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Would you say writing vertically is easier on your hands? Or do you prefer horizontal writing?

I think horizontal, just because my hands are already used to writing like that, but neither really give me much problems tbh

#at least when its top>bottom and left>right #i think going bottom>top or right>left would be more of a challenge for me than horizontal vs vertical #asks

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the gesture for "yes" or "good" in my world is an outstretched thumb, although it mustn't necessarily point upwards, as the gesture for "no" or "bad" is an outstretched pinky finger that can also point in any direction. to express "average, mediocre, unsure" you hold out both those fingers and wiggle your hand.

#i should do more gestureposting im putting a lot of thought into them #but describing them in words is difficult. i should doodle them... #ramblings #gestures #worldbuilding #kena'ar

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Table with the partinioning of the TREE-WOOD-FOREST semantic domain.

Georgakopoulos, Thanasis & Stéphane Polis. 2018. The semantic map model: State of the art and future avenues for linguistic research. Language and Linguistics Compass 12(2). e12270. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12270.

#ref

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curious to hear how yall came up with a word for autism and other mental disabilities in your conlangs, if at all. not a huge fan of the etymology of "autism" but i'm finding it hard to come up with something good.

#of course theres the question if theyd even have/need a word for it at all #but i think i do want my world to have a word for it #conlangs

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if you'd like, write in the tags which you picked and if you're a native english speaker!

#im just curious about something #if you know what im testing shhhhh #linguistics

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inspired by boop day, reblog this post if its ok for people to send you random asks and interact on your posts with no judgement. i want to talk to people.

#:3

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been reworking my tarot-inspired divination cards lately and i think i'll start drawing and posting about them soon once i figure out an illustration style i like...

#ive done a couple readings for myself and in-world readings for characters and they actually work really well #just need to refine them a little bit #in my first draft i think i lost a bit of sight on the whole concept that each set of 4 is a cycle and just started throwing in random stuf #but now im doing it better and keeping the bigger picture in mind and ah its just so cool. im rlly proud of this project #ramblings

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btw - some users [link] added some explanations for why this might actually be a mistake!

#i mean originally i posted it not even just because the sound change was unusual but because the (yes really) comment was so jarring #compared to the usual very like... academic tone of index diachronica lol #i love you so so so much official linguistics posts but oh lord my poor activity page #i am not used to this much attention hkjdsj

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3 components of worldbuilding:

1. The author’s kinks

2. The author’s power fantasy

3. The author’s political agenda

Plot and logic optional

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Writing Intellectually Disabled Characters

[large text: writing intellectually disabled characters]

Something that very rarely comes up in disability media representation are intellectually disabled characters. There is very little positive representation in media in general (and basically none in media meant specifically for adults or in YA). I hope this post can maybe help someone interested in writing disabled characters understand the topic better and create something nice. This is just a collection of thoughts of only one person with mild ID (me) and I don’t claim to speak for the whole community as its just my view. This post is meant to explain how some parts of ID work and make people aware of what ID is.

This post is absolutely not meant for self diagnosis (I promise you would realize before seeing a Tumblr post about it. it’s a major disorder that gets most people thrown into special education).

Before: What is (and isn’t) intellectual disability?

ID is a single, life-long neurodevelopment condition that affects IQ and causes problems with reasoning, problem‑solving, remembering and planning things, abstract thinking and learning. There is often delay or absence of development milestones like walking (and other kinds of movement), language and self care skills (eating, going to the bathroom, washing, getting dressed etc). Different people will struggle with different things to different degrees. I am, for example, still fully unable to do certain movements and had a lot of delay in self-care, but I had significantly less language-related delay than most of people with ID I know. Usually the more severe a person’s ID is the more delay they will have.

Intellectual disability is one single condition and it doesn’t make sense to call it “intellectual disabilities” (plural) or “an intellectual disability”. It would be like saying “they have a Down Syndrome” or “he has autisms”. The correct way would be “she has intellectual disability” or “ze is intellectually disabled”.

