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usagibryan
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14 Jul 2020, 10:26 am

Not sure if this is the right subforum, linguistics is really more of a social science than a hard science, unless it's about how language works in the brain, but it's not humanities either.

For a long time I wanted to be a linguist and study linguistics as a major, although I couldn't tell you how I would make money doing it. I've read books and watched lectures by John McWhorter and Steven Pinker, the more I learned the more I got annoyed by prescriptivism, the idea that some accents or ways of speaking are more "correct" or proper than others, even if that's how people naturally speak. For example African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a real dialect with it's own internally consistent grammar, it's possible to speak it wrong. This would get me dismissed as an SJW and it made me wonder if there are other prejudiced misconceptions people have can be debunked by other fields of study but will be dismissed as political correctness by laypeople.

I know an inordinate amount of Japanese yet I'm not fluent, sadly, I haven't had many opportunities to practice speech, and it's a hard language to begin with, but I've gone through hundreds of flashcards and got to the point where I was almost able to read Yotsuba&! without a dictionary and I passed level N5 of the JLPT. Whenever I tell people about this they are surprised, they ask if I've been to Japan or have a Japanese girlfriend or something, neither of which is true, I currently have no practical use for this beyond being able to read signs and manga. There was a time I considered travelling to Japan to teach English or something but at this point this is just a useless hobby that I've dumped countless hours into, I feel like I should be devoting my time to something more useful, like learning to code or maybe a more useful language like Spanish (I'm Hispanic yet don't speak Spanish) but nothing is quite as fun as learning new Kanji and making flashcards. If anyone wants to learn Japanese with me I'd love a study partner.



Fnord
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14 Jul 2020, 10:34 am

usagibryan wrote:
Not sure if this is the right subforum, linguistics is really more of a social science than a hard science, unless it's about how language works in the brain, but it's not humanities either...
Actually, L&L is classified as a Humanities course at most universities, even though linguistics (e.g., the scientific study of language), when taken by itself, is a science.

I would rather have a STEM degree than a HASS degree, anyway.



usagibryan
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14 Jul 2020, 10:40 am

Fnord wrote:
Actually, L&L is classified as a Humanities course at most universities, even though linguistics (e.g., the scientific study of language), when taken by itself, is a science.

I would rather have a STEM degree than a HASS degree, anyway.


Well I'm not going to argue with universities. I was under the impression the humanities were pursuits like art, literature and music, but it looks like anthropology, archaeology and philosophy are humanities and I consider those to be scientific. Anything that pursues knowledge and has a process to do that IMO is a science.

I would rather have a STEM degree too, they are more respected I think and have clearer career opportunities.



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14 Jul 2020, 10:47 am

usagibryan wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Actually, L&L is classified as a Humanities course at most universities, even though linguistics (e.g., the scientific study of language), when taken by itself, is a science.  I would rather have a STEM degree than a HASS degree, anyway.
Well I'm not going to argue with universities. I was under the impression the humanities were pursuits like art, literature and music, but it looks like anthropology, archaeology and philosophy are humanities and I consider those to be scientific.  Anything that pursues knowledge and has a process to do that IMO is a science.  I would rather have a STEM degree too, they are more respected I think and have clearer career opportunities.
Here is a list of how HASS and STEM related to themselves and each other.

HASS: Humanities, Arts, Social-Sciences (i.e., Psychology, Sociology, et cetera)
STEM: (Physical) Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

HASS: Derives doctrine by inspiration from subjective revelation
STEM: Derives truth by induction from objective observation

HASS: Dominated by subjective opinions
STEM: Dominated by objective conclusions

HASS: Embraces the concepts of religion and spirituality
STEM: Rejects or is indifferent to the concepts of religion and spirituality

HASS: From revelation flows the study of the soul
STEM: From observation flows the study of the universe

HASS: The study of social history, interaction, and expression
STEM: The study of physical phenomena and their operating principles

HASS: Investigates obscure concepts in the pursuit of ethical futures
STEM: Investigates physical principles in the pursuit of greater knowledge

HASS: Less collaborative, more individualistic
STEM: More collaborative, less individualistic

HASS: Less reliance on mathematical models
STEM: More reliance on mathematical models

HASS: Produces art, law, philosophy, and social programs
STEM: Produces technological innovations and new products

HASS: Receives less government research funding (~5%)
STEM: Receives more government research funding (~95%)

HASS: Reliance on faith
STEM: Reliance on knowledge

HASS: Sees human consciousness as the ultimate container, with the universe existing inside it
STEM: Sees the physical universe as the ultimate reality, with consciousness existing inside it

HASS: Sees STEM as lacking humanity
STEM: Sees HASS as lacking discipline

HASS: Taught as discrete subjects
STEM: Taught as inter-dependent subjects

HASS: Workers enjoy greater social interaction
STEM: Workers enjoy greater pay and benefits



usagibryan
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14 Jul 2020, 10:49 am

Where did you find this list?



Fnord
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14 Jul 2020, 10:52 am

usagibryan wrote:
Where did you find this list?
"Find"?  Various parts in various places -- philosophy websites, university websites, science websites, teachers' websites, et cetera.



naturalplastic
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14 Jul 2020, 1:54 pm

No. Linguistics is classified as a social science, under anthropology.



