ˈtiːm.wɝk
[Picture: Background: 8-piece pie-style color split with alternating shades of blue. Foreground: Linguist Llama meme, a white llama facing forward, wearing a red scarf. Top text: “There is too” Bottom text: “an /i/ in team!”]
hilarious (via linguist llama : highly recommended)
You don’t choose linguistics
Linguistics chooses you
Linguistics isn’t chosen by you
You are chosen by linguistics
It isn’t linguistics that you choose
It is you who linguistics chooses
2sɢ.sᴜʙ choose-ᴘʀᴇs.ɴᴇɢ-2sɢ linguistics
linguistics choose-ᴘʀᴇs-3sɢ 2sɢ.ᴏʙᴊ
/ju doʊnt tʃuz lɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/
/lɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks tʃuzəz ju/
[tp[npI] [vpdidn’t [vpchoose [np[linguistics]]]]]
[tp[npLinguistics] [vpchose [npme]]]
∃x∃y(you(x) ^ linguistics(y) ^ ¬choose(x,y) ^ choose(y,x))
Stop asking linguistics majors how many languages they know 2k16
Stop asking linguistics majors how many languages they know 2k17
Stop asking linguistics majors how many languages they know 2k18
How many languages do y'all know?
The answer is zero. We know zero languages. But we are studying all of them.
It’s my third blogiversary! Let’s celebrate by looking back at some of my favourite posts:
Haven’t been with me this whole time? It’s okay – you can see the highlights of year one and year two right here.
every time I use “they” to refer to a single gender-unknown person on Tumblr, another piece of my grammar-filled heart shatters, and the pieces scatter at the bottom of hell
“They”...
2day my linguistics professor asked people to name some ships bc she was talking about morphology & how ship names were an example of blending and the room of 100+ people was completely silent bc who wants to expose themselves?? until this one person was like “umm johnlock” and i heard someone behind me go “oh my god……. i hate this”
love my linguistics professor but fuck her for being the exact kind of professor found in fake tumblr and then everybody clapped stories she’s making me look like a FOOL out here
I had a somewhat surreal linguistics class where the culmination of the guest lecture was an explanation of ‘brot4′
Hi all. Many of you have asked me questions about language learning and I’ve promised a big master post for a while so here it is (and I probably will update it as time goes on).
Be selective. Many people have sort of a dream of learning every language but this isn’t a reality. Pick a language and just focus on that one. One at a time. Focus on quality not quantity. Language learning gets easier as you add more and more languages (contrary to what one would think). If you spend a lot of time on your first language and go really slowly and resist that urge to add another, you will thank yourself later on because you will have a much firmer basis for your languages.
Don’t start with an Ancient Language. I’ve heard people say to learn latin first because then you have a lot of aid with vocabulary in romance languages. I don’t agree with this because learning latin does not teach you how to properly learn, use, or speak a modern language. Learn a romance language, then learn latin if you want to (then you will have all the vocabulary for latin!).
But do learn an ancient language. The above isn’t to say that learning an ancient language doesn’t help one to learn other languages, but the biggest benefit I’ve found to learning ancient languages was that it helps me organize languages and systems of grammar. If you are learning romance languages, definitely look at Latin. If germanic, check out Greek.
Learn the phonetic alphabet. And use it! Use it! Look up words (use wiktionary!). Be super meticulous with your pronunciation. Check everything. This will stop you from making bad habits at the beginning.
Pick up a Indo-European Dictionary. This seems like a very weird thing to do/a complete waste of time. This is not the case. Here is a good one. Also, get a book which talks a bit about the history of Indo-European languages, or find some info online. Learn about how languages change and morph. This will help you as you learn more and more languages because knowledge of the common ancestor of all the European languages helps you to see cognates and to understand your new languages at much more of a depth than you would if you just learned your grammar and vocabulary. (It also will help you to read more archaic forms of your languages).
For independent language learning, learn in “groups.” If you want to add a quick language using independent study after you have already learned a few, learn a similar one. If you studied French, you can easily add Italian. If you have studied German, Dutch, etc.
Take classes! You cannot teach yourself your first language. Language learning is completely different from learning any other skill. If you have never studied a language in school, don’t try by yourself. Also I highly recommend taking classes if you start a language in a different group, for example, if your first language is French and you studied German in school, don’t try to teach yourself Chinese. A course would be much easier. I also always think it is a good idea to take a class eventually in any language – it never hurts to have someone to talk to and to check your pronunciation and usage, etc. Plus it is extremely difficult (maybe impossible) to get to a high fluency level (B2 or above) without classes. (I generally aim at a low level fluency with independent study, then I go for full immersion or I take a class).
