Questions and Answers

Here are language related questions people have asked me. I may turn these questions and answers into essays later.

Are emojis "language"?

I would say, yes for people that consistently use them with particular meanings. Ad-hoc usage is not. What is really crucial here is how a person understands the term "language".

Should I study linguistics?

Learn these things:

• International Phonetic Alphabet—if you learn the meanings of the different things on the official chart (e.g. voiced vs unvoiced consonants, aspiration, etc.), you will have a good technical basis to learning how to pronounce any language reasonable well.
• Grammar—choose at least one European language and learn it well. Why a European language? Much of how we talk about grammar comes from teaching Latin and Greek. You should become familiar with things like (1) parts of speech, (2) formal (pertaining to the form of words) distinctions like gender, case, and number, and (3) how different languages describe events (e.g. through the use of tense and aspect.

A good introduction to linguistics course will take you through all of these things. However, mastery of these things will require time and attention on your part—these are things a class can't give.

Practice and use use at least one foreign language to understand the struggles that go into acquiring an unfamliar way of speaking.

After doing these things, you can then ask yourself again if you should go and study (more) linguistics.