Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #dialect
Most recents (4)
I've been digging into the digitised holdings of the National Archives of Singapore to find posters of the Speak Mandarin Campaign which decimated "#dialect" use in favour of Mandarin. Launched in 1979, here is one of the earliest posters from the same year: (1/16) 
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is the society level expansion of a bilingual education policy that tried to unify a polyphonic Chinese-language soundscape. Dialect broadcasts were banned, for example. You get a sense of this polyphony from this 1957 census (Ding 2016): (2/16)
I wish I had a clearer image of this, but here is a poster from the Ministry of Culture (1981) detailing the Standard Mandarin names of common fish found in wet markets, coupled with English names and pinyin. (Anyone recognise the fish here?) (3/16)
Around 3000 BCE in eastern #Europe, a Proto-Balto-Slavic #language started to diverge from #ProtoIndoEuropean.
The #Slavic branch of the #IndoEuropean #languages began about 2,000 years later when Proto-Slavic deviated from Proto-Balto-Slavic.
[Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balt…]
The #Slavic branch of the #IndoEuropean #languages began about 2,000 years later when Proto-Slavic deviated from Proto-Balto-Slavic.
[Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balt…]
As the #Slavic-speaking area expanded during the first millennium CE (striped area on map), Proto-Slavic transitioned to Common Slavic. The #language underwent minor changes that occurred mostly uniformly across eastern #Europe, thereby maintaining mutual intelligibility.
Around the year 1000 CE #CommonSlavic began to split into the South, West, and East branches to which all modern #Slavic #languages belong.
Roughly 315m people speak a Slavic #language, mostly in Eastern #Europe (including the #Balkan peninsula), #CentralAsia, and #Siberia.
Roughly 315m people speak a Slavic #language, mostly in Eastern #Europe (including the #Balkan peninsula), #CentralAsia, and #Siberia.
In the early part of the first millennium CE, the #IndoEuropean language known as Proto-#Germanic diverged into an East branch (which included #Gothic) and a Northwest branch.
Northwest then split into West and North branches when Proto-#Norse developed in #Scandinavia.
Northwest then split into West and North branches when Proto-#Norse developed in #Scandinavia.
Until the 8th century, #Germanic #languages, including Proto-#Norse, were written in Elder Futhark, the earliest #runic #alphabet.
The name #Futhark comes from the initial phonemes in the names of the first six #runes:
ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ
F U Þ A R K
The name #Futhark comes from the initial phonemes in the names of the first six #runes:
ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ
F U Þ A R K
By the beginning of the #Viking Age around 800 CE, Proto-#Norse had evolved into Old Norse, and #Scandinavia's writing system transitioned from the 24 #runes of Elder #Futhark to Younger Futhark's 16 runes.
The #Swedish #Sparlösa #Runestone from ~800 CE features both #alphabets.
The #Swedish #Sparlösa #Runestone from ~800 CE features both #alphabets.
Thank you to those who are sharing their experiences with #LinguisticDiscrimination. Changing official status & societal views is difficult, but you can:
🐋 Not judge/mock a dialect
🐋 Not correct informal or unofficial varieties
🐋 Proudly use your dialect, esp if in power
🐋 Not judge/mock a dialect
🐋 Not correct informal or unofficial varieties
🐋 Proudly use your dialect, esp if in power
My own #dialect is a mixture of US working class south, west coast, and creaky voice. People are often surprised that I'm highly educated and an expert, especially on the phone. I'm not sorry and don't intend to change my speech.
For more sources on dialects, check out:
-dialectsarchive.com for English dialects
-@VocalFriesPod on ling disc
- dialectos.osu.edu for Spanish dialects
-languageandlife.org/documentaries/… for Black American Eng
See you tomorrow for more dialect chats with #codeswitching!
-dialectsarchive.com for English dialects
-@VocalFriesPod on ling disc
- dialectos.osu.edu for Spanish dialects
-languageandlife.org/documentaries/… for Black American Eng
See you tomorrow for more dialect chats with #codeswitching!
