"Address terms" — the words we used to address people — are becoming more inclusive. For @TheConversationUS, linguist Scott F. Kiesling analyzes the different terms that are emerging, their origins ("dude" comes from the "doodle" part of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"), and why we can say gentlemen, but not ladies. Which do you think is the most inclusive address term for a group?
A serial comma (or Oxford comma) is an optional comma used before the last item in a list. For example, "bread, butter, and tax evasion" uses a serial comma, whereas "bread, butter and tax evasion" does not....
In the chaos around #NLP, I went back and re-read the beautiful article by Lawrence Barsalou on the function of language in human cognition.
Barsalou argues that language evolved in humans to support coordinated action. Archival function of language is secondary. He highlights that #CognitiveScience#Linguistics has largely studied the secondary function and made minimal advances on the primary.
A #Linguistics question prompted by "Crime Wave at Blandings", the first story in "Lord Emsworth and Others, which I currently #AmReading. PGW has Lord Emsworth saying "dooce" a lot. In my quasi-literate ignorance, that seems like an Americanism, the sort of thing PGW might have picked from living there. Would a very English Earl of the era have said "deuce" as "dooce" , or would he have been more like to say /djuːs/ ? @bookstodon
The epic linguistic map came up in conversation at work today, so today is one of those days to regularly to pause and spend some time admiring this map of North American English dialects by Rick Aschmann:
"Historically, the term
Appalachian dialect refers to a
local English variety of
southern Appalachia, also
known as Smoky Mountain
English or Southern Mountain
English in American #linguistics."
Maybe we should accept it the same way that you're intrigued by Catalan or the differences between Spanish in different countries?
I’ve been learning #German for about 7-8 months now and I continue to occasionally think in my second language (French) when trying to answer questions or form thoughts in German. It usually comes out as a mix of both languages.
I find it fascinating that my brain won’t try to answer these things in English, though.
I know it's a stale statement to make but my god #Marathi has so many Persian words. I see them used more in the village dialects than in the textbook Marathi. For example, words like wāli (guardian/master), barakat (prosperity), hayāt (alive) — I guess flowing from Arabic to Persian to ultimately Marathi. #Linguistics#SharedHistory
We talked about the Icelandic word for “computer” at work (“tölva”, a portmanteau for something like “number witch” or “prophetess of numbers”) and I’m curious if there is one for LLMs!
I asked a LLM and it suggested “málfræðitroll” which supposedly means “linguistics troll” 👌
Okay, here we go! Giving social media another try with #Mastodon since I started to miss the academic community that social media used to provide for me.
I'm Nele, a #linguistics postdoc at the University of Oslo, working on the language of fake news in English. I'm also affiliated with Lund University through my work on the London–Lund Corpus 2 and spoken language.
That's (mainly) what I'll be posting about. Here we go again!
Pet #linguistics peeves.
"Reaching out to someone" rather than "contacting them".
Using a reflexive pronoun when none is required.
I'm sure there are plenty more. What are yours?
For any here who are both multilingual and also experience synesthesia/ideasthesia -- concepts such as numbers, days of the week, educational subjects, music, etc. being felt or experienced to have a specific color, taste, smell or whatnot -- is the color, etc. of that thing different depending on which language you're thinking...
making an #introduction for the new people who are looking for people to follow!
i am a #nonbinary#transguy from #germany, i am #disabled with #mecfs, #eds, #mcas & co and can infodump you about DIY #chronicIllness management for hours on end, i use a #wheelchair, i have messed up sleep, i am also very neurodivergent and mentally messed up but i have moved away from identifying myself with psychiatric diagnoses.
i post a lot about my life and random shit, i am in the process of #writing some books (in german, sorry), i am also learning #french and #dutch and i like #linguistics and basically i am one little ball of #fatigue and special interests.
American English first and second person pronouns (2023):
I/me - first person singular
We/us - first person plural
Us all - first person plural inclusive
You - second person singular
Y'all - second person plural
All y'all - second person plural inclusive
Chat - second person, excluding the listener
Excellent piece from Grégory Miras on why new tools that change #accents in real time are harmful and problematic - they erase diversity - and make us less able to appreciate and listen to that diversity.
I am super excited about this mini-conference on #reproducibility in #linguistics that I am organising this evening: Four of my M.A. students will be reporting on their attempts to reproduce the results of four published quantitative linguistics papers for which the data is available, but not the code!
Colleagues, they have a lot of things to report! So, if you're in the area (Cologne), do come along! There will be #ReproducibiliTea and Christmas biscuits! 🍵 🍪 #OpenScience
Do you use a serial (Oxford) comma?
A serial comma (or Oxford comma) is an optional comma used before the last item in a list. For example, "bread, butter, and tax evasion" uses a serial comma, whereas "bread, butter and tax evasion" does not....
Linguists have identified a new English dialect that's emerging in South Florida (phys.org)
"We got down from the car and went inside."
Bilingual synesthesia?
For any here who are both multilingual and also experience synesthesia/ideasthesia -- concepts such as numbers, days of the week, educational subjects, music, etc. being felt or experienced to have a specific color, taste, smell or whatnot -- is the color, etc. of that thing different depending on which language you're thinking...
What's something interesting about your conlang?
Pretty much what the title says. What's a feature in your conlang that you find especially cool?