago, adem decided he and emmy needed a change and so... they went to chile! and that's where they are today, surviving not thriving or whatever

PERSONALITY/FUN FACTS

biiiiig soft boy energy

will do anything for anyone, but especially for the people he loves

incredibly smart, but not super outward about it

very emotional, but not the type to show strong emotions unless you're Close

a lover... but also a fighter? fiercely protective of the people he cares about

very, very scared to open himself up to love and be heartbroken again (break his heart anyway idk)

tries to be a Cool Dad, but is really just a Nerd Dad who is constantly embarrassing emmy (mostly on accident)

still very into linguistics and languages, currently is learning french and is conversational in it and is learning greek

big nerd for movies (not in a Film Bro way, i swear) and is always making movie or tv references

WC page found here pinterest found here

[oooohno]

social+ language contact between islands and island communities?!?! Nana that is SO COOL! At this point I wanna join your pirate crew lol Robin can come too but I'm trying to learn from you! Sociology is so interesting and I had considered going back to school for sociology and archeology before I started my Masters.

Repatriaton as a fad ABSOLUTELY makes sense! Institutions trying to save face can quickly become performative and not reflect an actual change in ideals and practices.

I don't have an area of expertise yet! In high school and college I very much leaned towards American History. I had to take American History 3 out of my 4 years of HS and did AP classes on government and politics so I basically did US History the whole time.

I did an Associates in Liberal Arts with an concentration in Poly Sci and a Bachelors in History and so the American History focused stayed and kind of narrowed down to the history of my city and history related to the bullshit the US is always involving itself in (one class I took was something like the politics of terrorism).

I haven't made any exhibits yet, my projects have been basically "if you had no real world things holding you back tell me what your plans for an exhibit or changes to an existing exhibit would be". One year I wrote a paper for a WWE museum that would actually be in partnership with the WWE. I did a bunch of research and so many peope have tried to create wrestling museums with varying levels of "success".

Last year I created a very veryyy simple protoype of what an Animal Crossing event at the Louvre would look like. Animal Crossing New Horizons partnered with aquariums in Japan and the US and since there's a museum in the game my idea was well why not do the same thing for an art museum. I focused a lot on accessibility.

Actually, in this program I find myself leaning very much towards Visitors Services and Accessibility. There's so much work being done on amplifying all the other voices and experiences that have been left out of the straight white male centric narritive of history which is amazing but if everyone can't access it then I don't think we're looking at the whole picture.

Please join!!! The more the merrier :3. And I’m working on an MA in social & cultural anthropology and another one in English linguistics…so not sociology but close enough lol. What degree do you currently pursue?

Ooooooh a history buff 🌚 very sexy 🌚. I kinda wish I had done a minor in history too although most of the classes I took taught you about history in the broad sense - but I think it’s such a fundamentally important basis. AND OMG I also had a seminar on the concept of terrorism and terror!! It was so interesting bc it really shifted the focus on how I view those terms when used in media! You have to tell me what you learned in that class 🌚. And I’m still thinking about taking archeology classes lol so I feel you…but I’m not allowed to start a new degree unless I finish one of my current ones lol. And maybe also a couple art history classes…there’s no such thing as too many classes if the topic fascinates you, right :’))))?

I’m obsessed with all your projects! The animal crossing x Louvre one is like a dream!!! Also the opportunities to create further adventures within are endless! Like a rally for kids to collect stickers or stamps 🥺.

And big fan of your focus on accessibility! When I interned at the ethnographic museum, they had an online training on how to make collections more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired & there are so many things to consider that I was unaware of…and I agree it’s so important to work together with different communities to create public museum spaces that cater to multiple audiences! In relation to that I’m also a big fan of a multi-sensory approach to exhibits. Like offering things to touch or hear because it’s so much fun to experience new knowledge in diverse ways 🌚. What kind of measures did you come up with to make your Animal Crossing New Horizons x Louvre project more accessible? 🌚

[teencoachacademy]

