#grapheme phonem correspondence

[willowbilly]

Hi!

Do you have any recommendations for resources on Inuit names in the mid 19th century? I’m working on a post-canon The Terror fic and I want names for OCs.

Ii, sure thing! I don't know of any Inuit name databases in modern standardized orthography, specifically, but I have some resources!

Most important is to keep dialect, orthography, and the kinship system in mind. If your OCs are Ugřuliŋmiut, Qikiqtarmiut, Natchiliŋmiut, or any other speakers of what may possibly be termed a Nattilingmiutut (sub)dialect, I'd suggest hewing toward phonetically modern Natchiliŋmiutut in the way that I think the book ᐊᒡᓗ | Aglu | The Breathing Hole does for its Inuktut starting from Act One in 1535 onward, resulting in intervocalic [h] rather than [s] and so on, as this way one can more closely rely on available resources that reflect today's modern language. If one uses modern standardized orthography, then try to standardize all the names alike into the same qaliujaaqpait, for example by representing the voiced velar nasal [ŋ] phoneme with either /ŋ/ or /ng/ throughout all names; otherwise, keep period-typical spelling for all the names, and note that you may need to “de-update” names from modern standardized spelling so that they meet the same nonstandard standard. “Aglukkaq” is spelled in modern standardized orthography; “Aglooka” is in period-typical nonstandardized orthography. Modern standardized orthographies for Inuit languages are highly phonemic, meaning that the spelling systems' graphemes more consistently correlate to the languages' phonemes, and usage of modern standardized orthography in the historical setting could imply that the POV character is better able to discern how the language actually sounds. Kinship terms would be usual in place of speaking a relative's name, and people adopted into a community would be given kinship terms or, with a name, the kinship terms that correspond to their namesake. Inuit names are all functionally unisex!

Inuit naming is a brief article by Peter Irniq. He mentions the -nnuaq and -nnuałłuk postbases as the Natchiliŋmiutut ones preferred over other Canadian dialects' -kuluk.

Janet Tamalik McGrath's master's thesis Conversations with Nattilingmiut elders on conflict and change: Naalattiarahuarnira touches on the kinship system's traditional usage.

I highly recommend going through The Netsilik Eskimos: Social Life and Spiritual Culture by Knud Rasmussen, wherein his census record as many names as he could in his own orthography, influenced by his fluency in Kalaallisut. The name “Orpingalik” from his orthography may be modernized to “Uqpiŋalik;” “Qaqortingneq” to “Qakuqti’niq;” “Uvlúnuaq” to “Uplunnuaq;” “mane·lAq” to “Maniilaq;” “kiɳmiArtɔq” to “Kiŋmiaqtuq;” et cetera.

Modern Inuktut language surnames are all derived from traditional given names, so looking at prominent Inuit figures, and at who is portrayed and credited in media such as on IsumaTV, can yield great results! Though note that some names will be dialect-specific, and many surname spellings predate standardization. Thus, surnames such as Louie Kamookak's and Sammy Kogvik's would be standardized to “Qamukkaaq” and “Qurvik” respectively.

The Natchilingmiut Uqauhingit | Natchilingmiutut Dictionary is indispensable, both for with which to double-check one's spelling, and for the nouns therein that may make for suitable names! Common nouns like tuktu “caribou,” ujarak “rock,” and kuplu “thumb” are all solid choices. If one is feeling daring, one may even combine a verb root with the intransitive indicative mood singular verb ending +ř/tuq (+řuq after vowels, +tuq after consonants) to make a noun participle. Postbases like -nnuaq (noun-to-noun; “the small Noun”) and -’ř/-rřuaq (noun-to-noun; “the big Noun”) may additionally be incorporated so long as one is confident of one's grammatical synthesizing.

