Marisa Brook

Assistant Professor, Linguistics, University of Toronto. Web-designer, music-composer, postcard-writer, clothing-upcycler, tree-climber, etc. (she/her)

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@kathrynbck @jennycz @lisa_b_davidson I was introduced to it in a graduate seminar I sat in on in 2014 and now talk about it a lot to grad students myself. It's fascinating work and I echo the call for more research building on it! So many amazing implications!

[Physics Today @PhysicsToday]

Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated the trajectories for some of @NASA's most historic missions, turns 101 years old today https://t.co/W1pkerKbMc

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@ArchiGoodhead @teiscinn @sarahshulist @LaymansLinguist I think often the fear is that if we let go of prescriptivism, the language might totally fly off the rails. That's unfounded, fortunately. Languages change, but not *at all* willy-nilly, and not at the expense of verbal sophistication. Prescriptivism mainly just causes shame.

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@ArchiGoodhead @teiscinn @sarahshulist @LaymansLinguist No scientific evidence that prescriptivism is either helpful or necessary. It's based on a persistent illusion, backed up by social inequality, that standard language was somehow in its golden age 50-100 years before the present. Misconception often reinforced by schools.

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@caseyf w00t! High-fives all around!

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@erin_cikanek Each of my names qualifies as 'not uncommon, but could be spelled one of about four ways', so I figured I'd keep the opportunity for confusion to a minimum. When I was a kid, I did think I'd put my middle initial on things I wrote - but I was envisioning novels.

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@prof_squires Congratulations!

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

One of my favourite productivity tools is this enormous permanent marker with a chisel tip. It makes crossing things off my to-do lists so very satisfying.

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

A teacher of mine in 1997-98 had everyone run HotDog and make a couple of rudimentary websites. I fell in love with HTML and never stopped going back to it. Have since also learned CSS and played with a bunch of other things (Visual Basic, R, Python, etc.).

[Ali Spittel @ASpittel]

What was your reason for learning to code?

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

My day has been made by whichever @TTChelps employee(s) went into a broken-down bus with its hazard-lights on and set all of its destination panels to 'DISNEY WORLD'. Thanks for the excellent laugh!

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@talkpod I'm a linguist, and that means I have to go to the store and get some rest.

(THAT'S where to get it! Now I know.)

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@lesserjoke When @kradec did his TNG rewatch for Tor a few years ago, he said the same thing. https://t.co/qbebiwhXSX

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

Today we issue a travel warning calling for travelers & visitors to the United States to exercise extreme caution & have a contingency plan when travelling throughout the country. This is due to ongoin rampant gun violence in the United States.

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@Jadenbrdns Darn, this is FASCINATING and I'd never thought about it. Thanks for making sure it got onto my radar! :D

[Linguistic Society of America @LingSocAm]

We are delighted to announce that the LSA Executive Committee has approved revisions to the LSA's Ethics Statement, incorporating comments from LSA members and other interested parties. Follow the link to view the revised statement.
https://t.co/LT2YqpK9ds

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

@GretchenAMcC @BooksIncVanNess It is miiiiine! Or, rather, it's yooours, but also miiiiine!

[Marisa Brook @inthelemonlight]

I'm between addresses so couldn't preorder, but I told @GretchenAMcC last week that I would buying the first copy I spotted on a shelf and GUESS WHAT THIS IS. @BooksIncVanNess