#I still want to make my own someday. starting college as a linguistics major (in 2 weeks!!) so presumably I will learn how to do that

[spocks-kaathyra]

thoughts about the Cardassian writing system

I've thinking about the Cardassian script as shown on screen and in beta canon and such and like. Is it just me or would it be very difficult to write by hand?? Like.

I traced some of this image for a recent drawing I did and like. The varying line thicknesses?? The little rectangular holes?? It's not at all intuitive to write by hand. Even if you imagine, like, a different writing implement—I suppose a chisel-tip pen would work better—it still seems like it wasn't meant to be handwritten. Which has a few possible explanations.

Like, maybe it's just a fancy font for computers, and handwritten text looks a little different. Times New Roman isn't very easily written by hand either, right? Maybe the line thickness differences are just decorative, and it's totally possible to convey the same orthographic information with the two line thicknesses of a chisel-tip pen, or with no variation in line thickness at all.

A more interesting explanation, though, and the one I thought of first, is that this writing system was never designed to be handwritten. This is a writing system developed in Cardassia's digital age. Maybe the original Cardassian script didn’t digitize well, so they invented a new one specifically for digital use? Like, when they invented coding, they realized that their writing system didn’t work very well for that purpose. I know next to nothing about coding, but I cannot imagine doing it using Chinese characters. So maybe they came up with a new writing system that worked well for that purpose, and when computer use became widespread, they stuck with it. 

Or maybe the script was invented for political reasons! Maybe Cardassia was already fairly technologically advanced when the Cardassian Union was formed, and, to reinforce a cohesive national identity, they developed a new standardized national writing system. Like, y'know, the First Emperor of Qin standardizing hanzi when he unified China, or that Korean king inventing hangul. Except that at this point in Cardassian history, all official records were digital and typing was a lot more common than handwriting, so the new script was designed to be typed and not written. Of course, this reform would be slower to reach the more rural parts of Cardassia, and even in a technologically advanced society, there are people who don't have access to that technology. But I imagine the government would be big on infrastructure and education, and would make sure all good Cardassian citizens become literate. And old regional scripts would stop being taught in schools and be phased out of digital use and all the kids would grow up learning the digital script.

Which is good for the totalitarian government! Imagine you can only write digitally. On computers. That the government can monitor. If you, like, write a physical letter and send it to someone, then it's possible for the contents to stay totally private. But if you send an email, it can be very easily intercepted. Especially if the government is controlling which computers can be manufactured and sold, and what software is in widespread use, etc. 

AND. Historical documents are now only readable for scholars. Remember that Korean king that invented hangul? Before him, Korea used to use Chinese characters too. And don't get me wrong, hangul is a genius writing system! It fits the Korean language so much better than Chinese characters did! It increased literacy at incredible rates! But by switching writing systems, they broke that historical link. The average literate Chinese person can read texts that are thousands of years old. The average literate Korean person can't. They'd have to specifically study that field, learn a whole new writing system. So with the new generation of Cardassian youths unable to read historical texts, it's much easier for the government to revise history. The primary source documents are in a script that most people can't read. You just trust the translation they teach you in school. In ASIT it's literally a crucial plot point that the Cardassian government revised history! Wouldn't it make it soooo much easier for them if only very few people can actually read the historical accounts of what happened.

I guess I am thinking of this like Chinese characters. Like, all the different Chinese "dialects" being written with hanzi, even though otherwise they could barely be considered the same language. And even non-Sinitic languages that historically adopted hanzi, like Japanese and Korean and Vietnamese. Which worked because hanzi is a logography—it encodes meaning, not sound, so the same word in different languages can be written the same. It didn’t work well! Nowadays, Japanese has made significant modifications and Korean has invented a new writing system entirely and Vietnamese has adapted a different foreign writing system, because while hanzi could write their languages, it didn’t do a very good job at it. But the Cardassian government probably cares more about assimilation and national unity than making things easier for speakers of minority languages. So, Cardassia used to have different cultures with different languages, like the Hebitians, and maybe instead of the Union forcing everyone to start speaking the same language, they just made everyone use the same writing system. Though that does seem less likely than them enforcing a standard language like the Federation does. Maybe they enforce a standard language, and invent the new writing system to increase literacy for people who are newly learning it.

And I can imagine it being a kind of purely digital language for some people? Like if you’re living on a colonized planet lightyears away from Cardassia Prime and you never have to speak Cardassian, but your computer’s interface is in Cardassian and if you go online then everyone there uses Cardassian. Like people irl who participate in the anglophone internet but don’t really use English in person because they don’t live in an anglophone country. Except if English were a logographic writing system that you could use to write your own language. And you can’t handwrite it, if for whatever reason you wanted to. Almost a similar idea to a liturgical language? Like, it’s only used in specific contexts and not really in daily life. In daily life you’d still speak your own language, and maybe even handwrite it when needed. I think old writing systems would survive even closer to the imperial core (does it make sense to call it that?), though the government would discourage it. I imagine there’d be a revival movement after the Fire, not only because of the cultural shift away from the old totalitarian Cardassia, but because people realize the importance of having a written communication system that doesn’t rely on everyone having a padd and electricity and wifi.

