Devo  🪴🌮🥃🍣

@actuallyautistic

I'm wondering if there are any other autistics out there with a profound aptitude for language and learning languages? I feel like this is maybe why my autism was missed for so many years, that and my being a femme bodied person.

So often it gets equated to having a huge aptitude for math which I do in fits and starts, but also struggled with deeply. I've always seen strong far reaching patterns in language for as long as I can remember, which most NTs didn't seem to, but my actual knowledge of grammatical structure is totally fubared.

I can't dissect a sentence to save my life. It's like a bike I can ride really well, but don't always understand how the wheels work. That also seems to confound a lot of NTs.

#actuallyAutistic #language

Jan 23, 2023 at 11:23pmWeb
Show thread🌟ジギーくんJan 23, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic I have a special interest in linguistics. Esp. historical linguistics and how languages changed over time.
In addition, I'm not very good at math.🤭
Show threadTorazChryxJan 23, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic I'm over a hundred thousand words deep into writing a novel that is... mostly coherent, but I'll be damned if I can remember the difference between a vowel and a consonant, or which is what.
Show threadDevo  🪴🌮🥃🍣Jan 23, 2023
@Torazchryx Yes! This is so relatable!
Show threadTorazChryxJan 23, 2023
@model_subject I've even had people completely disbelieve me when I tell them that any resemblance to punctuation or grammar living or dead is entirely coincidental. I'm just staggering around in the dark dropping random paragraphs and letting metaphors lay just where they fall. My technical grasp on English is minimal. Certainly I couldn't teach it to someone else.
Show threadInken Paper 🇵🇸Jan 23, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic i began that way, with language. i find learning a language much more difficult now, possibly partly to do with being put on the spot to say things in French when i hadn't really been taught how to speak so much as how to conjugate, on paper.
Show threadEnergetic NovaJan 23, 2023

@model_subject @actuallyautistic

Genius vocabulary…. I am terrible at grammar.

Show threadStephen CzettyJan 23, 2023

@model_subject @actuallyautistic As far as human languages go, I'm not so great. Give me an hour with some code in an unknown (to me) computer language, and I'll probably be able to figure it out, though.

I write (in English) as often as my brain allows me to, and I try to be clear and concise when I do it.

Show threadDevo  🪴🌮🥃🍣Jan 24, 2023
@stephenczetty @actuallyautistic I actually studied computer science, and coding was another language aptitude for me as well. I never really thought about that. I'm far better with logic than abstract numbers.
Show threadC. BuckJan 24, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic I'm barely ok at math, but there isn't a writing system that I can't identify or infodump on within seconds of a broad discussion about language.
Show threadecsdJan 24, 2023

@model_subject @actuallyautistic

A beautiful little book I found incredibly informative is this sleeper: Harper's English Grammar by John Opdycke, Ph.D., paperback available for about $4 via bookfinder.com. [orig 1941 but who cares.]

Show threadGoddessdeevaJan 24, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic me. I love language finding the connection between words. The Spanish for fork is tenedor which reminds me of tines which is the proper name for the prongs.
Show threadLynn McAlister UE  Jan 24, 2023
@model_subject @actuallyautistic Languages have always fascinated me, and they fascinate me for how they reflect, and shape, the societies in which they evolve. I don't know if it has anything to do with #autism or if it's just an individual thing. Math never made a whole lot of sense to me, either. I love words and scripts and one of my ongoing fascinations is personal #names, again because of how they reflect and evolve within various cultures.
Show threadChris Jan 24, 2023
@actuallyautistic @lmgenealogy @model_subject same for me! To learn a language you need to know the culture and vice versa. Names are a part of that.