#manual language

[dedalvs]

I was studying up on SLIPA and I'm kind of curious how one would go about performing sound changes (hand position changes?) with a signed language? Do the concepts translate over to SLs similarly? Like, how would you express assimilation or metathesis or umlaut through a SL? Or do they just have their own completely unique set of changes separate from spoken languages?

Remember that when we write things like C[-cont] > [+voice] / V_V that these are shorthands for descriptions, and they're not necessarily consistent across the discipline. There are absolutely changes that occur in sign languages—both synchronically and diachronically—and there are linguists who have studied them. For example, in the history of ASL, signs that were signed in the periphery have moved closer to the center; signs where two hands were doing non-parallel actions have switched to parallel; and two handed signs have shifted to one handed signs. These are long-term, general trends, but there'es plenty of assimilation that's quite explicable.

For example, consider the verb TEACH, signed up at the top of the forehead. In TEACHER, where TEACH is followe dby the two hand PERSON suffix, the hands rarely get so high as the top of the forehead. This makes sense, as the place of the TEACH sign is farther from the usual place where the PERSON suffix happens, and so its shift to be closer to the place of PERSON is a kind of anticipatory assimilation, akin to nasal place assimilation. You could describe this with SLIPA, or you could describe it in words, as I've just done, or you can describe it with video augmented by words, etc. The concepts are the same; only the articulators are different.

A lot of sound changes (synchronic or diachronic) boil down to two major factors:

While it is possible for human beings to be precise in their actions (to say the same word the same way every single time; to sign the same thing the same way every single time), it's not convenient, and so humans take shortcuts, where they can (i.e. where they can get away with it without sacrificing the whole enterprise, i.e. conveying a message).

While it is possible for humans to pay careful attention and decode a message precisely as it was intended—and even to inquire when there is confusion—it's not convenient. We will often make false assumptions about what we see and hear. Furthermore, we will often assume that when what we perceive doesn't square with what we expect, it is our expectations that were incorrect, not the sender of the message. If in replicating the error the message doesn't suffer, the error may propagate, leading to change (i.e. errors in perception that don't interfere with the transmission of a message can be replicated and become largescale language changes).

These two factors account for the majority of sound changes (not ALL of them, of course, but the lion's share). Notice that neither of them require that the language be either spoken or signed, because they deal exclusively with transmission and reception. Only the details are different when the medium changes. For example, there's nothing similar to a velum and how it works in sign languages. It's too specific an organ with too specific a function in spoken language. But that doesn't meant that some of what it's involved with (e.g. various assimilations, blocking, etc.) won't have analogs in manual languages.

To offer a more concrete analogy, I was born with six fingers and no thumbs (two index fingers on each hand). I had surgeries to turn one index finger on each hand into something that approximates a thumb, and it functions fairly well most of the time. When I learned ASL, I discovered there were certain things I simply could not do. In signing numbers, for example, 6 and 7 are very hard to form on my right hand, and impossible on my left. My new thumbs simply don't connect that way, and furthermore, there's some connection to my other fingers when I try to move the thumb, and so I can't raise my other fingers while I'm trying to make that connection. This is what the number 6 is supposed to look like (signed with my right hand):

You can see my thumb is making contact with my pinky with the other three fingers extended upward.

Now this is what happens when I try to make that sign with my left hand:

You can see my hand is basically forming a claw. If I thought about it, I could extend my index and middle fingers, but I cannot continue to stretch my thumb to my pinky while extending my ring finger. Furthermore, that is the very furthest I can stretch my thumb. It simply will not extend anymore. i can use my other hand and push it, but what I'm doing is pushing my pinky closer. That's the furthest my thumb will go.

As a result of this, the way I sign is always noticeably distinct. There are things I simply cannot do that the majority of signers accomplish with ease.

Even so, the way my hands are does not and has never interfered with my ability to speak any oral language. Why would it? It's not relevant to speech.

Having said that, what if instead of hands it were my tongue? Or velum? Or lips? Or teeth? If I'd been born without front teeth, for example, it would impact the way I sounded when I spoke English. Consider that [f], [v], [θ], and [ð] all crucially involve the front teeth.

So back to the original question, there is no direct analog for the way my hands work to speech, in that my hands will affect a sign language in the same way that some change in the mouth will affect an oral language. But the CONCEPT! That is analogous. That is, a change in your physiology can affect your ability to produce an oral language int he same way your physiology can affect your ability to produce a signed language. The concept is the same; the instantations will differ. That means the specifics will crucially differ, as well.

In other words, yes, sign languages do have their own specific sets of changes, but, no, the basic concepts are the same as spoken languages, because both of them are nothing more than human patterns of production and perception.

[technically-human]

i loved seeing the moment of stone realising he was going to stick with robotnik (─‿‿─) could we see the moment ROBOTNIK realises stone is here for good?