To that aim, the sites uqausiit.ca and tusaalanga.ca are really very wonderful, uqausiit being a dictionary, tuhaalaŋa having a glossary with more than a few audio entries, and both holding extremely useful grammar basics on several central Canadian Inuit language varieties that include Natchiliŋmiutut! Other great sites I recommend are inuktitutcomputing.ca (grammar and some Natchiliŋmiutut in the dictionary); inuinnaqtun.ca (closely related language Inuinnaqtun resources); and inupiaqonline.com (Alaskan Iñupiatun language dictionary)! The Inuktitut Magazine archive is available online for free as well!

Everyone should also read Aglu, because I hath saith. One should cry for Aŋu’řuaq, that good bear. (Natchiliŋmiutut translation included!)

Any mistakes herein are mine; if spotted, feel free to please correct! (A variant by the qakuqhi- in the dictionary may be Qakuqhi’niq…and perhaps Qakuqhinniq would furthermore be the better standardization as I am unsure as to whose precise subdialects assimilate the latter [t] in what I presume is the ∓tit- morpheme into /’/ versus /n/, and so on…) I do hope this is helpful!

[ivansergeyevichturgenev]

reliving when i got asked "tell us what you know about the sor and what support you would need in implementing our curriculum" question. 🥰 like ask any teacher that we're ecstatic. i talked a little bit about phonological (global awareness of sounds) vs phonemic awareness (smallest unit of sounds) (i forgot to mention the word phonics explicitly but i did talk about phoneme grapheme correspondence which like is phonics), talked about svr (the "not so simple" simple view of reading as decoding x lang comprehension = reading) and i made a connection between just because you can decode, doesn't necessarily mean you know what it means so you're not actually reading and i talked about russian like if you've ever learned another language, like i have, maybe you know the letters and letter sounds and could decode a word but if you don't have any background knowledge then it is pretty much useless so they work together. i also talked about how decades of research tells us reading is incredibly complex, our brains evolved for speech but not reading, and most students need explicit, systematic reading instruction in order to read. a small percentage don't but the vast majority do. another small percentage, students with reading difficulties/sdl like dyslexia, need lots and lots of practice and trials with this type of instruction but it's not bad for everyone, regardless of ability, to get it. i also talked about how one of the reasons we should care about literacy is it's a social justice issue. we know that incarcerated youth typically either can't read or are very behind in their reading ability. when we teach all children to read, we are providing one of the single greatest tools for independence in this world and creating a more equitable world. i also said i know what reading curriculum the division uses, though i have never used it myself, and know that the va literacy act requires divisions adopt an evidence based reading curriculum, feel confident in implementing it with fidelity due to my sor background and would work together with my grade level team with planning/pacing. i would utilize plc/data talks to discuss intervention/supports for students not responding as expected to the curriculum and would ask for regular professional development to make sure i am still using the best, evidence-based instructional practices

[natequarter]

one of the big reasons spelling reforms by those with no exposure to linguistics always fucking suck is that the people making them have no understanding of the priorities of a decent spelling system. and like, i'm not expecting everyone to be able to read ipa, but spelling systems don't need to have a one-to-one letter-to-sound ratio (or rather, a high grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence) to be perfect; spanish orthography is commonly upheld as a good example of a transparent, easy-to-learn orthography, yet it still includes the letter ⟨h⟩, once pronounced but now silent as in french. french is also, although a relatively opaque orthography, phonetically consistent; you may not know how to spell a word when you hear it, but you'll generally know how to pronounce a word when you read it. obviously spanish is easier in this respect, but clearly a spelling system can be functional without being good; and evidently, having one letter to represent each sound is not the herald of the best spelling system.

bringing this back to english - people often try to reform the spelling of words like this and think, which both use the digraph ⟨th⟩ to represent different sounds. yet there is no actual problem with using ⟨th⟩ to represent both the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ and the voiced dental fricative /ð/, not least because no average person knows what those words fucking mean. it's not a distinction which matters! it's not a distinction which has ever been made in english spelling, all the way back to when we were using honest-to-god runes! you don't need that letter! simply retaining ⟨th⟩ would be less disruptive and confusing for a populace already used to using it and who are likely to mix up two different letters, therefore making the distinction pointless. there are certainly scenarios where it is important to have different letters for different sounds. this is not one of them. sometimes, simplicity is best.

