linguist-breakaribecca

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Sometimes, you’re glued to your phone reading fanfics because you’re in the US and need to overstimulate your brain so it doesn’t have a spare second to slip back into despair.

And sometimes, while you’re doing so, you find a post that does apply to the (nominal at best) theme of your blog!

I am guilty of using these varying fonts in my posts here and elsewhere, and am extremely glad this author pointed out the issues the fonts cause and included a demonstration. If you haven’t highlighted the special fonts and asked your phone or tablet to “speak” them, please take a second to do that now.

Imagine you’re enjoying the fic you’re listening to, but the author used those non-standard fonts to make the most important or dramatic bits more visually interesting. But that means you don’t get the chance to know the vital information — your screen reader just skips to the next bit of standard text.

It’s always worth it to make your work more accessible if you find a way you can.

OPEN LETTER TO FANFICTION WRITERS ON ACCESSIBILITY; PLEASE READ.

first of all, thank you for spending your time, seldom acknowledged and definitely deserving of a compensation you are not receiving, to entertain us. i’m speaking on behalf of more than just blind readers, but everyone. you’re sick as hell.

i’ve summoned you to provide some information you may not already know. i know a lot of you like fonts. especially those who cross post their work on wattpad. i admire any and all acts of aestheticism to a degree, and can understand the desire to use them. (blind folk, sorry y’all. momma’s making a point.) 𝔰𝔱𝔲𝔣𝔣 𝔩𝔦𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰, it’s cute. 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 is a little cuter to me, if i had to choose. or maybe 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈?

now, sighted folk: if you’re on mobile, i implore you to participate in a little exercise for me. select this text and scroll through all the copy/paste/define/‘search the web’ options until you get to the speak portion. if you need to change a setting for your phone to do so, would you mind? i’d really appreciate it.

please make your phone read aloud part of my post, and be sure to include any bits with those super cute fonts. 𝕚’𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕪 𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕒, 𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖. 𝕚 𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕝𝕪, 𝕚 𝕕𝕠𝕟’𝕥 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕤𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕪𝕡𝕠𝕤 𝕚 𝕔𝕒𝕟’𝕥 𝕤𝕖𝕖.

whether you participated and discovered it for yourself or you thought this was a crock of shit you’d rather not sniff, i’ll tell you! screen readers cannot dictate words using those fonts. at least, on a majority of devices. not mine, or any of my mutuals elsewhere.

you do not have to change your behavior on my behalf, but please be aware that fonts limit access to your work.

blind readers do exist, i exist, and i am bound by the same feelings of dogged longing that make other sad horny bitches read angsty, smutty, father-wounded nonsense.

thanks for making it this far. i really hope my sincerity is being conveyed, reading makes me so happy and i’m not the only person on this app who relies on accessibility settings more often than not. do with this information what you will, and have the day you deserve!

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Trans-inclusive language in religious texts is SO IMPORTANT. There is nothing in some young people’s lives that can either validate or dehumanize them so quickly as how they see themselves represented in the words of their religion.

May all who need to see these words find them.

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Theres moreeee, this is so so good.. it makes me emotional realizing that these kids are on the path to being fluent cherokee speakers and will be able to keep the language going.

This family is a part of the little cherokee seeds program, creating new first language Cherokee speakers by paying mothers to just bring their babies and craft and cook and speak cherokee with cherokee elders all day. There are only 1500 first language Cherokee speakers, most of them over 65. They also take donations if you want to help keep them going and doing the extremely important work they do!!

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Я никак не могу на это повлиять - I have no control over that

Повлиять - to influence, to have an impact, to have a control over smth.

What's your attitude - do you feel stressed or relieved when you realize that you can't на это повлиять?

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Speak English poorly. Speak with an exaggerated accent or with the pronunciations easier for your native language. Add your language to it. Speak with direct or poor translations of your words into English. Don't conform. Sound obnoxious, sound stereotypical. Be free. Fuck the americanization of the world. Prioritize your native language. Prioritize languages other than English. Listen to them. Listen to your own language.