Around 1-3% of people in the world have intellectual disability and most have mild ID (as opposed to moderate, severe, or profound). It can exist on its own without any identifiable condition or it can be a part of syndrome. There is over a thousand (ranging from very common to extremely rare) conditions that can cause ID but the most common are Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Autism, Edwards Syndrome, DiGeorge Syndrome and microcephaly. Not every condition always causes ID and you can have one of the above conditions without having ID as long as it’s not necessary diagnostic criteria to be met. For example around 30% of autistic people have ID, meaning that the rest 70% doesn’t. It just means that it’s comorbid often enough to be counted as a major cause but still, autistic ≠ intellectually disabled most of the time.

A lot of things that cause intellectual disability also come with facial differences, epilepsy, mobility-related disabilities, sensory disabilities, and limb differences. A lot, but not all, intellectually disabled people go to special education schools.

Intellectual disability isn’t the same as brain damage. Brain damage can occur at any point of a person’s life while ID always starts in or before childhood.

“Can My Character Be [Blank]?”

[large text: “Can my character be [blank]?”]

The difficulty with writing characters with intellectual disability is that unlike some other things you can give your character, ID will very directly impacts how your character thinks and behaves - you can’t make the whole character and then just slap the ID label on them.

Intellectually disabled people are extremely diverse in terms of personality, ability, verbality, mobility… And you need to consider those things early because deciding that your character is nonverbal and unable to use AAC might be an issue if you’re already in the middle of writing a dialogue scene.

For broader context, a person with ID might be fully verbal - though they would still probably struggle with grammar, what some words mean, or with general understanding of spoken/written language to some degree. Or they could also be non-verbal. While some non-verbal ID people use AAC, it’s not something that works for everyone and some people rely on completely language-less communication only. There is also the middle ground of people who are able to speak, but only in short sentences, or in a way that’s not fully understandable to people who don’t know them. Some might speak in second or third person.

Depending on the severity of your character’s disability they will need help with different tasks. For example, I’m mildly affected and only need help with “complex” tasks like shopping or taxes or appointments, but someone who is profoundly affected will probably need 24/7 care. It’s not infantilization to have your character receive the help that they need. Disabled people who get help with bathing or eating aren’t “being treated like children”, they just have higher support needs than me or you. In the same vein, your character isn’t “mentally two years old” or “essentially a toddler”, they are a twenty-, or sixteen-, or fourty five-year old who has intellectual disability. Mental age isn’t real. Intellectually disabled people can drink, have sex, smoke, swear, and a bunch of other things. A thirty year old disabled person is an adult, not a child!

An important thing is that a person with ID has generally bad understanding of cause-and-effect and might not make connections between things that people without ID just instinctively understand. For example, someone could see that their coat is in a different place than they left it, but wouldn’t be able to deduce that then it means that someone else moved it or it wouldn’t even occur to them as a thing that was caused by something. I think every (or at least most) ID person struggles with this to some extent. The more severe someone’s disability is the less they will be able to connect usually (for example someone with profound ID might not be able to understand the connection between the light switch and the light turning off and on).

People with mild intellectual disability have the least severe problems in functioning and some are able to live independently, have a job, have kids, stuff like that.

What Tropes Should You Avoid?

[large text: what tropes should you avoid?]

The comic relief/punching bag;

The predator/stalker;

The “you could change this character into a sick dog and there wouldn’t be much difference”;

…and a lot more but these are the most prevalent in my experience.

Most ID characters are either grossly villainized (more often if they have also physical disabilities or facial differences) or extremely dehumanized or ridiculed, or all of the above. It’s rarely actually *mentioned* for a character to be intellectually disabled, but negative “representation” usually is very clear that this who they’re attempting to portray. The portrayal of a whole group of people as primarily either violent predators, pitiful tragedies or nothing more than a joke is damaging and you probably shouldn’t do that. It’s been done too many times already.