[kittycataphora]

My UnderGrad Dissertation!

Okay I’ve actually processed that I submitted it now so lets talk about it!

(yes i submitted it with the border leave me be)

Topic:

I have a background (and interest) in childcare and teaching, and since the pandemic have noticed certain behavioural changes in children returning into KS2, along with marked language and literacy difficulties. I wanted to compile a comprehensive list on all the different ways COVID19-related factors may have effected language and literacy development then side-eye the UK Department of Education for not taking proper action to help these kids improve before the attainment gaps get out of control. This topic was pretty personal to me which really motivated my research: these kids really need some help!

Some ways in which COVID19 has affected child language:

- Face Masks acting as low-pass frequency filters and obscuring articulators, therefore making building phoneme/grapheme correspondences very difficult

- Isolation meant no socialisation with other children; pragmatic talk and self expression abilities took a huge hit

- Reading comprehension absolutely plummeted outside of school by 66% !!

- Distance learning means children ‘tunnel in’ on their devices which makes their brain block out any stimuli occurring around them, such as speech

Findings:

tdlr: COVID19 has messed up attainment in KS2 literacy pretty badly, UK Government needs to pull their finger out and reform intervention methods in schools (using the suggestions I made ;) )

We already know the UK school system is a hot mess, but when it comes to intervention methods they fund nothing that will cover the novel language issues associated with the pandemic and 3 years on show no signs of doing anything of their own accord. These kids need to be put back on track quickly else they’ll suffer some serious language issues down the line. After evaluating the interventions on offer for their applicability to the “COVID cohort” (I love alliteration) I suggested some reforms/additions to certain schemes that will theoretically fill in the numerous gaps left by the current standard system.

Honestly writing this was traumatic but I’d do it again! Would love to hear what other people did their dissertations on!

[laurentrumbore]

January 23

Chapter 2 – Examining Student’s Literacy Development

& Chapter 6 – Learning to Spell

Big takeaway

Chapter 2- Language is developed early on and is represented through 3 distinct stages.

Chapter 6- There are 5 stages of spelling development that teachers dictate the instruction and assessment of spelling for their students. 

Nugget

Chapter 2- There are so many different ways of promoting early literacy development, and I found it interesting that many of the strategies include some extent of modeling. 

Chapter 6- I found the section on spelling instruction controversy very interesting. Parents may not like the push for spelling phonetically, when in reality, the continual spelling instruction and practice will lead students to eventually learn how to spell correctly.

Readerly Exploration–Read a wide variety of genres and formats of texts to grow in their knowledge and experiences as a reader. Get inspiration from the assigned course reading(s) to find and read another text from a different genre or format and connect the two in some way.

In reading through Chapter 2, I was automatically reminded of the chart we looked at in Literacy I last semester. For me, it’s easier to understand the concepts when I have some kind of visual representation, so I decided to look back at this for this readerly exploration. Although this is just the Emergent Literacy stage of literacy development, it was helpful for me to follow the steps to then understand the next two stages based on the lead up of the images in the chart. For example, one of the factors of the beginning stage of reading and writing is learning phonics skills. Based on the image, I’m able to picture this better because by the end of the emergent stage, children have reached the partial phonetic step where they begin to connect some phonemes to the corresponding grapheme and then actually write out the letter. By connecting this reading from the chapter to this information organizer, I was able to get a more full understanding of the development of students in regard to reading and writing. I was able to visualize the concepts. This also helped me to see how students begin to differentiate between reading and writing in a similar way that they differentiate writing and drawing early on. 

Evidence

Here is the image of the chart I looked back on while doing the readerly exploration.

[article1111]

Unlocking Language: The Power of the Phonics Song

In the realm of early childhood education, the Phonics Song stands as a beacon of linguistic enlightenment. With its catchy melody and repetitive structure, this educational anthem has become a cornerstone in teaching children the fundamentals of reading and language. Let's delve into the magic behind the Phonics Song and its profound impact on young minds.