Robotnik isn't used to people being happy to see him

[amber-tortoiseshell]

Is the gene that makes housecats black/solid the same gene that makes panthers black?

Depends on the species! Leopards have a recessive ASIP mutation just like housecats, but jaguars have a dominant MC1R mutation, the same gene that makes yellow/red variants in a lot of animals. Gain of function MC1R mutations are (co)dominant and make the animal produce more eumelanin, loss of function mutations are recessive and result in more phaeomelanin. (For ASIP, it's the opposite.)

Both genes are responsible for melanism in several felids:

ASIP: domestic cat, leopard, asian golden cat, pampas cat, kodkod

MC1R: jaguar, jaguarundi*, geoffroy's cat

*This one is interesting, because the reddish variant seems to be the original and the more common dark is the later mutation.

And the species with still unknown genetics: serval, oncilla, marbled cat, bobcat, southern tigrina, margay, jungle cat, african golden cat, african wild cat**

**Technically i think it's possible that the melanism of domestic cats is a direct heritage of the african wildcats from before domestication OR that the melanism of african wildcats is an evidence of crossbreeding with domestic cats; either way they would have the same ASIP mutation.

[toskarin]

I've compiled a list of Tumblr's favourite albums based on the results of polls! how many can you check off?

[qpjianghu]

Li Lianhua + saying "I love you" without saying "I love you" (2/?)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

[saszor]

image description both in alt text and copied below!

another drawing of disabled* people hanging out chilling living life etc :-)

*technically the carer of the person in the pink wheelchair isn't disabled but carers are a part of the disabled people living life experience sometimes. so it counts 👍

previous drawings of this series

[1] [2] [3]

[image description copied from alt text: drawing of 13 characters on a blue background. on the left side is a fem-presenting Asian guy with spina bifida in a wheelchair. his wheelchair has a much higher footrest to accommodate his short legs. behind him is a man with cerebral palsy using crutches and an AFO. he is wearing a tank top showing his top surgery scars. he has an uneven smile and strabismus. behind them is a drawing from the chest up of a Brown fat man reading in his bed with a CPAP mask on. he's smiling and shuffling the pages of the book. in the center part of the image are three people holding hands with hearts above them. the one on the left is a Black girl in a blue skirt using a cane. she is smiling and looking to the side. the one in the center is a fat Black person wearing a matching pink top, leggings and knee brace. they have a large heart surgery scar going across their chest and a smaller one on their forehead. they are smiling and looking at the person they are holding hands with. that person is an agender person with albinism wearing a hat with a wide rim, sweater and jeans. ze also has a pair of sunglasses hanging on hir collar. hir eyes are unfocused and looking in opposite directions. ze is smiling. below them are two Deafblind people. they are talking using the Deafblind Manual, with one of them finger spelling on the other's palm. the character doing the signing has congenital rubella and cataracts. they are white and have gray hair, acne and a focused expression. the person they are signing to is a white woman with ginger hair. she is smiling and staring forward. she wears a hearing aid. on the top right of the image is a Black man in a large pink power wheelchair with a trach tube. he is sitting still with one eye visibly open. next to him is a white guy with a bottle in one hand and feeding tube in the other. there are speech bubbles with icons indicating 1 eye closed for "yes" and both eyes closed for "no". below them are three kids playing with plushies. the plushies are a crocodile, belonging to a Brown girl with a C-shaped scar on one side of her head, a purple cat with one of it's paws missing belonging to an East Asian girl with an upper limb difference, and a rat belonging to a white girl with intellectual disability and small, spread out eyes wearing a scoliosis brace. they all seem happy.]

[gaydexvocaloid]

btw i’ll try to get some sv2 covers done as soon as i can when it releases but i am . slow. LOL. we have like 9 covers done to show still that are either ready or almost ready b4 we start fully switching 2 sv2 ^_^

[hoofpeet]

I think Penny's ears are too thin/long to control more than the base muscles, so most of the time they just act like additional locks of hair. If she tried to lift them up the bottom half would just droop down

[lieutenantselnia]

A little comparison of Lieutenant Lyste's voice in the English and German dub (+ a little bit of Kallus too); because I find languages interesting and this made me really think about how a voice actor can influence how a character is perceived.

First of all, I've watched Rebels primarily in German so far (though I've seen a good amount of scenes in English as well), partly for nostalgia reasons (I was in my teens, probably around 14 when I first watched the series and my English wasn't that good at the time to just casually watch an entire series, plus I was watching it with my younger sister), but also because I think the voice actors especially for the main and recurring characters are genuinely doing a really good job. Heck, for some characters I might actually prefer their German voice because it is that good! Kallus might actually be a good example for this if he's already here, I think he has such a pleasant roughness in his voice. For Thrawn it's also a pretty close match, he sounds wonderful in both variants but I might prefer his German voice just by a teeny tiny bit.

