Dr. Grace — Science Communication
@gracetalkslanguage.bsky.social
Linguist & Cog. Scientist 🧠
Linguistics PhD from U. Florida 🐊
Visiting faculty @ Bard College 🌲
Striving to make linguistics and cognitive science fun and accessible 🎉🥳
Linguistics PhD from U. Florida 🐊
Visiting faculty @ Bard College 🌲
Striving to make linguistics and cognitive science fun and accessible 🎉🥳
Day 10!
Continuing EEG fun facts, there are “neural signatures” (or, basically, brain waves that happen at different times and that are differently shaped) that suggest that we process oddities with meaning (semantics) differently than we process oddities with grammar (syntax). Pretty cool!
Continuing EEG fun facts, there are “neural signatures” (or, basically, brain waves that happen at different times and that are differently shaped) that suggest that we process oddities with meaning (semantics) differently than we process oddities with grammar (syntax). Pretty cool!
February 12, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Day 10!
Continuing EEG fun facts, there are “neural signatures” (or, basically, brain waves that happen at different times and that are differently shaped) that suggest that we process oddities with meaning (semantics) differently than we process oddities with grammar (syntax). Pretty cool!
Continuing EEG fun facts, there are “neural signatures” (or, basically, brain waves that happen at different times and that are differently shaped) that suggest that we process oddities with meaning (semantics) differently than we process oddities with grammar (syntax). Pretty cool!
Day 9! (Almost caught up.)
Linguists who study the brain are called psycholinguists and neurolinguists. Psycho- and neurolinguists can use a technique that measures brain waves to study how your brain responds to language. This is called electroencephalography, or EEG. (1/3 🧵)
Linguists who study the brain are called psycholinguists and neurolinguists. Psycho- and neurolinguists can use a technique that measures brain waves to study how your brain responds to language. This is called electroencephalography, or EEG. (1/3 🧵)
February 12, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Day 9! (Almost caught up.)
Linguists who study the brain are called psycholinguists and neurolinguists. Psycho- and neurolinguists can use a technique that measures brain waves to study how your brain responds to language. This is called electroencephalography, or EEG. (1/3 🧵)
Linguists who study the brain are called psycholinguists and neurolinguists. Psycho- and neurolinguists can use a technique that measures brain waves to study how your brain responds to language. This is called electroencephalography, or EEG. (1/3 🧵)
Day 8! (Catching up from a busy couple days!)
When you first hear a word begin to be a spoken, your brain has lots of other words activated at the same time, based on the commonalities in sound between all the words (1/2 🧵)
When you first hear a word begin to be a spoken, your brain has lots of other words activated at the same time, based on the commonalities in sound between all the words (1/2 🧵)
February 11, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Day 8! (Catching up from a busy couple days!)
When you first hear a word begin to be a spoken, your brain has lots of other words activated at the same time, based on the commonalities in sound between all the words (1/2 🧵)
When you first hear a word begin to be a spoken, your brain has lots of other words activated at the same time, based on the commonalities in sound between all the words (1/2 🧵)
Day 7! (Just a touch late.)
Did you know that babies can distinguish sounds in all languages until about 6 months to 1 year of age? Then, they begin to show preference towards their native language.
Did you know that babies can distinguish sounds in all languages until about 6 months to 1 year of age? Then, they begin to show preference towards their native language.
February 8, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Day 7! (Just a touch late.)
Did you know that babies can distinguish sounds in all languages until about 6 months to 1 year of age? Then, they begin to show preference towards their native language.
Did you know that babies can distinguish sounds in all languages until about 6 months to 1 year of age? Then, they begin to show preference towards their native language.
Day 6! (A little late!)
Day 6 fun fact is that we develop sensitivity to sound even before we’re born — we begin to develop sensitivity to rhythm (what linguists call “prosodic patterns”) in utero!
Day 6 fun fact is that we develop sensitivity to sound even before we’re born — we begin to develop sensitivity to rhythm (what linguists call “prosodic patterns”) in utero!
February 8, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Day 6! (A little late!)
Day 6 fun fact is that we develop sensitivity to sound even before we’re born — we begin to develop sensitivity to rhythm (what linguists call “prosodic patterns”) in utero!
Day 6 fun fact is that we develop sensitivity to sound even before we’re born — we begin to develop sensitivity to rhythm (what linguists call “prosodic patterns”) in utero!
Reposted by Dr. Grace — Science Communication
Day 5! Give it up for day five!
Keeping on with the theme of the past few days, while we’re processing language, we’re also generating predictions about what comes next! (1/3 🧵)
Keeping on with the theme of the past few days, while we’re processing language, we’re also generating predictions about what comes next! (1/3 🧵)
February 6, 2026 at 3:45 AM
Day 5! Give it up for day five!
Keeping on with the theme of the past few days, while we’re processing language, we’re also generating predictions about what comes next! (1/3 🧵)
Keeping on with the theme of the past few days, while we’re processing language, we’re also generating predictions about what comes next! (1/3 🧵)
Day 4!
Continuing on in the theme of yesterday’s fun fact, when we process language, we process it “incrementally” ! Take the sentence “I like dancing.” (1/2 🧵)
Continuing on in the theme of yesterday’s fun fact, when we process language, we process it “incrementally” ! Take the sentence “I like dancing.” (1/2 🧵)
February 5, 2026 at 4:49 AM
Day 4!
