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Me every day

Tips for Linguists

Make your native language seem exotic by transcribing it in IPA.

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Back to school linguistics resources roundup

Taking (or teaching) an introductory linguistics class this semester? Here’s a handy resource post that you can save and come back to. Or, wish you could take intro linguistics? This might be the next best thing. 

General resources

How much do I need to know before taking intro linguistics? (Spoiler: not much) 

28 tips for doing better in your intro linguistics course (plus bonus parody tips for doing worse)

What is language? 8 myths about language and linguistics

The protolinguist series, a compilation of resources for self-study 

Short to medium-length youtube videos about various linguistics topics: The Ling Space, Tom Scott, DS Bigham, Martina Wiltschko, and assorted other videos 

How to find a topic for your linguistics paper

Typesetting linguistics: What is LaTeX and why do linguists love it? (with sample LaTeX doc to download and modify)

How to have a conversation about language differences without being a prescriptivist and my whole prescriptivism tag

Phonetics & Phonology 

How to make your own paper model of the larynx

Teaching phonetics using lollipops

A particularly nice video scan of the vocal tract, a gif of the tongue moving through the vowel space

How to remember the IPA vowel chart, with keywords

How to remember the IPA consonant chart, with keywords

A detailed explanation of sonorants, obstruents, and sonority

Elaborate Venn diagram of English phonological features 

IPA transcription practice

Free “tudoring” and a moist owlet: the 5 “t” sounds in English (allophones of /t/ explained with internet gifs). Plus, a Superman allophone decision tree and why Baltimore sounds like Voldemort in Spanish. 

The basics of how Optimality Theory works, with a coffee analogy

Guide to Praat and PraatR, an R package for controlling Praat

How to type IPA on your phone (Android and iOS) 

Various ways to type IPA on a computer

Morphology & Syntax

Morphological typology cartoons

Is a sentence more like a bracelet or a mobile? LingVids (includes more very basic syntax videos)

So you asked the internet how to draw syntax trees. Here’s why you’re confused. 

Types of trees: a sentence is an S, a sentence is an IP, a sentence is a TP

A step-by-step guide to drawing a syntax tree, with gifs

Generative syntax with Caroline Heycock (advanced introductory syntax videos)

Garden path sentences: how they work, some examples

Structural ambiguity and understanding people in Ipswich

How to draw trees on a computer (TreeForm and phpSyntaxTree) 

Pronoun typology and “the gay fanfiction problem”

The solution to violent example sentences: Pokemon

Semantics & Pragmatics

The difference between epistemic and deontic, necessity and possibility (with bonus modals as Hogwarts houses)

Look at all these ducks there are at least ten (Gricean Maxims and duck gifs)

Gricean maxims in Welcome to Night Vale

Really, you should probably just check out my whole Gricean Maxims tag

Presuppositions, implicature and entailment, and more presuppositions in Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Giving a shit about Negative Polarity Items, NPIs explained using Mean Girls references, and a follow-up on Free Choice Items

The lambda calculus for absolute dummies

The lambda calculator (software for practising in Heim & Kratzer style)

Teaching resources 

Linguistics resources for high school teachers

Teaching linguistics to 9-14 year olds 

On writing an IB extended essay in linguistics (& follow-up)

IPA Bingo

IPA Jeopardy and IPA Hangman

Practising syntax trees using cards and string/straws

Find a linguistics olympiad near you! 

Editing linguistics Wikipedia articles instead of writing a final paper that no one but the prof will read (see also wikiedu.org)

Academia  

Should you go to grad school in linguistics? Maybe

Figuring out if you actually want to go to linguistics grad school 

How to decide which linguistics grad school to go to

How to look for linguistics undergrad programs

How to interact with someone who’s just given a talk

Roundup about how to do linguistics outreach

An extensive list of undergrad and/or student-friendly conferences - apply to one near you!

Languages

Linguistic approaches to language learning resource roundup

Will linguistics help with language learning? / Will learning a second language help with linguistics?

The problem with “economically useful” as a reason for language learning

Once you’ve taken a few linguistics courses, you may also want to consult how to explain linguistics to your friends and family, my linguistics jobs series, pop linguistics/lingfic book reviews, and my extensive archive of linguist humour. And hey – if you haven’t taken any linguistics but you’ve got an elective slot open, why not give it a try?

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If it hurts enough for you to cry about it, it’s important.

4am (via 4am-reflections)

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In words, alas, drown I

Unknown

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Mandala - A Planetary Musical Palindrome by Daniel Starr-Tambor

This is trippy. And simply an amazing feat of creativity. Daniel Starr-Tambor composed this abstract musical composition by assigning each planet(oid) a particular note along the natural harmonic series, ranging from Mercury’s B to Pluto’s C# two octaves up. The notes are played in a pattern corresponding to orbital periods of each planet.

I’ll let his description tell you the rest:

With more than 62 vigintillion individual notes, “Mandala” is the longest palindrome in existence. Composed using the first nine partials of the Natural Harmonic Series repeating at the accelerated tempos of our solar system, Mandala would continue without repetition for over 532.25 septendecillion years. In homage to “Art of the Fugue” by J.S. Bach, “Mandala” has been crafted to include the “musical signature” of it’s author: the stereo imaging is arranged to reflect the exact position of the solar system at the moment of his birth, from the perspective of the Sun as it faces the constellation Libra, so that each note chronicles his birthday on every planet.

Did I mention that this was amazing? Well done, sir. If you aren’t as blown away by this as me, we can’t be friends.

(by starrtambor)

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when you spend like 5 minutes trying to form a sentence in your head in your target language but you completely mess it up when you speak

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Being a linguist is kind of like being a bird-watcher. “Oh my god, a ‘needs washed’ in the wild!” “Where’s my notebook? I think I just saw a positive ‘anymore’!” “Wow, listen to that vowel-raising. It’s crystal clear.”

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what fresh hell

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Alright iMessages, I see you and your triple contraction suggestions. Any idea what half of these mean??