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The clinician may help the younger individual to use the talents coated in the program. Please note, there is a lockout interval between lessons to encourage the revision of fabric and to give you enough time to apply the abilities you've learned. Over the years, we’ve helped many individuals enhance their psychological well being by way of our medical trials and on-line treatment programs. They all bring the significance of yoga to our daily lives, our day by day reality. Worry and sadness can be early indicators of hysteria and depression in adolescence, but they're treatable. Being proficient in a international language opens up a world of alternatives as you set out on life's path. With an array of programs available to help teens achieve their goals - whether that be complementing school lessons, creating a new talent, or preparing for exams - you may really feel reassured and confident with us. It’s more about the activation of the emotional mind that determines temper and emotional intensity. When we lose our cool, after we lose our confidence and after we don't know what to do, frankly it’s a bit scary. For more information, please visit our site https://teencoachacademy.com/

[sleuth2k7]

for anyone interested in deducing people's sexualities generally (so straight vs queer rather than specific sexualities), I'd recommend looking into lavender linguistics (aka LGBT linguistics)

disclaimer: i'm referencing English speaking people/places specifically, as most of the resources/research I include focus on English speakers (though other languages/cultures are mentioned)

there's basically two sides to this linguistics niche: slang/language used, and speech patterns/ways of speaking. the former I would not really recommend relying too much on for deduction, since queer slang has integrated itself into popular culture a lot in the last few years so "someone using a lot of queer slang" is not necessarily a great indicator that said person is LGBT (though, that depends on where you are in the world - but I won't get into that in this post). so, let's focus on the latter: speech patterns/ways of speaking.

if you're interested in exploring LGBT linguistics as a knowledge base to help you deduce sexuality, I'd recommend the following for an overview to get you started:

overview of LGBT linguistics

linguistic profiling (with a section on gender/sexuality - this entire page is cool for deduction though)

gay men speech patterns (as mentioned, loads of research on this group in particular)

The Production and Perception of a Lesbian Speech Style (this 2015 research paper super succinctly summarizes several decades worth of research on LGBT linguistics in general which is amazing, and then does their own study on lesbians in particular)

if you're a video/audio person, this guy summarized a research article that basically explored how gay men change their voice in different social situations (he also points out how "what makes someone sound gay" changes from place to place)

final disclaimer, the reason this post is "a few resources to help you learn about LGBT linguistics" and not "how to use linguistics to deduce sexuality," is that this sort of info can be helpful for you to use as a piece of the puzzle of deducing sexuality. not every gay man has the linguistic indicators of the "stereotypical gay man" voice, not every lesbian lowers their voice, etc. - so that is something to keep in mind.

Can you deduce sexuality?

Hello! i think i'm gonna have to make a post about these "can you deduce..." questions cause the answer's technically always the same: yes

By it's very nature, deduction can be applied to anything, this is sort of like asking "can you drive me to [insert location]", the answer's technically always yes, it just depends on if you know the route, if you now the place you're in well enough, if you have a map or gps, if you have a car, if you have gas, etc. But assuming everything's in order and you know what you're doing, yeah you can drive basically anywhere that's not cut off by a whole ocean. In the same way, as long as everything's in order, you have the right skills, and you know what you're doing, yes, you can deduce basically anything

Now, to focus on sexuality specifically, like every other question i've answered (and probably will keep answering) about how to deduce specific stuff, it's just a matter of using what's available to you. Ask yourself, objectively, what would be connected to sexuality, and then look for those things

For example, any sexuality apart from heterosexuality has strong connections to the LGBTQ+ community, and people who have strong connections to that community tend to want to showcase it using pins, or stickers, or pronouns in their bio, or a plethora of other stuff. Now, does this mean that's irrefutable proof that someone's gay for example? no, but it's one clue that gets you closer to that potential conclussion. Now say that this person has a pin of the gay pride flag, well there you go, there's not many other explanations for that, you deduced that they're gay, not a difficult deduction, but a deduction nonetheless.

Assuming the situation is more complex than that, well you'll need to find more evidence, what other things are related to different sexualities? Well, at least when we deal with straight, gay, lesbian, and bi individuals who don't fall into the handful of categories that involve having to know someone or their personality to experience physical attraction, then you're gonna see them show signs of being physically attracted to certain people. Anything from the typical dilation of pupils and elevated heart rate, to just straight up checking people out, and that might just be a dead give away. Basically what i'm trying to get at is: like everything else in deduction, look for adjacent things that point towards what you're trying to find out