Continuing on in the theme of yesterday’s fun fact, when we process language, we process it “incrementally” ! Take the sentence “I like dancing.” (1/2 🧵)
Continuing on in the theme of yesterday’s fun fact, when we process language, we process it “incrementally” ! Take the sentence “I like dancing.” (1/2 🧵)
Day 3!
Today’s fun fact is that we process language in a millisecond-by-millsecond fashion! I’m including a video to illustrate JUST how fast that is — it took me 23 milliseconds just to start and stop my stopwatch!
Today’s fun fact is that we process language in a millisecond-by-millsecond fashion! I’m including a video to illustrate JUST how fast that is — it took me 23 milliseconds just to start and stop my stopwatch!
February 4, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Day 3!
Today’s fun fact is that we process language in a millisecond-by-millsecond fashion! I’m including a video to illustrate JUST how fast that is — it took me 23 milliseconds just to start and stop my stopwatch!
Today’s fun fact is that we process language in a millisecond-by-millsecond fashion! I’m including a video to illustrate JUST how fast that is — it took me 23 milliseconds just to start and stop my stopwatch!
It’s Day 2!
Did you know that you can technically “lose” or forget parts of your first language? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. For example, if you spend a lot of time speaking your second language, you might become more proficient in your second language than your first! (1/3 🧵)
Did you know that you can technically “lose” or forget parts of your first language? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. For example, if you spend a lot of time speaking your second language, you might become more proficient in your second language than your first! (1/3 🧵)
February 2, 2026 at 11:13 PM
It’s Day 2!
Did you know that you can technically “lose” or forget parts of your first language? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. For example, if you spend a lot of time speaking your second language, you might become more proficient in your second language than your first! (1/3 🧵)
Did you know that you can technically “lose” or forget parts of your first language? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. For example, if you spend a lot of time speaking your second language, you might become more proficient in your second language than your first! (1/3 🧵)
It’s February 1st, which means it’s Fun Fact February! Every day this month, I’m sharing a new fun fact about second language acquisition/language processing.
Today’s fun fact… (1/2 🧵)
Today’s fun fact… (1/2 🧵)
February 2, 2026 at 3:29 AM
It’s February 1st, which means it’s Fun Fact February! Every day this month, I’m sharing a new fun fact about second language acquisition/language processing.
Today’s fun fact… (1/2 🧵)
Today’s fun fact… (1/2 🧵)
Check out my new Substack post, breaking down the difference between our mind and our brain! open.substack.com/pub/gracetal...
The mind vs. the brain 🧠
Is there a difference?
open.substack.com
August 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Check out my new Substack post, breaking down the difference between our mind and our brain! open.substack.com/pub/gracetal...
How does bilingualism impact our mind and our brain? Check out my new Substack post!
In short, when we speak multiple languages, they’re all “active” at the same time. Our brain performs a constant “juggling act” when we speak multiple languages!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
In short, when we speak multiple languages, they’re all “active” at the same time. Our brain performs a constant “juggling act” when we speak multiple languages!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
How does bilingualism impact the mind and brain?
In my last post, I wrote about how difficult it can be to define bilingualism – there are many, many factors that affect the bilingual experience (aptly named, as even more to point, no one person exp...
substack.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:13 PM
How does bilingualism impact our mind and our brain? Check out my new Substack post!
In short, when we speak multiple languages, they’re all “active” at the same time. Our brain performs a constant “juggling act” when we speak multiple languages!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
In short, when we speak multiple languages, they’re all “active” at the same time. Our brain performs a constant “juggling act” when we speak multiple languages!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
How do you define bilingualism — or can we define it? After struggling a bit to figure out how I want my SciComm endeavors to take shape after IG, I’ve taken to Substack. Check out my two most recent posts and share widely to non-linguists!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
Defining bilingualism (?)
One summer when I taught a Second Language Acquisition class, I asked my students if they considered themselves to be bilingual.
substack.com
June 10, 2025 at 11:13 PM
How do you define bilingualism — or can we define it? After struggling a bit to figure out how I want my SciComm endeavors to take shape after IG, I’ve taken to Substack. Check out my two most recent posts and share widely to non-linguists!
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
substack.com/@gracetalksl...
On IG I relied a lot on Canva and photo carousels, but with BlueSky’s four photo limit, I might need to adjust some things. But here are some remnants I still have from my IG account.
March 19, 2025 at 7:09 PM
On IG I relied a lot on Canva and photo carousels, but with BlueSky’s four photo limit, I might need to adjust some things. But here are some remnants I still have from my IG account.
I’ll make this my inaugural post on my SciComm BlueSky — hi, I’m Grace, I’m a graduating PhD candidate from UF researching L2 sentence processing and bilingualism.
I migrated from IG and was GraceTalksLanguage on there, communicating SLA/language and Brain/bilingualism to non-expert audiences.
I migrated from IG and was GraceTalksLanguage on there, communicating SLA/language and Brain/bilingualism to non-expert audiences.
I follow all of the usual linguistics Tik Tok/reels/shorts and – no shade, they're excellent – but it's so dominated by things like historical linguistics/etymology/fun language facts. Gen Z needs islands, N400, and subsective adjectives on their fyp
March 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I’ll make this my inaugural post on my SciComm BlueSky — hi, I’m Grace, I’m a graduating PhD candidate from UF researching L2 sentence processing and bilingualism.
I migrated from IG and was GraceTalksLanguage on there, communicating SLA/language and Brain/bilingualism to non-expert audiences.
I migrated from IG and was GraceTalksLanguage on there, communicating SLA/language and Brain/bilingualism to non-expert audiences.