๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐
115 posts
Language is extremely complex, yet children already know most of the grammar of their native language(s) before they are 5 years old.
Babbling begins at about 6 months and is considered the earliest stage of language acquisition
By 1 year babbles are composed only of the phonemes used in the language(s) they hear
Deaf babies babble with their hands like hearing babies babble using sounds
After the age of one, children figure out that sounds are related to meanings and start to produce their first words
Usually children go through a holophrastic stage, where their one-word utterances may convey more meaning
Example: "Up" is used to indicate something in the sky or to mean โpick me upโ
Most common first words (among the first 10 words uttered in many languages): โmommy,โ โdaddy,โ โwoof woof,โ โno,โ โbye,โ โhi,โ โyes,โ โvroom,โ โballโ and โbananaโ
When learning words, children often overextend a wordโs meaning
Example: Using the word dog to refer to any furry, four-legged animal (overextensions tend to be based on shape, size, or texture, but never color)
They may also underextend a wordโs meaning
Example: Using the word dog to refer only to the family pet, as if dog were a proper noun
The Whole Object Principle: When a child learns a new word, (s)he is likely to interpret the word to refer to a whole object rather than one of its parts
At about two years of age, children start to put words together to form two-word utterances
The intonation contour extends over the two words as a unit, and the two-word utterances can convey a range of meanings:
Example: "mommy sock" = subject + object or possessive
NOTE: Chronological age is NOT a good measure of linguistic development due to individual differences, so instead linguists use the childโs mean length of utterance (MLU) to measure development
The telegraphic stage describes a phase when children tend to omit function morphemes such as articles, subject pronouns, auxiliaries, and verbal inflection
Examples: "He play little tune" or "Andrew want that"
Between 2;6 and 3;6 a language explosion occurs and children undergo rapid development
By the age of 3, most children consistently use function morphemes and can produce complex syntactic structures:
Examples: "He was stuck and I got him out" / "Itโs too early for us to eat"
After 3;6 children can produce wh-questions, and relative pronouns
Sometime after 4;0 children have acquired most of the adult syntactic competence
Deixis: Children often have problems with the shifting reference of pronouns
Children may refer to themselves as "you"
Problems with the context-dependent nature of deictic words: Children often assume the hearer knows who s/he is talking about
In the telegraphic stage, children often omit auxiliaries from their speech but can form questions (with rising intonation) and negative sentences
Examples: "I ride train?" / "I not like this book"
As children acquire auxiliaries in questions and negative sentences, they generally use them correctly
Deaf babies acquire sign language in the same way that hearing babies acquire spoken language: babbling, holophrastic stage, telegraphic stage
When deaf babies are not exposed to sign language, they will create their own signs, complete with systematic rules
Children do imitate the speech heard around them to a certain extent, but language acquisition goes beyond imitation
Children produce utterances that they never hear from adults around them, such as "holded" or "tooths"
Children cannot imitate adults fully while acquiring grammar
Example:
Adult: "Where can I put them?" Child: "Where I can put them?"
Children who develop the ability to speak later in their childhood can understand the language spoken around them even if they cannot imitate it
NOTE: Children May Resist Correction
Example: Cazden (1972) (observation attributed to Jean Berko Gleason) โ My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them. โ Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits? โ Yes. โ What did you say she did? โ She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them. โ Did you say she held them tightly? โ No, she holded them loosely.
Another theory asserts that children hear a sentence and then use it as a model to form other sentences by analogy
But while analogy may work in some situations, certainly not in all situations:
โ I painted a red barn. โ I painted a barn red. โ I saw a red barn. โ I saw a barn red.
Children never make mistakes of this kind based on analogy which shows that they understand structure dependency at a very young age
Childrenโs birth order may affect their speech.
Firstborns often speak earlier than later-born children, most likely because they get more one-on-one attention from parents.
They favor different words than their siblings.ย
Whereas firstborns gabble on about animals and favorite colors, the rest of the pack cut to the chase with โbrother,โ โsister,โ โhateโ and such treats as โcandy,โ โpopsiclesโ and โdonuts.โย
The social dynamics of siblings, it would appear, prime their vocabularies for a reality different than the firstbornsโ idyllic world of sheep, owls, the green of the earth and the blue of the sky.
Children may adopt vocabulary quite differently depending on their motherโs level of education.