Who I actually wanted to talk about is Lieutenant Lyste though. I'm mainly familiar with his German voice, and as he's a fictional crush of mine, this is also the voice of his that I've fallen in love with. When I imagine him talking - regardless in which language - the sound is that of his German voice. Personally, I feel like that voice makes him seem a little younger and more naive compared to his English voice. I've always headcanoned him to be fairly young, in his early to mid twenties, and that by the start of the series he had just completed his military training recently (his position as supply master might have been the first one where he had to bear more responsibility). I've always seen him as a guy who's motivated and just trying his best, but at the same time he's lacking experience, plus, if we're being honest, when it comes to his military career he's a pretty average guy. I think he'd learn and improve over the years, but he isn't the "best of his academy year" or "promising young talent with innovative ideas" kind of guy, and he's far from a mastermind like Thrawn. He's literally Just A Guy, and personally, that's actually something I really like about him and that makes him endearing to me.

In contrast, I think his voice in the English dub makes his age a bit more ambiguous (I still wouldn't guess him older than 30, also based on his appearance but I feel he seems less "boyish" than in the German dub). I think it also gives him a bit more of an arrogant tinge and less of the playfulness that at least I hear in his German voice. He still conveys that dutifulness, but he seems a bit more uptight as well. I wouldn't go so far to say that that's bad, and I still like his English voice as well, but I think for me it won't come close to the charm that his German voice has to me.

Towards the end I want to point out though, that the voice, while being an important aspect, is not everything that makes a character. Appearance, behaviour, body language, actions and decisions contribute to that as well. What I found interesting is that most headcanons that I read about Lyste actually still overlap closely with my own as well, even though I heavily assume that not all people who wrote them are familiar with his German voice. I would say that this is a good thing, because his core personality is still conveyed across language barriers, even though the way that different actors voice him may emphasise different aspects of his character more or less.

[ghosts-of-the-woods]

So I just found out you can type 'excitedze' in your crafting menu and it changes your language to pirate speak. I'm never saying trident again only Poseidon's fightin' fork

[rosesradio]

i can’t believe I’m saying this but I think this action scene might need more funny dialogue…

[paradoxicalpaldeann]

GOD I FORGOT HOW HARD PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS FUCKING SLAPS AUUGH DASU MY BELOVED

[userautumn]

.

[elipsi]

any beautiful c++ guru that can explain this to me? 🥺

[frankierohugejorts]

is anyone here good with computers?

hey guys, so ever since jude died i've been trying to sorting thru his socials and stuff, and ive been trying to like. see if i can archive some of his stuff, especially pictures and videos of him

ive been trying to do this on tumblr, but bc his privacy settings are set to 'hide from ppl without an account' i cannot use an original post finder tool and i can't even access his /archive page, and trying to scroll thru his blog manually is almost impossible bc eventually the site reloads and sends me back to the beginning, and changing the page number in the url manually does nothing, so i cant even find my place again

ive been looking into those webpage archiver tools, (like tumblthree i think?) but i don't understand enough about computers to know how to run most of them im finding in places like github, and even if i did i only have access to a chromebook, so im unable to download a program, especially one that runs on windows or linux

anyway, im basically wondering if there's anyone who knows about computers who might be able to give me any sort of advice or point me in the direction of a decent archiving site or chrome addon that doesnt require any special apps and might be able to actually access jude's blog, and maybe won't give me 8 billion viruses???

[jacqcrisis]

Since he's dragonborn and speaks Draconic, Ronan often swaps between the two when writing in his journal. Mostly it's in Common, but if it's something very private or spicy, he'll swap to draconic in case any rogues with sticky fingers or nosy tieflings try and snag it from him. Very frustrating for said parties for a variety of reasons since inbetween very dry 'we did this today' text, his little stick figure diagrams of action, and sketches of wildlife and his companions, are long sections in a language no one in the camp can read but you know say something interesting.

On top of that, I think it'd be cute if early on, after Astarion starts with all the faux endearments, Ronan lets slip one of his own in Draconic. It's mostly a joke and partially an accident at first and he was sheepish about it for a bit because it seemed presumptuous given the circumstance. When he realized no one, especially Astarion, knows what's he's saying, he starts using it more and more, much to a vampire's frustration.

Astarion asks him what that word means and if it's an insult or demeaning in some manner. Ronan's being tight lipped about because that would ruin the fun as it clearly bothers Astarion in some insignificant, harmless way. Even after the whole confession thing and now they're in some kind of relationship and said endearment is basically all he's referring to Astarion as, he still won't tell him what it means.

At this point, Astarion assumes its just a nickname or something considering how long Ronan's been calling him.... whatever he's calling him. Though any time they find themselves in a library, he is not so subtly looking for anything that may help him translate...