When those tropes aren’t used the ID character is still usually at the very most a side character to the main (usually abled) character. They don’t have hobbies, favorite foods, movies or music they like, love interests, friends or pets of their own and are very lucky if the author bothered to give them a last name. Of course it’s not a requirement to have all of these but when there is *no* characterization in majority of disabled characters, it shows. They also usually die in some tragic way, often sacrificing themselves for the main character or just disappear in some off-the-screen circumstances. Either way, they aren’t really characters, they’re more like cardboard cutouts of what a character should be - the audience has no way to care for them because the author has put no care into making the character interesting or likable at all. Usually their whole and only personality and character trait is that they have intellectual disability and it’s often based on what the author thinks ID is without actually doing any research.

What Terms to Use and Not Use

[large text: What Terms to Use and Not Use]

Words like: “intellectually disabled” or “with/have intellectual disability” are terms used by people with ID and generally OK to use from how much I know. I believe more people use the latter (person first language) for themselves but i know people who use both. I use the first more often but I don’t mind the second. Some people have strong preference with one over the other and that needs to be respected.

Terms like:

“cursed with intellectual disability”

“mentally [R-slur]”

“moron”

“idiot”

“feeble-minded”

“imbecile”

is considered at least derogatory by most people and I don’t recommend using it in your writing. The last 5 terms directly come from outdated medical terminology specifically regarding ID and aren’t just “rude”, they’re ableist and historically connected to eugenics. To me personally they’re highly offensive and I wouldn’t want to read something that referred to its character with ID with those terms.

(Note: there are, in real life, people with ID that refer to themselves with the above… but this is still just a writing guide. Unless you belong to the group i just mentioned I would advise against writing that, especially if this post is your entire research so far.)

Things I Want to See More of in Characters with Intellectual Disability

[large text: Things I Want to See More of in Characters with Intellectual Disability]

[format borrowed from WWC]

I want to see more characters with intellectual disability that…

aren’t only white boys.

are LGBT+.

are adults.

are allowed to be angry without being demonized, and sad without being infantilized.

are not described as “mentally X years old”.

are respected by others.

aren’t “secretly smart” or “emotionally smart”.

are able to live independently with some help.

aren’t able to live independently at all and aren’t mocked for that.

are in romantic relationships or have crushes (interabled… or not!).

are non-verbal or semi-verbal.

use mobility aids and/or AAC.

have hobbies they enjoy.

have caregivers.

have disabilities related to their ID.

have disabilities completely unrelated to their ID.

have friends and family who like and support them.

go on cool adventures.

are in different genres: fantasy, romComs, action, slice of life… all of them.

have their own storylines.

aren’t treated as disposable.

don’t die or disappear at the first possible opportunity.

…and I want to see stories that have multiple intellectually disabled characters.

I hope that this list will give someone inspiration to go and make their first OC with intellectual disability ! This is just a basic overview to motivate writers to do their own research rather than a “all-knowing post explaining everything regarding ID”. I definitely don’t know everything especially about the parts of ID that I just don’t experience (or not as much as others). This is only meant to be an introduction for people who don’t really know what ID is or where to even start.

Talk to people with intellectual disability (you can send ask here but there are also a lot of other people on Tumblr who have ID and I know at least some have previously answered asks as well if you want someone else’s opinion!), watch/read interviews with people who have ID (to start - link1, link2, both have captions) and try to rethink what you think about intellectual disability. Because it’s really not that rare like a lot of people seem to think. Please listen to us when we speak.

Good luck writing and thank you for reading :-) (smile emoji)

mod Sasza

#ref

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do you use any specific techniques to achieve native pronunciation/accent?

talk to native speakers as much as possible

listen to native speakers as much as possible

know linguistics so that my tongue is already loose and jiggly and not hung up on the phonological limits of my native language

I'd recommend learning to pronounce all the sounds in the IPA, even if you don't end up using the IPA, because it will just shatter the part of your brain that says "sounds must be pronounced like this because that's how we do it in English god damn it!". It's like ego death or whatever, once you can pronounce lateral fricatives you become one with the languages...