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14 Jul 2020, 2:06 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
No. Linguistics is classified as a social science, under anthropology.
Yes, in many universities, it is.  In some, it isn't.  Does it really matter?



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14 Jul 2020, 2:16 pm

Fnord wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
No. Linguistics is classified as a social science, under anthropology.
Yes, in many universities, it is.  In some, it isn't.  Does it really matter?


you're the one who seems to be making a deal out of it. But no, not to me. Its an interesting field of study regardless.



JustFoundHere
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14 Jul 2020, 4:01 pm

Languages & linguistics move into the technology realms with 'Natural Language Processing' (NLP) TECH.

Enclosed is a WP discussion thread (LINK) containing a reference on 'Natural Language Processing' - as well as covering the possibilities of applying NLP as adaptive tools of sorts to assist people with HFA. By the very nature, and purpose of such adaptive tools, TECH people with ASD might help develop,and promote such adaptive tools.

Anybody here on WP, active on the 'Computer Math, Science, and Technology' Forum aware of (or participating in) initiatives to develop TECH. products/services helpful for ASD?

LINK: viewtopic.php?t=388729



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14 Jul 2020, 7:37 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Fnord wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
No. Linguistics is classified as a social science, under anthropology.
Yes, in many universities, it is.  In some, it isn't.  Does it really matter?
You're the one who seems to be making a deal out of it. But no, not to me. Its an interesting field of study regardless.
Oh, sorry .. the deal I was trying to make was the differences between HASS and STEM courses.  The individual fields of study are usually easy to categorize, but some could fit both.  That comparison list I posted was intended as an aid to understanding.  Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding.



naturalplastic
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14 Jul 2020, 8:02 pm

usagibryan wrote:
Not sure if this is the right subforum, linguistics is really more of a social science than a hard science, unless it's about how language works in the brain, but it's not humanities either.

For a long time I wanted to be a linguist and study linguistics as a major, although I couldn't tell you how I would make money doing it. I've read books and watched lectures by John McWhorter and Steven Pinker, the more I learned the more I got annoyed by prescriptivism, the idea that some accents or ways of speaking are more "correct" or proper than others, even if that's how people naturally speak. For example African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a real dialect with it's own internally consistent grammar, it's possible to speak it wrong. This would get me dismissed as an SJW and it made me wonder if there are other prejudiced misconceptions people have can be debunked by other fields of study but will be dismissed as political correctness by laypeople.

I know an inordinate amount of Japanese yet I'm not fluent, sadly, I haven't had many opportunities to practice speech, and it's a hard language to begin with, but I've gone through hundreds of flashcards and got to the point where I was almost able to read Yotsuba&! without a dictionary and I passed level N5 of the JLPT. Whenever I tell people about this they are surprised, they ask if I've been to Japan or have a Japanese girlfriend or something, neither of which is true, I currently have no practical use for this beyond being able to read signs and manga. There was a time I considered travelling to Japan to teach English or something but at this point this is just a useless hobby that I've dumped countless hours into, I feel like I should be devoting my time to something more useful, like learning to code or maybe a more useful language like Spanish (I'm Hispanic yet don't speak Spanish) but nothing is quite as fun as learning new Kanji and making flashcards. If anyone wants to learn Japanese with me I'd love a study partner.


Maybe you can find a Japanese person on this site who can teach you. Though there arent many Japanese folks on this site that I haver ever seen. There is that app that they advertise in which you can study languages on your smart phone. Forget what its called.



usagibryan
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15 Jul 2020, 8:55 am

naturalplastic wrote:
Maybe you can find a Japanese person on this site who can teach you. Though there arent many Japanese folks on this site that I haver ever seen. There is that app that they advertise in which you can study languages on your smart phone. Forget what its called.


Duolingo? I finished Japanese and Spanish on that app, I'd probably need to pay for software to get past intermediate level. There is an app called HelloTalk I used to be addicted to where you could chat with native speakers.

There was a Japanese conversation group I attended in NYC that had native speakers, not sure if there's anything like that where I live now.

JustFoundHere wrote:
Languages & linguistics move into the technology realms with 'Natural Language Processing' (NLP) TECH.

Enclosed is a WP discussion thread (LINK) containing a reference on 'Natural Language Processing' - as well as covering the possibilities of applying NLP as adaptive tools of sorts to assist people with HFA. By the very nature, and purpose of such adaptive tools, TECH people with ASD might help develop,and promote such adaptive tools.

Anybody here on WP, active on the 'Computer Math, Science, and Technology' Forum aware of (or participating in) initiatives to develop TECH. products/services helpful for ASD?

LINK: viewtopic.php?t=388729



That is fascinating. I'm interested in computer science and trying to learn coding but not quite there yet, but computational linguistics is interesting. Anything to do with robots, AI and machine learning is fascinating .



prinanab
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06 Oct 2020, 11:30 pm

I taught myself Korean while living overseas there. I can also speak Spanish. :) :) :) :) :)