Matrix matching

E-Harmony came at a time when people were exploring a new way to "hook up" with others.  It worked well because it asked its users to fill out a several-hundred question survey about themselves.  Then it placed the information in a matrix and made compatible matches between people.  It was one of the few places to use a matrix for personality traits and connect the dots between people.

Picking up a language, its vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics is much the same.  It in great part is due to  personality.  Other factors enter in, such as exposure, but to know what words a person knows or what native nuances a person will use (like the appearance or absence of an s at the end of backward/s, anyway/s, or toward/s) depends not on schooling but on all the blanks that have been filled in on a 20 X 20 square matrix with personality traits.  Someone who is gregarious, for example, might have an eye out for the syntax or phrasing of something that would make her/him desire prestige in someone else's eyes.  Someone who is extremely studious doesn't worry about prestige much, but would want a choice word or semantic meaning that would make him/her look educated or "smart" in someone's eyes.  Response to language learning is dependent on what traits fill those 400 squares.  Get someone to fill that out, then you might have a clue as to the type of language (s)he might use or the type of words (maybe even number of words) (s)he might know.

Personalities that match make people compatible.  Compatibility between people is something I will leave for another day although I believe in it and have experienced it to my good fortune.  Personalites make for a match with language markers, including style and  vocabulary, as well.  Try it sometime. Fill out a matrix, then match it to your vocabulary, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.  It's a match made in Heaven.