In American English, among the words disproportionately favored by the children of mothers who have not completed secondary education are: โso,โ โwalker,โ โgum,โ โcandy,โ โeach,โ โcould,โ โwish,โ โbut,โ โpennyโ and โbeโ (ordered starting with the highest frequency).
The words favored by the children of mothers in the โcollege and aboveโ category are: โsheep,โ โgiraffe,โ โcockadoodledoo,โ โquack quack,โ the babysitterโs name, โgentle,โ โowl,โ โzebra,โ โplay doughโ and โmittens.โย
One area of remarkable consistency across language groups is the degree to which the language of children is gendered.
The words more likely to be used by American girls than by boys are: โdress,โ โvagina,โ โtights,โ โdoll,โ โnecklace,โ โpretty,โ โunderpants,โ โpurse,โ โgirlโ and โsweater.โ
Whereas those favored by boys are โpenis,โ โvroom,โ โtractor,โ โtruck,โ โhammer,โ โbat,โ โdump,โ โfiretruck,โ โpoliceโ and โmotorcycle.โ
Tips for Writing Children's Dialogue (compiled from various sources cited below):
Milestones - The dialogue you write should be consistent with the child's developmental milestones for their age. Of course, other factors should be considered such as if the child has any speech or intellectual difficulties. Also note that developmental milestones are not set in stone and each child is unique in their own way.
Too "Cutesy" - If your child characters are going to be cute, they must be cuteย naturally through the force of their personality, not because the entire purpose of their existence is to be adorable.
Too Wise - Itโs true kids have the benefit of seeing some situations a little more objectively than adults. But when they start calmly and unwittingly spouting all the answers, the results often seem more clichรฉd and convenient than impressive or ironic.
Unintelligent - Donโt confuse a childโs lack ofย experienceย with lack ofย intelligence.ย
Baby Talk - Donโt make a habit of letting them misuse words. Children are more intelligent than most people think.
Unique Individuals - Adults often tend to lump all children into a single category: cute, small, loud, and occasionally annoying.ย Look beyond the stereotype.
Personal Goals - The single ingredientย that transforms someone from a static character to a dynamic character is aย goal. It can be easy to forget kids also have goals. Kids are arguably evenย moreย defined by their goals than are adults. Kids want something every waking minute. Theirย entire existence is wrapped up in wanting something and figuring out how to get it.
Don't Forget your Character IS a Child - Most of the pitfalls in how to write child characters have to do with making them too simplistic and childish. But donโt fall into the opposite trap either: donโt create child characters who are essentially adults in little bodies.
Your Personal Observation - To write dialogue that truly sounds like it could come from a child, start by being an attentive listener. Spend time around children and observe how they interact with their peers and adults.ย You can also study other pieces of media that show/write about children's behaviour (e.g., documentaries, films, TV shows, even other written works like novels and scripts).
Context - The context in which children speak is crucial to creating realistic dialogue. Consider their environment, who they're speaking to, and what's happening around them. Dialogue can change drastically depending on whether a child is talking to a friend, a parent, or a teacher. Additionally, children's language can be influenced by their cultural background, family dynamics, and personal experiences. Make sure the context informs the dialogue, lending credibility to your characters' voices.
Sources and other related articles: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Writing Notes: On Children Writing Notes: Childhood Bilingualism
the distortion of "there is potential profit we did not earn" as "there is money we lost" is fascinating and disgusting to me. "megamediaconglomerate lost $1,000,000,000 to piracy this year" is a flat out lie. it is not true. they did not have a billion dollars, that they now do not have. they felt entitled to one billion dollars, that they did not have, and still do not have. it's an infuriating perversion of the truth
There are many definitions of culture and it is used in different ways by different people.
Cultureย - may be defined as patterns of learned and shared behavior that are cumulative and transmitted across generations.
There are systematic and predictable ways of behavior or thinking across members of a culture.
Emerge from adapting, sharing, and storing cultural information.
Can be both similar and different across cultures.
Example: In both Canada and India it is considered polite to bring a small gift to a hostโs home. In Canada, it is more common to bring a bottle of wine and for the gift to be opened right away. In India, by contrast, it is more common to bring sweets, and often the gift is set aside to be opened later.
Culture is the product of people sharing with one another.
Humans cooperate and share knowledge and skills with other members of their networks.
The ways they share, and the content of what they share, helps make up culture.
