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Interesting Linguistics – June 9

Interesting Linguistics – June 9

As I learn interesting linguistic “stuff” this summer that I think non-linguistic people will understand, I’ll try to post some on here so you can join me in delving into the mysteries of God’s creativity in creating languages! Me – you – him/her – proper name or family member (ex. Mom, Uncle) – any other […]
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Languages

Languages

This recent trip to Senegal/Guinea/Guinea-Bissau/France was full of different languages. You see, I started in a city in Senegal where people mainly speak Wolof and French.  I speak French, but not Wolof.  It would be great to learn it sometime, but at the moment I only know a few greetings, etc.  And I was only […]
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15 Beds and Counting

15 Beds and Counting

I’ve slept in 15 beds since Easter, not to mention the two nights I spent in airplanes.  It’s been a whirlwind of a trip, from a big Senegalese city, to the pristine beaches of Guinea, to the tropical forest of Guinea-Bissau, to the fashionable streets of Paris.  Since I can’t share everything in this post, […]
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Exciting news!

Exciting news!

I’m so excited! No, I haven’t been given permission to return to My Country. But at least I get to go back to other countries in West Africa for a month, leaving in less than a week! I get to spend a week in a big city, getting visas and connecting with other missionaries there […]
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It’s a balancing act

It’s a balancing act

Sometimes life feels like a balancing act.  Or like the scene from the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” where Tevye keeps thinking about “…on the other hand.”  Here are a few of things happening in my life, as well as their “…on the other hand” counterparts. On the one hand, I’m really excited to be […]
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What people are saying . . .

What people are saying . . .

“Susie, you’ve disappeared and we haven’t heard from you in forever!” “I know, I know.  Sometimes it’s just hard to think of exciting things to say.  But I’ll try today.  Actually, I’ll let others try since my brain isn’t being very creative today.” My mom: Susie has been keeping busy, and keeping me busy, too!  […]
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Willing yet clueless

Willing yet clueless

When you think of the Christmas story, who do you think of? Jesus? Mary? Joseph? Shepherds? Angels? Wisemen? All of the above? Others? The miracle we celebrate at Christmas, that of God taking on skin on bones, changed the whole world. Yet when we look at the lives of everyone in that list, each one […]
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2018

2018

Well, 2018 didn’t quite look like I had planned, but here is what God decided that this year would look like for me: January – March – I lived and worked among My People of My Country, learning language and culture and building relationships. I was learning how My People live and joining in. In […]
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Discourse Analysis – an example

Discourse Analysis – an example

As I’m working on my take-home final exam for my Discourse Analysis class, I thought I should take a break and give you a glimpse into what we’re learning. One thing we talk about in Discourse Analysis is Participant Reference. In regular-people terms, it means, “How do you introduce new characters into your story, keep […]
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Tone – what is it?

Tone – what is it?

  Does anyone else every hear about tone (or tonal) languages, or is that just something that us language nerds hear about? I’m actually curious, because it seems to me to be something that everyone hears about every once in a while, but then I’ve heard things recently that make me rethink that assumption. So […]
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