Melodic Mastery

The essence of the Phonics Song lies in its melody. Composed with a simple tune and rhythmic beat, it effortlessly captures the attention of young learners. The repetitive nature of the song aids in reinforcing phonetic sounds and letter recognition, making it an invaluable tool for educators and parents alike.

Building Blocks of Literacy

At its core, the Phonics Song is designed to introduce children to the building blocks of literacy: phonemes and graphemes. By associating each letter of the alphabet with its corresponding sound, the song lays a solid foundation for reading and writing skills. As children sing along, they internalize these relationships, paving the way for fluent reading in the future.

Engaging Learning Experience

One of the greatest strengths of the Phonics Song lies in its ability to transform learning into a fun and engaging experience. Through the combination of music and movement, children actively participate in the learning process, fostering a sense of excitement and curiosity about language. This multisensory approach not only enhances retention but also cultivates a positive attitude towards learning.

Cognitive Development

Beyond its immediate educational benefits, the Phonics Song plays a crucial role in cognitive development. Research has shown that music stimulates various areas of the brain, including those responsible for language processing and memory retention. By integrating music into early literacy instruction, the Phonics Song promotes holistic cognitive growth, laying the groundwork for academic success.

Inclusive Learning Tool

The beauty of the Phonics Song lies in its accessibility. Regardless of background or learning style, children of all abilities can benefit from its simplicity and repetition. For children with learning disabilities or language barriers, the song provides a supportive framework for acquiring essential literacy skills in a non-intimidating manner. Inclusive and equitable education begins with tools like the Phonics Song, which level the playing field for all learners.

Empowering Parents

In addition to its role in formal education settings, the Phonics Song empowers parents to become active participants in their child's learning journey. Through regular singing and reinforcement at home, parents can supplement classroom instruction and strengthen their child's grasp of phonics concepts. By incorporating the Phonics Song into daily routines, families can create a supportive learning environment that fosters language development and literacy skills.

A Legacy of Learning

As we reflect on the enduring legacy of the Phonics Song, it becomes evident that its impact extends far beyond the confines of a classroom. From its humble beginnings as a simple educational tool to its status as a cultural phenomenon, the Phonics Song continues to shape the way we approach early literacy instruction. Its timeless melody serves as a testament to the power of music in education, reminding us that learning is not just about acquiring knowledge but also about nurturing a lifelong love of language.

In the symphony of early childhood education, the Phonics Song stands as a harmonious ode to the magic of language. With its irresistible melody and transformative potential, it continues to inspire generations of young learners on their journey towards literacy and beyond.

[online-learning-e-tuitions]

Fun and Engaging Phonics Activities

Phonics is a method of teaching reading that focuses on the relationship between letters and sounds. Phonics helps children learn to decode words by breaking them down into their smallest units of sound, called phonemes, and matching them with the corresponding letters or letter combinations, called graphemes.

Phonics can be fun and engaging for children if they are taught with creative and interactive activities that appeal to their senses, interests, and learning styles. Here are some examples of phonics activities that you can try with your children at home or in the classroom:

Sound Bingo: This is a game that helps children practice identifying and matching sounds with letters. You will need a set of bingo cards with different letters or letter combinations on them, and a set of cards or tokens with pictures of words that start or end with those letters or letter combinations. You can also use an online tool to generate the bingo cards and the tokens. To play the game, you will call out a word from the tokens, such as “cat”, and the children will have to find the letter or letter combination that makes the sound /k/ on their bingo cards, such as “c” or “k”. The first child to complete a row, column, or diagonal on their bingo card wins the game.

Phonics Hopscotch: This is a game that helps children practice blending sounds to read words. You will need a chalk or tape to draw a hopscotch grid on the floor, and some cards with words that are made up of two or three phonemes, such as “dog”, “sun”, or “fish”. You can also use an online tool to generate the words. To play the game, you will place a card with a word on each square of the hopscotch grid. The children will have to hop on each square and say the sounds and then the word as they land on it. For example, if they land on “dog”, they will say /d/, /o/, /g/, “dog”. You can make the game more challenging by using words with more phonemes or silent letters, such as “star”, “jump”, or “knight”.