#SO true about the lateral fricatives

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fricative friday

#YAY

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thanks, that makes sense :D

got a quick question about naturalism... in my wolf proto language, some nouns are default singular (like nohe, meaning night) while others are plural/collective, and you must specify if you mean exactly one (like ɣavaq, meaning mountains or mountain range). since this language is going to heavily borrow from swiss german, would it be unnaturalistic to have some of these borrowings act as a singulative to the native collective nouns? so in the modern language we could have kafá (from *ɣavaq) meaning mountain range and parētsh (from s. german bärg) meaning just mountain.

#and no worries i understood what you meant :)

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got a quick question about naturalism... in my wolf proto language, some nouns are default singular (like nohe, meaning night) while others are plural/collective, and you must specify if you mean exactly one (like ɣavaq, meaning mountains or mountain range). since this language is going to heavily borrow from swiss german, would it be unnaturalistic to have some of these borrowings act as a singulative to the native collective nouns? so in the modern language we could have kafá (from *ɣavaq) meaning mountain range and parētsh (from s. german bärg) meaning just mountain.

#ramblings #wolf lang #conlang #progress is slow but i am getting there actually #havent thought about the actual grammar too much yet but ill get there........ #seems like its gonna be a more analytic language actually but we'll have to see

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how is there literally only one article in the whole wide world about cyclic tense. most of it is too complicated for me to understand but i got the gist of it, and i think i'm gonna implement it thusly in my werewolf lang: tense I refers to the immediate present until the end of the current month as well as the last month. and tense II refers to the current past month as well as the time before the last month.

#hope that makes sense? and i could make a pseudo remote future tense with an auxiliary like in english #the paper is Cyclic tense: Discontinuous temporal reference in Djambarrpuyŋu by josh phillips. btw #werewolf lang

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i hate hate hate hate hate hate hate when a monster is loved and that love turns them human I HATE IT I HATE IT SO MUCH. tell that thing that goes bump in the night that you love the way its fangs glimmer in the moonlight and the way its horrible gnarled claws are so gentle with you or GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

#oh this is exactly how i want that werewolf story to go

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on the subject you're werewolf conglang project.

What type of werewolf are making this language for?

Because language is partly shaped by the sound the people speaking the language can make.

An completely wolf looking werewolf is going sounds different from the wolfman or the 9ft tall beasts from van helsing.

yeaaahh, that is something i've tried to keep in mind, and the original version of this conlang had no labials and a full palatal, velar and uvular series for this reason. since canines have way longer muzzles i figured /c k q/ would be easier to distinguish. but idk how i could reasonably evolve that naturalistically, and they spend the vast majority of their time in their human forms anyways, where such a distinction would be much more difficult to make. i do want my version of werewolves to be genuinely monstrous and wolf-like, and idk if wolves are even physically capable of pronouncing human-like consonants because their tongues are so thin. precise information on canine phonology is hard to come by lol.

honestly, i think for now i'm not gonna worry about that too much. their brains regress into a much more primal, animalistic form when they transform, so maybe they wouldn't be capable of human-like communication in that state anyways, and resort to mostly body language. or they can somehow roughly approximate human words with wolf physiology in a way that i'm not too stressed about specifying in much detail.

also, i want lycanthropy to be some sort of autism metaphor. and language and communication are hard when youre autistic, you have to watch your tone and you get in trouble if you say the wrong words and people lie and don’t mean things the way they say and its all very confusing. i personally didnt have a speech delay but i dont like the physical sensation of speaking sometimes. like its uncomfortable and strenuous. you can feel the vibrations in your throat. but wagging your tail or pinning your ears back or baring your teeth is easy and unmistakable. so maybe it's fine if they can't really speak in their wolf forms tbh

#sorry if this is an unsatisfying and perhaps lazy answer #i did watch artifexians animal conlang video in preparation #but honestly? it just didnt seem fun to me #a big joy in conlanging for me is getting to actually speak it out loud so im just not interested in making a conlang i cant speak #i think tones and a rough approximation of consonants would be enough for them to communicate at least a little bit #like a growl for /x/ or something idk #ok edit to include the autism ramble in the main post actually #asks #werewolf lang