Example: Older adults remember a time when long-distance friendships were maintained through letters that arrived in the mail every few months. Contemporary youth culture accomplishes the same goal through the use of instant text messages on smartphones.
Behaviors, values, norms are acquired through a process known asย enculturationย that begins with parents and caregivers, because they are the primary influence on young children.
Caregivers teach kids, both directly and by example, about how to behave and how the world works.
They encourage children to be polite, reminding them, for instance, to say โThank you.โ They teach kids how to dress in a way that is appropriate for the culture.
Culture teaches us what behaviors and emotions are appropriate or expected in different situations.
Example: In some societies, it is considered appropriate to conceal anger. Instead of expressing their feelings outright, people purse their lips, furrow their brows, and say little. In other cultures, however, it is appropriate to express anger. In these places, people are more likely to bare their teeth, furrow their brows, point or gesture, and yell (Matsumoto,ย Yoo, & Chung, 2010).
Members of a culture also engage in rituals which are used to teach people what is important.
Example 1: Young people who are interested in becoming Buddhist monks often have to endure rituals that help them shed feelings of specialness or superiorityโfeelings that run counter to Buddhist doctrine. To do this, they might be required to wash their teacherโs feet, scrub toilets, or perform other menial tasks.
Example 2: Similarly, many Jewish adolescents go through the process ofย barย andย bat mitzvah. This is a ceremonial reading from scripture that requires theย study of Hebrew and, when completed, signals that the youth is ready for full participation in public worship.
These examples help to illustrate the concept of enculturation.
Cultural knowledge is information thatย is โstoredโ and then the learning grows across generations.
We understand more about the world today than we did 200 years ago, but that doesnโt mean the culture from long ago has been erased.
Example: Members of the Haida culture, a First Nations people in British Columbia, Canada are able to profit from both ancient and modern experiences. They might employ traditional fishing practices and wisdom stories while also using modern technologies and services.
Passing of new knowledge and traditions of culture from one generation to the next, as well as across other cultures is cultural transmission.
In everyday life, the most common way cultural norms are transmitted is within each individualsโ home life.
Each family has its own, distinct culture under the big picture of each given society and/or nation.
With every family, there are traditions that are kept alive.
The way each family acts and communicates with others and an overall view of life are passed down.
Parents teach their kids every day how to behave and act by their actions alone.
Outside of the family, culture can be transmitted at various social institutions like places of worship, schools, even shopping centers are places where enculturation happens and is transmitted.
It highlights the ways groups can come into conflict with one another. Members of different cultures simply learn different ways of behaving. Teenagers today interact with technologies, like aย smartphone, using a different set of rules than people who are in their 40s, 50s, or 60s. Older adults might find texting in the middle of a face-to-face conversation rude while younger people often do not. These differences can sometimes become politicized and a source of tension between groups. One example of this is Muslim women who wear aย hijab, or headscarf. Non-Muslims do not follow this practice, so occasional misunderstandings arise about the appropriateness of the tradition.
Understanding that culture is learned is important because it means that people can adopt an appreciation of patterns of behavior that are different than their own.
Understanding that culture is learned can be helpful in developing self-awareness. For instance, people from the United States might not even be aware of the fact that their attitudes about public nudity are influenced by their cultural learning. While women often go topless on beaches in Europe and women living a traditional tribal existence in places like the South Pacific also go topless, it is illegal for women in some of the United States to do so. These cultural norms forย modesty that are reflected in government laws and policies alsoย enter the discourse on social issues such as the appropriateness of breastfeeding in public. Understanding that your preferences are, in many cases, the products of cultural learning might empower you to revise them if doing so will lead to a better life for you or others.
Humans use culture to adapt and transform the world they live in and you should think of the word culture as a conceptual tool rather than as a uniform, static definition.
Culture changesย through interactions with individuals, media, and technology, just to name a few.
Culture generally changes for one of 2 reasons:
Selective transmission or
to meet changing needs.
This means that when a village or culture is met with new challenges, for example, a loss of a food source, they must change the way they live.
It could also include forced relocation from ancestral domains due to external or internal forces.
Example: In the United States, tens of thousands Native Americans were forced to migrate from their ancestral lands to reservations established by the United States government so it could acquire lands rich with natural resources. The forced migration resulted in death, disease and many cultural changes for the Native Americans as they adjusted to new ecology and way of life.