Use your language! Read articles, read the newspaper, watch your favorite cartoons in the language (italian spongebob is fantastic, trust me), write your diary in the language (read Kant in German and write notes in Italian!), talk to yourself in the language, talk to your pet in the language (italian is for horses, french for cats), etc. Anything. Just keep using it and looking up words and forgetting them and having to look them up again. Trust me, using a language and making mistakes is the best way to get it into your head (and it is safe to make mistakes in front of your cat … a bit more embarrassing in public … )
Memorise things. First of all, it is super impressive to recite Dante or Goethe at dinner parties. Second, it helps with pronunciation and vocabulary. If you memorise a passage, you learn all of that vocabulary! Pick something that interests you, a poem that you like, a play, even songs are great because they are easy to remember. Hey, I know all the lyrics to Andrea Bocelli songs ;)
Don’t learn the language the “easy way.” There has been a trend in language teaching to make it “fun” which I don’t think it helpful at all (Duolingo would be representative of this), especially for ancient languages. Just sit down and stuff the grammar into your head and get it over with. The fun stuff will come afterwards and, trust me, it will feel better to actually be able to form sentences that are eloquent and expressive, even though you had to spend all that time memorizing those stupid boring conjugations, than to have a set list of phrases to ask for coffee or to try on a pair of shoes. For ancient languages, this is even more true. Just learn those damn declensions, don’t stretch it out and learn one at a time. Trust me, it doesn’t help when you have Sallust thrown in front of you all you can remember are the little amusing latin stories that taught you the accusative case and the verb esse…
Visit the country. Okay, this isn’t possible for everyone but if you have the opportunity, go to the country where your language is spoken and actually speak it! (Even going to an immigrant neighborhood is good, usually people will find it cool that you are learning their language and help you). You are probably going to look like a moron at first but, from experience, I can tell you that nothing improves your language skills than living in a country. You learn that everyday vocabulary which you need (a formal class never teaches you how to ask if there is enough food in the appetizer to split among three people, or whether the wine is local or not…) and you improve pronunciation 100%. Pretend that you don’t know your native language and just force yourself to speak your new language. This is especially hard if you speak english because most people will politely offer to speak english (especially Germans!). Just pretend that you don’t know english and look at them like you are confused. Pretend you are Dutch. No one speaks Dutch (except Italians…).
Learn a language in a month. You can do this, especially if it is a language which is similar to another language which you know. Here is my trick. Sit down with a grammar. Learn the grammar. I don’t care if you can’t speak the language at all but learn all those damn conjugations. Learn the funny little ticks of the language. Take good notes and do a lot of drilling. Just do this. Day after day, this is your goal: learn the grammar. I like to go in the following way: articles, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, regular verb tenses, irregular verb tenses, other irregularities. Now that you have gotten all of that pain out of the way, go to vocabulary and make it fun for yourself. Do Duolingo and impress that little owl with how much grammar you know! Get a few fun game apps and just work on vocabulary. The hard part is out of the way. Now just enjoy building your vocabulary. Once you have the grammar, you have the structure. All is left is to fill it in.
Duolingo. Okay everyone uses this and has some sort of sick relationship with that bastard owl. Personally, I obsessively buy him those little outfits. Duolingo is a great resource, but remember that it is just a resource. No matter how many little lingots you earn, you aren’t going to be fluent. Also watch their pronunciation, it sometimes is … not great.
Memrise. Weird, LSD version of Duolingo. Also good. Probably better for vocabulary in my opinion but not as “cute.”
Conjuguemos: Not nearly as popular as Duolingo, but for me, this is the best language learning site. It drills not only fantastic basic vocabulary lists but also on conjugations. This, for me, is the most important thing. Know your conjugations, kids. They don’t have an owl but a little frog which is fairly cute.
Studyblue and Quizlet. Obvious, but I thought I’d mention them.
Mindsnacks Apps. Lots of language apps, fun little games. Good for vocabulary. Skip the grammar lessons.
Here are the resources that I have used to study/learn my languages. This is in no way complete, but these resources should be a good place to start. Everyone learns a bit differently, see what works for you.
Latin: Wheelock’s Latin (good, systematic grammar). Learn to Read Latin Workbook (great for drilling grammar).
Ancient Greek: Greek: An Intensive Course (this is the only Greek book, in my opinion. It is the best. The authors are geniuses, gods among men.)
French: Amsco Second Year French (out of print, I don’t care. Find a copy. This is the best French workbook).
Italian: Modern Italian Grammar. Here’s a link (Very basic grammar, but very very good and thorough (yet at times a bit overly formal) – no vocabulary though so I don’t recommend it to people who don’t already have some background in italian or who aren’t willing to go get vocabulary lists for themselves. Conjuguemos has very good lists though, if you want to supplement the book. I do recommend this though for those who want to learn Italian very quickly).
Dutch: Sorry, I don’t have a textbook for Dutch. I used the grammar from Wikipedia (don’t judge! Wikipedia can be a really good source for grammar tables!). Here is a site with some more grammar and lots and lots of amazing vocabulary. And here is a link to a site that gives you conjugations for Dutch verbs which can be very helpful since it is a rather un-studied language.