Phonics Treasure Hunt: This is a game that helps children practice segmenting sounds to spell words. You will need some small objects that represent words that are made up of two or three phonemes, such as a toy car, a hat, or a ring. You will also need some paper cups or boxes to hide the objects in, and some stickers or labels to write the letters or letter combinations that make up the sounds in the words. You can also use an online tool to generate the stickers or labels. To play the game, you will hide the objects in different locations around the room, and stick the labels on the cups or boxes that contain them. The children will have to find the objects and say the word and then the sounds as they open the cups or boxes. For example, if they find a toy car, they will say “car”, /k/, /a/, /r/. You can make the game more challenging by using objects that represent words with more phonemes or silent letters, such as a star, a comb, or a knife.

e-Tuitions offers the best online phonics classes for kids. Learn from experts and experienced teachers who use fun and interactive methods to teach phonics. Choose from different phonics teaching methods to suit your child’s needs and preferences. Book free demo class today and join e-Tuitions to help your child fly with phonics!

[hmantegazzi]

We partially implemented an analogous reform here in Chile, but with enough success that it was kept in use for 83 years, from 1844 to 1927.

Here, an example in the very text they used to propose the reform:

In short, what they did was to make a more strict correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, like switching the 'y' for 'i' when it sounds like a vowel, or using only 'j' for the hard sound (the one that doesn't exist in English) and 'g' for the soft one.

Given its long tenure, this reform resulted in lots of documents, and even buildings, that got written that way:

The idea was so popular, and their proponents so well connected among the new elites of the young Latin American countries that some of it was adopted, albeit more briefly, by Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela. If it had endured, it would probably have marked the moment in which the language of the Hispanic America swerved away from the one used in Europe.

Strange fact: In 1972 Australia's Ministry of Health was renamed the Ministry of Helth in a wider attempt by the government to reform English spelling to be simpler.

It did not take, and was dropped 3 years later.

[drlinguo]

Source

[clarenecessities]

hey does anybody know what you call it when letters with similar sounds look similar to each other? google has failed me for the last time

[qu33rr1t4bl3]

im looking at english phonology again and once again... what even the fuck.  what do you mean post vocalic /t/ makes /u:/ sound longer than post vocalic /d/. what the fuck does that mean. im going to kill this language.

[hedgehog-moss]

So if the same book is 20-30% longer in French than in English, because French uses longer words and more words per phrase, does that mean that a French reader can read a page faster than an English reader? Since I figure it takes almost the same time to read a familiar long word as a familiar short one, and the concepts would be less densely packed on the page

That's a good question! In terms of quantity of information per square inch of text, English is definitely more densely-packed than French (which can be tiring, if you’re used to a slow-paced language where 4 syllables yield 1 unit of information, vs 1 unit / 1 syllable in the English translation.) But I remember reading a study once that showed that the most relevant factor in reading speed wasn't information density but orthography.

It's been a while since I read it but it basically said that average reading speed was faster for more "transparent" languages like German and Spanish (which have a higher grapheme-phoneme correlation, i.e. where things are more frequently pronounced the way they're written) than for more "opaque" languages like English and French—with English being more opaque than French.

It makes sense to me because the vast majority of people subvocalise when they read, so they're making written characters correspond to sounds in their minds, and the process will be faster when the written characters actually do correspond to sounds in an intuitive way. There's really no intuitive reason why "oiseaux" should be pronounced "wazo" or why "marchez" and "marché" should be pronounced the same in French (or why so many letters are silent!) Even if you’re very familiar with the word, I suppose your brain needs a tiny bit more time to process “oiseaux” as the sound “wazo”, than it would if you would just spell it wazo.