#if I read over this again I will inevitably want to change and add things so I'm refraining from doing that. enjoy whatever this is #forgive my very crude recounting of chinese and korean history! I am neither a historian nor a linguist #but I will NOT apologize for talking abt china so much. that's my culture and I'm weird abt it bc of my family history #and it's my GOD GIVEN RIGHT to project what little I know abt it onto all my worldbuilding #also I've never actually read abt any of the various cardassian conlangs but I'm curious if this contradicts or coincides with any of them #I still want to make my own someday. starting college as a linguistics major (in 2 weeks!!) so presumably I will learn how to do that #narcissus's echoes #ds9 #asit #star trek #cardassians #cardassian meta #a stitch in time #hebitians

[jenosweave]

college!kun

FINALLY A KUN REQUEST!! this is one of my favorites please enjoy and don’t let me flop!!

let’s start w the basics…

major: linguistics

minor: comparative literature

extracurriculars: book club

other: literally writing his own novel??

school life

kun is such a good student

he always does his work on time and tries to get ahead when he can

he’s a plug too

he'll even do his friends’ readings and summarize it for them if they have a particularly busy week

he doesn’t allow himself to be used though

he just loves and appreciates his friends so much and wants to help them be successful when there are things they cant control that can get in the way of that

kun really enjoys his studies

his required courses are really stimulating and keep him on his toes

he loves leaving class every day feeling like he’s one step closer to understanding where language comes from and why we communicate the way we do

kun’s passion for linguistics sprouted from his adoration of reading

he’s a member of every book he could find on campus

he firmly believes the more you read, the more perspectives you’re able to see, which in turn, makes you a generally more enlightened and compassionate person

kun loves reading and language so much that he decided to just write his own book over the summer for fun

he sent a “very rough draft” to a local publisher

just for experience

and to get him used to rejection in case he ever wants to seriously pursue a career in writing someday

but now he’s fucked because

they actually liked it??? so he kind of has a book deal now??

which he was not expecting at all

there were a lot of comments for him to address as he expected

and the first one he decided to deal with was the lack of a love interest for his protagonist

except there’s only one problem with that

he has no idea how to successfully write for a love interest

so he does what any normal young writer would do to get inspiration

and goes to the university’s monthly speed dating event in the quad

early stages

you had been “too single for too long,” according to your best friend

and the only way you could get them to shut up about it was if you attended one of the school’s speed dating nights

and you decided it was worth the trouble, and made your way to the quad to get this over with

you had exactly two and a half minutes with every person you’d “date”

and for the most part, those two and a half minutes couldn’t go by fast enough

after talking to other students who only cared about football, trucks, and battlestar galactica, you were about ready to up and go

but your second to last “date” changed your mind

his name was kun

“alright this is gonna go by quick, so i’m gonna take the reigns if you don’t mind,” he spoke

he was oddly productive

you nodded

“great!’ he smiled. “any hobbies?”

“well, i love to read an-”

“reading? me too! what genres are you into?”

a wide smile stretched across his smooth face and his pupils dilated noticeably UGH CUTIE

“i mean, i like fantasy, historical fiction, biographies, science fi-”

“no way! me too!” he interrupts. “i just like all books so much!! i’m writing my own actually!”

you thought that was mighty impressive and asked him what his book is about

and he told you he can’t disclose that information because of his publishing deal

and youre like,,,, wA i T.. PUBLISHER?? THAT’S SO COOL!!

and he goes, “thank you! maybe you’d like to come and read it sometime when it’s finished.”

you couldn’t help but blush and turn your head away

and that’s when you noticed you only had ten seconds left on the stopwatch

you hurriedly seized the pen the event organizers had left on the desk and grabbed kun by the wrist, taking him by surprise and causing a slight gasp to escape his lips

you messily scribbled your number onto his forearm

and as soon as you had finished writing your digits, the timer rang

as you both departed from the table, kun shouted at you from a distance “how am i supposed to read this chicken scratch?!”

you shot him a smile playfully and shouted back

“text me!”

you didn’t receive a text that night

or the night after

but the night after that, your phone dinged as soon as you hopped out of the shower

“hey! this is kun from the speed dating thing. i hope this is the right number. i’ve already texted three wrong people and have had to explain myself to each of them. it’s really embarrassing. please confirm if this is you!”

you sent him a simple “:)” in response

“so does that mean you’re down to get a coffee with me tomorrow?”