Sicilian: Okay, this is very hard language to learn as a ‘real language’ and not just a mess of Italian-Sicilian because no one studies Sicilian as Sicilian (which is sad and we should all learn Sicilian!). Here is a dictionary and phrasebook (sorry, it is an old fashioned paper one! haha). And here is a grammar textbook (there are a few others which I haven’t used but this one seemed the best and I have found it extremely good). Here is Peppa Pig in Sicilian (with Italian subtitles). And for later on, here is a book of medieval Sicilian poetry with English on the facing page.
Arabic (for reading knowledge): There is a fantastic (free!) app (iPhone)for learning the Arabic script called TenguGo Arabic Alphabet. They also have a second installment which teaches grammar (but it isn’t free…) Here is a link to a dictionary of philosophical arabic terms for those of you who, like me, are learning arabic only for reading knowledge. Someone also made a memrise set for some of the vocabulary.
German: Sorry, I just learned German using grammar sheets (and immersion…). You can buy them here. I also recommend the Goethe Institut Vokabeltrainer. This is a fantastic app. There is an enormous vocabulary which really will get you up and running in German. The layout is super boring but it gets the job done. Goethe Institut also has an app which is like an adventure game. It is so pathetic it is funny.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you guys have any suggestions to add to the post and have fun learning your languages!
If anyone out there is feeling anxious that sharing how they identify in terms of their sexuality will get labeled as “not real” or be told “you’re making that up/you just want to be a special snowflake” (side tangent that ‘special snowflake’ usage is literally the most ironic and hypocritical thing I’ve ever heard given where it originates from), here’s a small linguistics lesson that might help you out:
An absolutely essential function of all human languages is this thing called arbitrariness. All language has arbitrariness, which means in this case that it is only given meaning because we all, collectively, decide it has that particular meaning. There’s no reason why the word “apple” means that particular fruit we all know it to mean except that we all decided and accepted that was the case in order to aid communication.
Language also must have productivity as a function, meaning that it must allow us to communicate new ideas/phrases that have not been uttered before. This production function of language is the reason why we can talk about “email” and “internet” today when neither of those things existed a hundred years ago.
So basically, just because someone doesn’t recognize the “new” word you use to identify doesn’t mean it’s invalid as an identity. All language is arbitrary anyway, and one of its functions is what allows for change and fluctuation in our vocabulary. If a label fits you and helps you feel at home with yourself? You’re allowed to use it.
Their unfamiliarity with the term should not–does not–belittle who you are.
for science: reblog this with your hogwarts house and major/field of studies in the tags
Speaking of linguistics, there’s one particular linguistic tick that I think clearly separates Baby Boomers from Millennials: how we reply when someone says “thank you.”
You almost never hear a Millennial say “you’re welcome.” At least not when someone thanks them. It just isn’t done. Not because Millenials are ingrates lacking all manners, but because the polite response is “No problem.” Millennials only use “you’re welcome” sarcastically when they haven’t been thanked or when something has been taken from/done to them without their consent. It’s a phrase that’s used to point out someone else’s rudeness. A Millenial would typically be fairly uncomfortable saying “you’re welcome” as an acknowledgement of genuine thanks because the phrase is only ever used disengenuously.
Baby Boomers, however, get really miffed if someone says “no problem” in response to being thanked. From their perspective, saying “no problem” means that whatever they’re thanking someone for was in fact a problem, but the other person did it anyway as a personal favor. To them “You’re welcome” is the standard polite response.
“You’re welcome” means to Millennials what “no problem” means to Baby Boomers, and vice versa.The two phrases have converse meanings to the different age sets. I’m not sure exactly where this line gets drawn, but it’s somewhere in the middle of Gen X. This is a real pain in the ass if you work in customer service because everyone thinks that everyone else is being rude when they’re really being polite in their own language.
Something interesting to note is also the more literal meaning behind these two phrases and how they themselves differ and oppose each other
‘No problem’, coming from a millenials mouth, within the context of helping someone – whether it be holding a door open/picking up something someone may have dropped/ect. – and, naturally, being thanked for it, implies that the kind gesture was indeed, not a problem, that it was just the thing to do, that they were happy to help and that no thanks was really necessary.
While a Baby Boomer’s ‘You’re welcome’ in contrast, says something miles different, it actually highlights the fact that the person went out of their way to help someone; almost brings attention to it in a way, saying ‘Yeah, I helped you, I did you this favor I accept your thanks.’ which, malicious intent or not, is strikingly different than the millennial downplay of their act of kindness for the sake of helping someone.
a shout out to all the people who started saying “same” as a joke once in awhile but now use it for the most random things like a car honking their horn at another car
good luck to linguistics in the future trying to explain this