On the other hand, French does have pretty consistent rules, so if you ask "what's up with oiseaux?" you'll learn that "oi" is always pronounced "wa," an "s" between two vowels is always pronounced "z", the combination "e-a-u" is always pronounced "o" and is always followed by a silent “x” in the plural form, and that's that. Meanwhile the "ea" in beard and bread are pronounced differently even though they are both placed between two consonants in 1-syllable words with identical letters. And if you were to guess that "marchez" is pronounced like "marché" because "ez" at the end of a verb is always pronounced "é", you would be right (and would be able to apply this reasoning to every verb from then on), whereas if you were to guess that the "i" in "bird" is pronounced like that because it's the first vowel and second letter of a 1-syllable, 3-consonant, 4-letter word, you would be wrong (see: "fish") and instead of using the same reasoning that’s valid for every word with similar letters, you’ll need a different reasoning per word, almost—and you’ll be slowed down by unfamiliar words.

(I think French is more difficult in the oral -> written direction, and English more difficult in the written -> oral direction. So an English speaker who hears an unfamiliar English word will have better odds of guessing the right spelling than a French speaker who hears a French word for the first time—and who has silent letters lying in wait around every corner—but a French speaker who sees an unfamiliar French word in writing will have better odds of guessing the correct pronunciation than an English speaker in the same situation—since in French you’re more able to rely on other words you know with the same letter combinations. Which makes French easier to read, and English easier to spell.)

So yeah as far as I remember it, the study showed that since reading means that our brain needs to translate written code into sound (to some extent, even if you skip words / skim the text), the opaqueness / transparency of this written code plays an important role in reading speed, with German and Spanish having comparable and faster reading speeds, and English and French having comparable and slower ones, and English being the least intuitive to read out of the four.

[zaftikat]

On Aurebesh and cursive

I'm migrating a Twitter thread to Tumblr because twitter threads are hellish.

As a brief intro, I created a handwritten version of the Aurebesh for use on ChicksWithDice, because the current planet they're on uses paper books and pens. This post is going to be about orthography, and how to construct logical graphemes based on an extant ConAlphabet. So buckle up for a wild ride through proto-Canaanite scripts (namely Phoenician), modern Hebrew cursive, and the development of a cursive system.

Like most grapheme-based writing systems (as opposed to logograms and syllabaries) Aurebesh has a pretty direct connection to the Proto-Canaanite script system (and the alphabets derived thereof like Phoenecian and proto-Hebrew).

Let's take a look at a grapheme that exemplifies the connection. We don't need to go far to find our first culprit: A, א, and 𐤀. In Aurebesh, the character Aurek.

There's a pretty direct connection to be made from Phoenician directly to all 3 other characters. So in developing a handwritten system, I looked to the handwritten version of modern cursive Hebrew for inspiration (since I'm currently learning Yiddish for fun).

What stood out to me was how well cursive א translates into a cursive version of Aurek. It also worked for Besh/ב/B, Dorn/ד/D, Leth/ל/L and Resh/ר/R. I used the graphemes from ע, ס, and כ in other places as were appropriate, but they don't exactly correspond 1 for 1.

That leaves a hell of a lot of characters to fill in. So, I started thinking about how symbols would evolve as they were written over centuries, and people got lazy with their writing. The first thing I looked at was stroke count. When you need to write quickly you're looking at limiting the number of times you need to make distinct motions. Printed Aurebesh characters have a tiresome number of distinct movements. Aurek is a 6 stroke character. Besh is 7.

If we could take Aurek from 6 to 2 using cursive Hebrew as a guide and Besh from 7 to 3, the rest of the alphabet should follow similar conventions. Cresh could literally just be 1 stroke instead of 3 distinct lines. Esk could be written as 2 strokes instead of 4.

This ended up working for a large portion of the graphemes, which made life super easy. The hard part comes in dealing with graphically similar characters like Cherek and Krill, or Osk, Wesk, and Xesh. In their printed form, it's pretty clear each of these characters is distinct, but in a system where speed is emphasized, especially as we look to limit strokes, they tend to bleed together.

