Madison Spillett

She/her. 19. NSC Speech Language Pathology Major. :)

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

@JasmineWaite6 That's something that's super interesting to consider! The line between a dialect and a whole other language can be a blurry one, and I'm super curious as to how linguists determine that.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 This week went into the topic of how geography affects the evolution of a language. When peoples are separated, and are subsequently exposed to different situations, landscapes, animals, and cultures, this then causes their language to change. Fascinating stuff!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 I got the score of "50% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom" on my "Are you a Rebel or a Yankee" quiz. Apparently I'm not that southern!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 I found an interesting article discussing how many languages it would be possible for one child to learn. Here's the link!

https://t.co/Wk7rWRngmO

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

@PartidaXitlali I totally get that. "Language Acquisition" isn't a term I've heard before either, but it's pretty intuitive! Linguistics has a funny way of defining things you already know.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 Another thing we're learning this week is Language Acquisition. There are many theories around how one develops language, some of them more accurate than others.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 This week we were reading Myth 11, which talked about how how some languages are perceived as beautiful and others as ugly. Personally, I think people just like to find ways to justify and "prove" their prejudices, biases, and opinions.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

@cmbninja419 That's really cool! I think a paper on pragmatics and how that relates to neurodivergency is a really interesting thing to write on. I know that Autism and ADHD symptoms often overlap, so I think that both sources will be beneficial to you!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 The OED is often praised as being a descriptivist work. However, there are certainly some examples of prescritivism in the OED1, and even in subsequent versions. It seems like it's difficult to keep one's opinions entirely out, even when the goal is descriptivism.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 I read a super interesting article arguing for the importance of prescriptivism in applied linguistics! Sometimes, it's important for a linguist to give their educated opinion, other-times it's unnecessary! It just all depends on the time and the situation.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

@familiarnewt I totally agree! I'm not really sure how it would be possible to have a language without grammar. You *need* grammar in order for a language to be a language. I don't know how people came up with this myth.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 Semantics is the study of meaning of a language. I was very interested in learning the difference between that, and pragmatics, which is the study of meaning and intent in specific contexts. They are fairly similar, but the distinction is important.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 Myth 10 this week is about the myth that some languages have no grammar. I personally struggled to comprehend how some people thought this was even possible—the whole concept of language is using a set of the SAME rules to be able to communicate with another person

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 Another important part of my essay is descriptivism—an indifferent way to approach language, with the goal to record how it is actually used and written, NOT how it "should be". I love this way of viewing language, there's no wrong way to do it!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 One of the topics for my essay, prescriptivism, is the ideology in linguistics that there is a correct way and a wrong way to use language. Prescriptivist like to correct language and say how it ought to be—super interesting stuff!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 I am going to write my essay on Prescriptivism VS Descriptivism, the history and why it matters—I find the different ways linguists and the like define grammar to be super interesting! I hope I can do this topic justice.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

@Anemo_Blume I totally agree! I hadn't heard of this myth until I read it in class, but it just seemed blatantly false. I'm glad you were able to share your perspective as someone who lived in those mountains.

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 Today I learned a rather interesting fact, which is that "grammar" in linguistics is based off of what a native speaker thinks is correct, rather than the rules a grammar book or teacher might list. This innate understanding of language is super intriguing to me!

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

"There was too much blue" seems to be modifying "her office", but the intent was to modify "Sam's art piece". The correct sentence would be "The teacher was in her office while reviewing Sam's art piece, which had too much blue."

[Madison Spillett @mrspillett]

#eng211fall22 I learned about misplaced modifiers, where it is unclear what subject a clause is supposed to be modifying. For example "Reviewing Sam's art piece in her office, it was clear that there was too much blue." is is an incorrect sentence in regards to syntax.