“:)”

the next morning, you had the first of many, many morning coffee breaks outside the school library

these quick little meetups usually concluded with a quick sift through the library, where you’d each recommend each other your favorite books and read the prologues to each other over a hot cup of coffee

at first, the librarians used to kick you out for having drinks inside, but now youre clever and just hide your cups under your jackets

this became a weekly occurrence

and then it started happening twice a week

and now you basically see kun every other day

he even managed to get you to join the biographical book club with him, something you’d be way too nervous to do before meeting him

kun was such a good guy

you knew he was smart and funny and you knew he was caring and fun to be around

but what you didn’t know is that he had been smitten with you from the second you scribbled your number onto his arm

one day, as you were studying for your last final of the semester, you got a call from kun

you sent him the automated response, “sorry, i cant talk right now”

but he called right back anyway

“what is it?” you answered

“i’m sorry if you’re studying but this is super important and im so excited and i just have to tell someone!”

“what’s up kun?”

“my book! it’s finished! and i finally added in the love interest like the publishers asked!”

“I’M SO PROUD OF YOU BITCH

“finish studying! then we can facetime and i can read you a chapter!”

and so for the next thirty nights (even over your winter break), you and kun would facetime so he could read you a chapter until the book was finished

and you’d give him pointers at the end of each one so he could go back and revise once you had gone to sleep

the plot was incredible, honestly

the protagonist was a divorced middle-aged man whose wife left him for being too aggressive and absent-minded all the time

in the divorce, the wife got full custody of their teenage son

but when she goes on a business trip, the protagonist gets to watch the son

however, when he goes to pick the son up to take him to his house, hes nowhere to be found

so the novel follows this poor guy trying to find his missing son

but no one seems to be listening to him, so hes losing his mind

he’s working alongside the police and falls for the dci leading the investigation

and basically in the end it turns out he’s schizophrenic and his wife and son never existed at all

all of this was in his imagination

and he had just been showing up to the police station every day like a crazy person

kun did so much research for that

he even got the accuracy of his portrayal of a schizophrenic checked by his pal psych major!jungwoo

on the night kun finally finished reading to you

you were sh0000000000000k like what the fuck all that trouble for it all to be fake?? genius kun!!

so he asked for your feedback on the development and personalities of all his characters

you complimented him on how well he portrayed the dci

they weren’t your typical love interest

they were headstrong and witty and educated

and they were determined to help the protagonist find his son when no one else was listening to him

“you like them?” he asked you

“yes! they were so different than i had expe-”

“i was hoping you’d like them. i was inspired by you.”

your heart BURST!!!

“KUN THAT’S SO SWEET!”

and that’s when he explained to you why he went to speed dating to begin with, and told you he was so glad to have met you

because you were the “perfect muse”

and then he asked if you’d like to be his s/o

and of course

you said yes bc duh?? he’s kun?? 

relationship

kun is the cutest bf ever!!!

nothing has really changed between you two

you still have library and car dates

but now you hold hands sometimes

and when kun is feeling extra bold, he gives you a peck on the cheek

you guys have such a cute and innocent relationship

you can often be seen together on the campus quad where you met for the first time, you in kuns arms, him tickling your stomach to make you giggle

he’s so sweet and is so considerate of your needs

out of all the boys, he’s hands down the one most likely to change for you if you guys hit a rough patch

he always pays for food

which kind of ticks you off because what if one day he goes broke

but all he really cares about is your happiness and satisfaction

and he really just wants you to know that no one loves you quite like he does

and he tells you every day how grateful he is to have you in his life

#p: college au #kun!!!!!! #qian kun #wayv #nct #nct 2018 #nct 127 #nct u #nct dream #nct soft #nct fluff #nct drabble #nct scenario #nct reaction #nct angst #wayv fluff #wayv scenario #wayv drabble #wayv angst #wayv reaction #wayv soft #nct icons #nct ship #kpop scenario #nct au #wayv au #nct 127 scenario #nct 127 fluff #kun #nct kun

[thingscometogether]

What I Can Say/What I Can’t Say: Bipolar Edition

One of the fun conundrums I get to face as someone with a mental illness is navigating polite conversation around the realities of my life. 

Where did you go to school? What I Can Say: Oh, I graduated from Pitt. What I Can’t Say: It took me seven years and taking classes at four different schools in order to graduate from college. I started at a private liberal arts school which I hated and from which I had to take time off after my first breakdown. I decided to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh, which I loved. But while at Pitt I got so depressed I had to come home for a year and had to take classes at two local colleges in order to keep up with credits. I eventually returned to Pitt where I somehow managed to graduate with honors.

