Uni - Blog Posts
What is a ‘wug’?
If you’ve been to linguist tumblr (lingblr), you might have stumbled upon this picture of a funny little bird or read the word ‘wug’ somewhere. But what exactly is a ‘wug’ and where does this come from?
The ‘wug’ is an imaginary creature designed for the so-called ‘wug test’ by Jean Berko Gleason. Here’s an illustration from her test:
“Gleason devised the Wug Test as part of her earliest research (1958), which used nonsense words to gauge children’s acquisition of morphological rules—for example, the “default” rule that most English plurals are formed by adding an /s/, /z/ or /ɨz/ sound depending on the final consonant, e.g., hat–hats, eye–eyes, witch–witches. A child is shown simple pictures of a fanciful creature or activity, with a nonsense name, and prompted to complete a statement about it:
This is a WUG. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ________.
Each “target” word was a made-up (but plausible-sounding) pseudoword, so that the child cannot have heard it before. A child who knows that the plural of witch is witches may have heard and memorized that pair, but a child responding that the plural of wug (which the child presumably has never heard) is wugs (/wʌgz/, using the /z/ allomorph since “wug” ends in a voiced consonant) has apparently inferred (perhaps unconsciously) the basic rule for forming plurals.
The Wug Test also includes questions involving verb conjugations, possessives, and other common derivational morphemes such as the agentive -er (e.g. “A man who ‘zibs’ is a ________?”), and requested explanations of common compound words e.g. “Why is a birthday called a birthday?“ Other items included:
This is a dog with QUIRKS on him. He is all covered in QUIRKS. What kind of a dog is he? He is a ________ dog.
This is a man who knows how to SPOW. He is SPOWING. He did the same thing yesterday. What did he do yesterday? Yesterday he ________.
(The expected answers were QUIRKY and SPOWED.)
Gleason’s major finding was that even very young children are able to connect suitable endings—to produce plurals, past tenses, possessives, and other forms—to nonsense words they have never heard before, implying that they have internalized systematic aspects of the linguistic system which no one has necessarily tried to teach them. However, she also identified an earlier stage at which children can produce such forms for real words, but not yet for nonsense words—implying that children start by memorizing singular–plural pairs they hear spoken by others, then eventually extract rules and patterns from these examples which they apply to novel words.
The Wug Test was the first experimental proof that young children have extracted generalizable rules from the language around them, rather than simply memorizing words that they have heard, and it was almost immediately adapted for children speaking languages other than English, to bilingual children, and to children (and adults) with various impairments or from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Its conclusions are viewed as essential to the understanding of when and how children reach major language milestones, and its variations and progeny remain in use worldwide for studies on language acquisition. It is “almost universal” for textbooks in psycholinguistics and language acquisition to include assignments calling for the student to carry out a practical variation of the Wug Test paradigm. The ubiquity of discussion of the wug test has led to the wug being used as a mascot of sorts for linguists and linguistics students.”
Here are some more illustrations from the original wug test:
Sources:
Wikipedia, All Things Linguistic
I've just written the introduction and the "Why are we even having this conversation?" part of my argumentative essay, (note: I have yet to even start my argument), and I have already used up half my wordcount???? Oh lord have mercy
I love it when people wear silly shirts in public, makes my day just a little bit less miserable every time
To the guy who wore an "I'm scared of women" t-shirt proudly on campus today: keep it up, champ, you look great it in
lately ive been bedridden with a terrible case of i dont wanna
Don't you just love it when the prof who holds the 8.30 class cancels said class barely and HOUR before it starts?
Don't you just love it when said class is your ONLY class of the day and you got up at 6.00 to do your makeup and get dressed only to receive the news right as you got ready???
Uni ain't shit, guys
Me: "With the new semester, there's this tenses within me, a worry, a fear of falling behind (again) like last semester"
Me, smart: "Okay, so you should, like, try to get ahead, y'know, look at lecture slides before class, read the must rea-"
Me, or rather, the anxious goblin in my head: "HOW ABOUT WE REARRANGE THE FURNITURE INSTEAD???"
Classes during covid vs classes after covid.
During covid on line lectures
Teacher: asks question
Awaked silence for a min or two
Random student in chat: highly sophisticated response, seems a confident person.
Rest of students: just watching
After covid
Teacher: asks question
Random student: to nervous to answer, hiding at back of class
Rest of students: does this mean we have to answer the questions now. 😱
Awkward silence
Rest of students: No, no I dont think it does.
Teacher: (fed up tone) gives answer.
Character Designs!!
⭑｡𖦹°‧
Hi Guys :D I’m currently working on an assessment for design and I’d thought I would share some character designs!! Yippe!!
As crazy as this might seem, i finally got my own copy of The Secret History. Thanks again to you Y. you deserve the world <333
(It was gifted to me by one of the coolest girls too, what are the odds?)