As an example, Cherek and Krill could both reasonably be represented by the cursive כ (see above). Cherek would also be a 1 for 1 phonemic correspondence to cursive Hebrew in that case, but graphically, Krill makes for a better analog. Krill would use the cursive כ and an alternative grapheme needed to be developed for Cherek. In that process, I looked at other alphabets and syllabaries that I had studied previously. Hiragana in particular stood out since the kana つ (tsu) has a similar vibe. Eventually, those inspirations evolved into what you'll see at the end of this post. My instinct for Osk was straight up just an O or something akin to cursive ס, which is honestly just what I went for. Then I got to Wesk and went, "oh kriff". I took a look at my handy cursive Hebrew chart that I have hanging above my desk for reference, and tried to come up with something. I came up with a version of cursive פ but in all honesty, I'm not happy with it especially when I could have opted for cursive ם, which is literally right there. I think Wesk and Yirt are my weakest graphemes, and I am liable to redo them as I work on this project more. With all that said in this long post, I probably owe you the actual Aurebesh. It's laid out as Roman, Printed Aurebesh, Handwritten Aurebesh. This is all subject to change, but I'm still pretty proud of the work I put into this! Thanks for reading this far!

If you'd like to support this kind of bullshit, and my Actual Play series visit the Soses Media Patreon

[ivansergeyevichturgenev]

oh and another thing. we cannot just read to children and hope they are able to figure it out!! it just doesn't work!!! it is important to read to children but you still have to teach them phonemes, that phonemes and graphemes have a 1:1 correspondence, etc. in order for them to be able to read

[laulo821]

thats what language is to me i feel like. a set of guidelines for communication, which can and will be bent or evolved when needed, but maintain a core structure so that it can be widely understood.

so true bestie. that's exactly what the core of a language is. that's why it is so permissive with its rules while being very strict in what can and cannot be messed with. people need a common frame to be able to communicate.

id just like to argue against you regarding spelling being low in the hierarchy of rules. because, i mean, as a native english speaker, you surely don't have trouble to understand or figure out mispellings. but as a non-native speaker, spelling is of the utmost importance. moreso in a language (english) in which the phonemes are all over the place and could correspond to virtually any grapheme (if you're sicko enough), making it impossible for a non-native to guess it even by saying the mispelled word outloud; even at a "basic" level of mispelling (or even not mispelling but yknow internet slang like "4" for "for"). it widely depends on how the mispelling is performed but i agree that it does add in meaning if done correctly.

honestly i can't see how word order could NOT be a top priority rule lmao. in english and french, we don't have declensions so the only way to know the grammatical class of the words is thanks to their order. that's, to me, not so much of a guideline to follow but a core mechanic of our languages, the common frame you can't do without, else communication is broken.

i see whatcha mean with the virulent posts (they do be awful). i think it's very interesting because maybe the intent is not to have people who agree with it, agree with it but make people who disagree with it, mad. or maybe the intent is to be agreed with, but the intent is disregarded based on how it is perceived and received. you put a lot of emphasis about intent but conversations are a two or more people's job so how your text is received is as important as the intent.

i dont know what ap lang is but after a quick research on the wide web, yea. we don't have that in my college cursus (it's more a philosophy / literature cursus topic than a linguistics cursus topic ? in our culture) but we do such activities throughout our middle and highschool years in French class. it's kinda the whole deal of the French section of the baccalauréat, i'd dare say, hehe. but in college i did study something kinda similar (much less rhetoric but how language works in situ), which is conversation analysis (CA) and the pragmatic branch of linguistics. maybe that could interest you :D

to clarify my opinion on "proper" english, idfc how people write in their personal lives/to friends or family/etc, but in professional/published works- or anything that is meant to be understood by a wider audience i think the clarity provided by adhering to certain grammatical rules and structure is veeerrry important eheheh. for the sake of ease of communication!

i try to be pretty careful about my word choice and order allll the time for that reason, even if i drop a lot of proper spelling/capitalization/punctuation for casual dialogue.