What did you study? Can Say: Italian Language and Literature Can’t Say: I wanted to double major in History and Italian with a minor in Linguistics or Art History, but it was hard enough to maintain even a minimum course load and I didn’t have the ability to manage much more than that. I was accepted into a graduate program for Italian but I wound up never attending because my life completely fell apart after graduation and by the time I managed to pull it together it was too late to attend.

What do you do? Can Say: I’m interested in serving people with disabilities or who face housing and food insecurity. Can’t Say: Having bipolar disorder makes it really hard for me to keep a job. When my cycles of depression and irregular sleep begin, it’s almost impossible to make sure I can get up for work every day. It’s hard to focus and the more stress I bear, the more exhausted I become and the more easily I become depressed. At that point, when I can barely get out of bed to eat or shower, the priority of maintaining a job flies out the window. 

Do you have a boyfriend? Can Say: Better a dog than a boyfriend, haha. Can’t Say: How am I supposed to tell a guy I’m interested in that I have a major mental illness? Saying ‘Hey, by the way, I have bipolar disorder’ isn’t exactly something you reveal on a first date. Or a third. Or a fifth. And if I did build enough confidence to tell someone about my life -- about all the medications and hospitalizations and lost jobs and traumatic episodes -- the fear of him rejecting me would assuredly keep me from doing it. And if somehow that didn’t scare him off, actually allowing him to see me in a state of complete decompensation feels impossible. Too much vulnerability. Too much shame. I don’t even let my parents see me when I’m like that. So no, the dating field is too fraught with explosive landmines to merit a venture into being that exposed.

Do you have kids? Can Say: Nope. I think it’s an eventuality, but I’m not in a rush. Can’t Say: I’m scared to death of being a bad mother. What if I neglect them because I’m too depressed? What if the stress causes me to break down? I know people have trauma as young kids from having mothers who were depressed and didn’t attend to them. How will I explain to them what happens to Mommy when she goes into her room and doesn’t leave for three days? I don’t want my children to have to deal with the stress mental illness causes when I can’t deal with it myself sometimes. Worst of all, what if I pass the mental illness gene to them? I don’t want them to have to go through what I’ve gone through. 

Do you live by yourself? Can Say: I live with my parents. It’s cheaper and it’s better than having a roommate who I don’t like. Can’t Say: I live with my parents because it isn’t safe for me to live by myself and I make no money so I can’t afford to live anywhere else at the moment. My parents are great, but I deeply miss my independence. And no matter how old you are, when you live with your parents you still don’t feel like a complete adult. So I live where I have to live, but I would give anything to live on my own again.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Can Say: I’d like to see where the future takes me. Can’t Say: Not being hospitalized for five years straight is a pretty good goal.

To be fair, all of us have some version of answers to these questions playing in our heads. Polite conversation isn’t about really getting to know someone. It’s about forming an impression of someone based on what we believe are socially acceptable norms and then (silently) locating that person in our social schema based on the information they share. Being honest in such superficial situations would be a radical and liberating act -- one I hope someday I won’t be so afraid to commit -- but it comes at the price of awkwardness, discomfort and possible humiliation. And for now at least that’s not a price I’m willing to pay.

[psychologyandus-blog1]

College, Parents, and Pressure

It is common for kids at a young age to have their own dream career someday. When I was in kindergarten, I remember I wanted to become a policeman, then a doctor. When I reached high school, my parents started to ask me what I wanted to take in college. In all honesty, I was still unsure and undecided. But my parents, like most parents do, always had a say on that. They really wanted me to become a doctor. On the last year of my high school life, I took the UPCAT. Just as my parents suggested, I took premed course such as Biology and Microbiology and Biotechnology. However, I did not make it to the limited slots as thousands of students chose it. Instead, I went to Applied Physics. In my freshie year, I was really excited and thrilled to start my college life with Applied Physics as my major. It turns out, I underestimated it. Although I already secretly planned to proceed to Ph.D. despite my parents thinking I was taking it as premed, it was getting difficult. Even my grandparents wanted me to pursue medicine. Sometimes I think many parents view their children as an extension of themselves - a new chance to achieve what they were not able to achieve. As much as that sounds sentimental, that is just not right. Studying under a program that you did not choose often means lack of effort and interest in it, which would most likely result to failure. That is why when I reached my third year, I decided to shift to BA Linguistics. It was not an easy decision. I thought about the additional years of studying in UP and the shame in being delayed. I thought about what my parents would think about Lingsuistics. I even compared myself to my high school classmates who are doing well in other universities. I guess what really stands out is the internal conflict, the battle for yourself to accept the truth - that you should choose the path you want to take. As for myself, I chose Linguistics because of my interest in the Japanese language. Luckily and proudly enough, my parents supported me in my decision (although there are times they still try to convince me to take medicine or law).