[linguist-breakaribecca]

probably i just said it but i want to say it again:

- don’t apologise if you don’t know english.

- yes, english is the most common language on the internet but you are not forced to know it perfectly.

- your own language is beautiful.

- non-english people make a huge effort to write in English everyday on this website.

- support non-english people and don’t make them feel bad if they do not know English. 

- actually support all the languages.

- spread more language diversity on Tumblr.

thank you. 

[linguist-breakaribecca]

That ol’ chart of mine makes the rounds online periodically and it drives me crazy because it’s frankly not very good. So, I finally got around to remaking it.

I doubt this will get anywhere near as popular, but I wanted to make it.

Good reference for animation, comics, and for visualizing phonetics!

[linguist-breakaribecca]

“Socrates said, ‘The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.’ He wasn't talking about grammar.

To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean.

Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls.

Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin, A Few Words to a Young Writer

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Secret Panel HERE 💀 tapas.io/episode/3016236

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Secret Panel HERE 🧠 tapas.io/episode/2728584

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Sometimes I feel the need to remind people that there is a pattern of conspicuous consumption to social media that pushes us to think things like, “if they aren’t posting about it, they don’t care about it.”

If you ever have that feeling pop up (and it will, because part of the stimulus-response of social media is that performance/audience aspect of demonstrating concern via posts and engagement), take a breath and remember:

• that blog or poster may have multiple outlets and the one you see as lacking is their self-care distraction account

• that blog or poster may be very active in IRL activist circles and doesn’t want their activity tracked back to their identity via social media

• that blog or poster may have a disability or disorder that makes it overwhelming to engage with these topics at the speed social media demands, and may prefer to engage with them one-on-one in a space no one else can see or comment on

• that blog or poster may be so deeply affected by the topic at hand that they need to process personal feelings about it without displaying those feelings on social media

• that blog or poster may be doing plenty of listening and learning and adapting their IRL behavior but fears the forced permanence of bad-faith screenshots and shares if they do make a mistake in their attempt to be active in a conversation that shouldn’t center them

• any number of other valid reasons that we need to be careful about conflating someone else’s morality or motivations with the way they interact with a highly limited, censored, imbalanced, ad-driven social medium

You’ve seen people who know all the right things to tweet about justice and accountability, then the mask slips and they end up being harmful jerks just exploiting the performance of social justice to get attention. You’ve seen the people who you know in your heart of hearts will unapologetically use at least one slur today, sharing memes about how everyone but them needs to change.

Have faith in the other side — people who are learning and growing and enacting that justice and accountability, just not in an easily shareable format. They’re out there.

[linguist-breakaribecca]

[linguist-breakaribecca]

It's my 14 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Milwaukee’s own Trixie Mattel can now put her linguistics citations on her CV.

"When I heard the TikTok the first time, I immediately recognized the phenomenon being discussed. It was a sound I had heard before and taken note of as different. Revealing this unexpected talent—it turns out not everyone, including many of my friends and one linguist whom I played the video for—to Mielke meant that I was now a valuable resource in the early stages of crispy R research. He asked me to send him any clips I could think of featuring natural crispy R speakers. I sent him an episode of the very good podcast TrueAnon, whose two hosts, Liz Franczak and Brace Belden, both demonstrate the crispy R to varying degrees."

[linguist-breakaribecca]

And now, Winter Hilda with her red long-johns:

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Autumnal Hilda!

[linguist-breakaribecca]

just a little tip from me to you:

Go Listen To The New Måneskin Album

if you want

heartwrenching sad songs

IDLES-esque songs

songs that you can’t not dance to

songs that you can’t understand if you don’t speak Italian but you still ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ

songs that require one brain cell

rhymes that shouldn’t work but do work oh so well

sound that is mixed so well that you can feel the bass drum and the bass at the same time

if none of these have sounded appealing may i suggest ‘because breakaribecca asked nicely’?