nonetheless, i think when people act intentionally obtuse just to shame people for speaking casually/colloquially/with slang/whatever thats stupid and evil etc. hate when people do that. i might not understand a lot of it, but it has the right to exist yk! it is just as worthy of respect ^_^

anyways i think this topic is very interesting as well its something i enjoy talking about :33

once again i dare ask, where does the professional/private begins and stops? thats a big debate we had in termonology class (terminology , the science of terms aka specialised & professional words). some terminologists argue that terms are only employed in the field by top-notch experts to top-notch experts and nothing else qualifies as a term. other terminologists argue that funk that: "spoonful" is a term because it belongs to the professional sector of cooking, disregarding how common/unspecialised it may be (they dont actually disregard it but yknow). also some guy who goes fishing as a hobby every week and starts talking about the components of his rod to his friends: not an expert (meaning doesn't work as a fisherman)! but using specialised words! should they count as terms or common words? should that be considered professional discussion cuz the terms or private discussion cuz he's talking to a friend? anyways it's just to say that the gap between professional and private discussions may not be so clear

on a same note, what is a wider audience? we're on the internet literally everyone could read that post, making it, by its nature, designed for a wide audience. should every tumblr post thus should have proper english? likewise, works that were only notes and scribbles, like Les Pensées by Pascal that were published post-mortem... it was not meant for a wider audience in that state and is not always using proper French. due to this, are thus Les Pensées not a piece of literature anymore? (kinda teasing w this paragraph hehe but you see the issue i'm poking)

like you said the most important task of a language is not to be proper. it is to be spoken but also to be effective. to enable communication. we could also go all in and dare say, funk the rules as long as a message or piece or literature is understandable, it is proper english!! arguably, every broken rule of proper english creates a new variation of english that could be its own proper variation english (like UK english, US english, NZ english, etc, coexist together as proper englishes)

also youre soso true about the shaming stuff. dawg that pisses me OFF. that's why fuck the Académie Française i wish i could dismember that bullshit of an institution. they are the ones "making the rules" of French but NONE OF THOSE FUCKERS ARE LINGUISTS AND ALSO ARE ALL 109 YEARS OLD HOW CAN THEY im cool im cool [insert the hades calming down gif]. anyways. language belongs to the people so whatever they do with it it's fine as long as they have fun and are themselves <3

on a final note i'm heavily arguing against you here but i think you're overall right nonetheless :p rigor may not always be needed in a language but languages need a strong basis and grammatical rules to exist and actually make the communication efficient!! i perfectly see your points and they are very legit

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Bengali (বাংলা)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 230 million

Official language: Bangladesh; Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura, West Bengal (India)

Also spoken: Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States

Script: Bengali-Assamese, 46 letters

Grammatical cases: 4

Linguistic typology: fusional, SOV

Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern Zone, Bengali-Assamese

Number of dialects: 5

History

11th century - first written evidence

1778 - current printed form of the Bengali script

1952 - five student activists are killed during protests against imposing Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan; February 21 becomes UNESCO's International Mother Language Day

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the script: অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ ঋ এ ঐ ও ঔ ক খ গ ঘ ঙ চ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন প ফ ব ভ ম য র ল শ ষ স হ ড় ঢ় য়.

Four additional diacritics are used for different purposes, such as vowel nasalization or consonant doubling.

Although there is generally a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, in some cases several letters are used for the same sound.

Stress is predominantly initial.

Grammar

Nouns have two numbers (singular and plural) and seven cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, and locative). They are also either animate or inanimate.

Personal pronouns do not differentiate for gender. Adjectives do not inflect at all.

Verbs are marked for tense, mood, aspect, person, and honor (very familiar, familiar, and polite). They are mostly regular.

Dialects

There are five main dialect groups: West Central, Eastern, South, North, and Rajbanshi.

Bengali features a strong diglossia between the formal, written language (Shadhubhasha) and the vernacular, spoken language (Choltibhasha). Differences between them are mainly phonological and lexical.

Standard Colloquial Bengali is based on the Nadia dialect, which belongs to the West Central group.