[PLUG-TALK] Linguistics anyone?

Tomas Kuchta tomas.kuchta.lists at gmail.com
Tue May 26 20:28:17 UTC 2020


Great idea John,

I am really curious what kind of programs you could do well in said English
language!

-T

On Tue, May 26, 2020, 11:19 John Jason Jordan <johnxj at gmx.com> wrote:

> In 2005 I enrolled at PSU to study linguistics, ultimately taking every
> course the department offered. I did not do so with the intention of
> getting a job in the field; I did so merely because linguistics has
> fascinated me since I was a teenager, and in 2005 I was finally able to
> indulge my interest.
>
> In 2005 I also followed my interest in Linux, mostly because I needed a
> laptop for classes, and I was determined that it would run Linux.
> Toward that end I discovered PLUG, where I found advice and support.
> And being a guy who believes in fairness I have always attempted to
> give back. I don’t have the technical knowledge to help much, but I do
> what I can.
>
> Last December I started to write a lay person’s guide to linguistics,
> sort of a Linguistics 101, and I aimed it especially at Linux users. It
> came to 37 pages, most of which is pure linguistics, but there are
> places where I took the time to explain how to do things in Linux that
> are needed for linguistics, things that took me a long time to figure
> out - things like writing with characters from the International
> Phonetic alphabet, creating phrase structure trees, writing glosses –
> these and many more are all possible in Linux, but figuring out how
> took me a lot of effort, and I wanted to document the methodology.
>
> I also included some points that are more popular – things like why
> English spelling is so [expletive deleted], and easy ways for you to
> improve your own orthographic prowess. And because my audience is
> fluent in English, that is the language that I used mostly when I
> needed to give examples to clarify a topic.
>
> As I was writing it occurred to me that I should present the subject to
> an audience of Linux users. PLUG has talks and, although presently in
> hiatus, I could see myself giving a talk. However, the topic is so long
> that it would take a dozen talks to cover it. On top of that, everybody
> is interested in linguistics, but the topic is hopelessly off topic for
> PLUG. After much rumination I have the germ of an idea for how I might
> make a presentation.
>
> Lately there has been much discussion here of ways to make virtual
> presentations with tools like Zoom, among others. I haven’t yet actually
> tried to do this, but I can probably get something working. But my opus
> is still far too much to cover in one talk. Therefore, it occurred to
> me to post the document somewhere so that people can download it and
> read it for themselves. After allowing a decent period of time for
> people to finish reading it I can give one presentation which would be
> a type of question and answer talk. Whatever questions a reader has can
> be presented so I have time to explain and clarify, and others can
> benefit from the discussion as well. The time for the talk does not
> have to be the first Thursday, but it could be.
>
> I post this here to see if there is any interest, with full knowledge
> that there may be none at all. And if there is any interest, I would be
> grateful for suggestions – is my idea of a virtual question and answer
> talk worth pursuing, and if so, are there any further ideas for how to
> do it?
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