Source More: On Psychology
As I have been promising for years, the eye color chart is all cleaned up and ready to be shared! I'm totally ok with this being saved and passed around, that's why all my info is on it.
Basic image description is in alt, and a full transcript of all text in the image is under the cut.
This model has been in a process of expansion and tweaking for a very long time. Huge huge thanks to all the folks who contributed and hunted down photos, helped me name all the colors, and gave the final proofs!
Eye colors in cats are difficult to model because they vary to a significant extent on two axes. This is my best attempt at a general model of cat eye color based on observation and research into how eye color works across species.
Pigmentation refers to the amount of pigment in the colored layer of the iris. Higher pigmentation causes darker colors.
Refraction means the extent to which light is scattered in the structures of the iris. Higher refraction causes deeper blues or greens.
Eye colors are related to coat color, but not as closely as breed standards might have you believe! Most coat colors can have most eye colors outside of purebred lines selected to meet breed standard.
Color names are descriptive of the actual color of the cat's eyes - I chose them all to sound nice so that breeders can use them if desired. Note that breed standards have a much broader use of color names - "Amber", for example, may include much of the golden to orange range.
Colors are based on pictures of cats in full white light (such as midday sun fully illuminating the eye), and tweaked to look good on properly color-calibrated screens. Always determine eye colors based on how they look in full light.
standard eye colors possible with most pelts
Every cat is assumed to have genes that specify some genetic eye color in the main block, but certain other alleles can depigment the eyes partially or completely, creating the lower block.
Pigmentation and Refraction are modeled here as dependent on multiple genes, which seems to best fit the wide spectrum of possibilities in cats. The actual number of genes is unknown and could be very many, but for simplicity they are shown here on a scale from 1-7.
In theory, the genetic eye colors of the offspring should tend to fall somewhere between the genetic eye colors of the parents. Then, any depigmentation factors are applied, which may result in an actual eye color somewhere below the genetic eye color.
occur with phenotypes which cause depigmentation of the iris.
Gray-blues: Fairly rare coloration. The cause of gray eyes in humans is not well understood, but one theory is that collagen or very small amounts of pigment in the eye alter the scattering of light.
Blues: Most common depigmented colors. Can be caused by white spotting/dominant white, colorpoint, and sometimes mocha. There are also multiple Dominant Blue-eye (DBE) mutations known which cause blue eyes as the main effect.
Albinistic: Caused by complete albinism, which also fully depigments the back layer of the iris meant to keep light from getting through. This allows the red color from the retinal blood vessels to bleed through, and also causes poor visual acuity.
Following is a list of all eye colors shown on the main diagram. Rows are pigmentation levels starting from the highest pigmentation, refraction increases from left to right.
Main Block: Copper, Chestnut, Umber, Walnut, Earthen, Olive, Moss; Ochre, Caramel, Bronze, Serpentine, Artichoke, Fern, Forest; Orange, Amber, Brass, Peridot, Avocado, Clover, Malachite; Saffron, Butterscotch, Shrub, Spring, Jade, Pine, Emerald; Gold, Citron, Pear, Lime, Mantis, Grass, Viridian; Yellow, Chartreuse, Sprout, Laurel, Mint, Turquoise, Teal; Canary, Chiffon, Honeydew, Sage, Celadon, Aqua, Cerulean.
Lower Block: Gray-blues: Frost, Opal, Flint, Storm, Steel, Slate, Cadet. Blues: Ice, Powder, Celeste, Sky, Azure, Lapis, Cobalt. Albinistic: Pink, Mauve, Lavender, Periwinkle, Cornflower, Royal, Indigo.
Cats can exhibit a few different heterochromia types, most commonly a blue with a non-blue. The other most common cause for heterochromia appears to be localized hyperpigmentation, which can be caused by damage to the eye. It can also happen simply due to differing iris structure or unusual pigment migration within the iris.
It is also relatively common for the center of the eye to be a slightly different color, without being marked enough to constitute full heterochromia. My provisionary term for this is "dual-toned". The boundary between this and "true" central heterochromia is somewhat subjective.
For any form of heterochromia or dual-toned eyes, my recommendation for describing them is to note both colors with a slash. For dual-tones, I generally write the outer color before the center one.
Complete Heterochromia Blue/non-blue is commonly caused by white spotting/dominant white, other combos are rare.
Sectoral Heterochromia Blue/non-blue sometimes occurs with white spotting/dominant white. Can also be from hyperpigmentation.