It's crazy when you start talking with someone and... youre comfy wit them from the start? And they're literally you so youre never bored when talking with them and dont feel bad when youre yapping all the time. (Two yappers and over sharer lol)
bought my first makeup with my own money hihihi i feel so good! bought a concealer and a lipstick.. need mascara and maybe blush but dont need much.. just for everyday use. I just use my face card <33 (please get it that im half joking)
i am so sorry i am only reading the secret history for the first time because i feel like i am missing a lot of details that can only be noticed by re-reading the book. i'm on chapter three and so far every chapter talks about immortality and "living forever." i am wondering if this will last longer and how it will be mentioned in the chapter with bunny's murder. if it will be mentioned at all?
and the whole third chapter can probably be considered the character's first test of the idea of immortality. and already here he faces reality - the proximity of death for any person, the fragility of life (and btw, it is significant that he does not fully realize that he can die, since life among his Greek circle makes him not think about it, they constantly repeat to him 'live forever' no one discusses death).
AND THIS IS WHEN MOST OF THE THINGS HE DID CARE TO TELL WERE LIES
CAN YOU IMAGINE A STRANGER ENTERING YOUR SMALL GROUP, HE IS VERY QUIET AND MYSTERIOUS. HE SAYS VERY FEW THINGS AND IN ALMOST EVERY CONVERSATION HE LIES
Honestly, this is the best scene that shows Henry's madness.
Interestingly, in the first class Richard attended, Julian asks about the one desire we all have. And Camilla says it's the desire to live. And Bunny adds:
"To live forever"
After all, he is the one who will be killed. And because of this, he will always live in the memory of others. Always young and never old
I kinda hope The Secret History never gets a movie adaptation because being forced to read the book is a test you have to pass to get into this fandom.
This is me being helpful, my sister’s doing research on horror media for uni, head over to her blog to have your say, I suggested the Bee movie but it didn’t make the cut
Entry Two
It's my third day in uni, I thought I'd give my tumblr angels a bit of an update. Things are going well, I'm extremely nervous, still, but I'm doing better, I now know more people which makes me feel a slight sense of calm, of belonging. I've got three classes today and basically no breaks in between them, which sucks but its alright.
I think I'm going to a party tomorrow, which is great since I love partying and going out (I know, I don't look like i do).
I've been obsessed with Here comes your man by the Pixies, can't stop listening. Also, listening to a lot of Nancy Sinatra. I haven't written anything substantial but I believe this experience will give me material.
My eyes twitch nervously and I sweat even though it's pretty cold. That annoys me. I went to buy some books for class yesterday, that was fun.
Nervously, and maybe a bit perversely,
Anna.
How did your first day go?
Omg, quite well, actually! I mean I'm having trouble with the whole meeting people thing, but I'm already in my class's groupchat, so that's good. I was a bit lonely, but nothing I couldn't take. The humanities faculty building is beautiful, but the classes are old and kind of uncomfortable. Thanks for asking!! 🫶🏻
Hola chicas! Sé que esto es un poco diferente a lo que suelo publicar, pero acabo de subir un ensayo en Substack y me gustaría que lo leyeran. El ensayo es un trabajo que hice para clase de historia de la filosofía el año pasado, es sobre la relación entre el marxismo y el feminismo y habla de que pese a sus similitudes las dos doctrinas nunca se han unido, y de el porqué de todo eso. aquí está el link:
Espero que os guste, como siempre,
Xx,
Anna.
Hello again.
It has been a while since I have blogged and ranted and vented my emotions, feelings and thoughts. Although not much has changed, a lot still has changed.
To believe I would graduate after three years without any problems or bumps along the road was very naive of me. Reaching the end of my third year of uni only to find out I have to resit an exam, resulting in me not graduating with my friends has shattered me. I have not much to say about that apart from how disappointed I am at myself. However, this has also shown a lot about the people I thought I had surrounded myself with. The people I thought that would always be there for me, proven to be very wrong indeed. I have met some amazing friends along the way and it has taken me 3 years to realise how shit I am at making and choosing friends. I had not learned how to do this up until the end of my third year of uni. I don’t regret anything. In fact I am glad a lot of things happened the way they did, otherwise I wouldn’t have met the love of my life and I wouldn’t have met the most amazing friends in these last couple of months. It is very cliche indeed but life sometimes has to be full of cliches and cheese for you to realise how good life can be.
I have been through a lot and many people do not know that about me. The family I thought would stand by me in difficult times could not be part of my difficult times because of their narrow mindedness and shallow mindedness and their greed and love for reputation. I have always and will always adore my parents but they have let me down so much lately, sometimes even to the point of not being able to come back from it. I have endured a lot of wounds and suffered a lot through the words that had been chucked at me by my sisters and parents but it has only made me realise....
You find your soulmate, your love, your life, in that one person, and everything else does not matter anymore. Every heartbreak, every let down, every pain, all can be forgotten with just one moment with that one person. That one person I can call at any time of the day and he will always stand by me. And that is what I have realised... you lose a lot of people, you fall out, you stop calling your home “home” but you gain that one person, who you want to spend the rest of your life with. He or She will become your home, your shelter, your life and I can honestly say, I have never felt so safe in my life before as I do now with him by my side. I’m proud to be his.
Its the time where you have to think about what you really want! Do you want to live to please others? Go out there and find your soulmate, find your love, find your life and live it. To the fullest. Everyone deserves a better life, only a few know how to make their life a better life. You will get there. In time.
xoxo