Central Heterochromia Can occur due to hyperpigmentation, uneven pigment distribution, or iris structure. More common in certain breeds.
Dual-toned Irises Relatively small differences in central eye color are common in cats.
Iris Atrophy Iris atrophy due to old age can cause a distinctive lighter ring in the center of the iris.
All writing, art, and chart design ยฉSparrow Hartmann 2025
Icon designs are released to the Creative Commons under a CC-BY-SA license and will be made available for download.
Go to sparrows-garden.com for more genetics resources!
If you ever need references for bird wings/tails I cannot recommend this collection enough! It has images of the dorsal/ventral sides of wings from a wide variety of species.
GENERAL TAGS
โฅ Reblog (General)
โฅ Reblog (Writing)
โฅ Reblog (Art)
โฅ Reblog (Reference)
โฅ Reblog (Own)
SPECIFIC TAGS
โฅ Vocabulary
โฅ Writing Tips
โฅ Worldbuilding
โฅ Art Tips
โฅ Colour Palettes
โฅ Animal Anatomy
PERSONAL TAGS
โฅ Sipurim Illustrates
โฅ Sipurim Purrs
๐ฅณ๐ช๐บ๐ฅ๐โจ๏ธ๐ค๐๐คฉ๐โค๏ธโ๐ฅ๐คช๐ก๐๐๐คบ
wish it was easier to tell the difference between โpain that will get better if you use the body partโ and โpain that will get worse if you use the body partโ and โpain that is indifferent to you using the body partโ tbqh
two horrible men and the saddest girl in the whole world
Hello Tumblr ^^
I just made a brand new adopt dragon that I sell on my Ko-fi for 20โฌ !
there was a great study a few years that went into the whole "ppl online are bigger jerks than irl cuz theres a virtual wall and no repercussions" and the researchers were expecting to see that be the case but it turns out that people who were really angry or argumentative online were also found to just be assholes in person and people who were pretty patient and nice online were found to be patient and nice in real person as well
and it just debunked that whole cynical idea that people will naturally be mean if theres no punishment for it
Hey kid, look at me.
I want you to T-pose. Turn your right thumb up and your left thumb doen and look at your right thumb. Move your arms up and down a bit until you feel a nerve running from your armpit to your palm. Now turn your right thumb down and your left thumb up, and look at your left thumb. Keep your chest facing forward and your shoulders back. Move your arms again until you feel that nerve again. Keep alternating between these two for a minute, or look at each thumb thirty times each.
Now sit down. Put your left hand firmly under your left buttock, palm down. Keep your shoulders back and put your right hand over the crown of your head, very gently pulling it to the right. Do this for thirty seconds, then do it again but with your right hand under your right buttock.
These are stretches for the nerves in your arms, and are very good for people who sit behind a computer a lot, or fibre artists, or you name it. Do them daily. They will hurt in the beginning, but keep doing them, even after the pain has gone, or it will return and you'll have to start all over.
hey so itโs march now aka the beginning of endometriosis awareness month and i feel obligated to remind you that debilitatingly painful periods are not normal. if you or someone you know is ending up sick or bedridden every month, you are not crazy and deserve medical attention from someone who will take you seriously
โฅ โ ๐๐ช ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฃ-๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฑ ๐๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ถ ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฏ๐ฑ. ๐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฃ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ช๐ถ โญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ช๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฐ ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐ช๐ถ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ฑ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ๐๐ฐ.
โฅ ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ค ๐ด๐๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ถ ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ก '๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฆ', ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ โ ๐ฅ๐๐ณ๐ข ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐ก๐ข๐ก ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ ๐ซ๐๐ช๐ข.
โฅ โญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ช๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฐ ๐๐ฏ๐ข โญ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐ก
WARRIOR CATS COVER ZINE PREORDER 25/12 - 31/1 available on Etsy (international) or my store (UK, CAD, AUS, NZ) currency adjusted prices are available on harriertail.shop all proceeds will go to HeartswithHands Hurricane Helene relief
A zillion hours of hammering, skiving, dyeing, and Angelus paint later, finally finished my rapier hanger.
แโฆ Hornetpelt Commission โฆแ 19th November, 2024
โฅ Interactions are appreciated.
A commission done before I officially open them on Discord, it served as training for me. I will announce once they actually open.