lang-writing-style
GitHub用于润色语言学稿件，确保跨框架可读性并符合《语言风格指南》。适用于投稿前打磨、消除术语壁垒、规范引用格式及压缩字数，不构建理论论证。
Trigger Scenarios
Install
npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill lang-writing-style -g -y
SKILL.md
Frontmatter
{
"name": "lang-writing-style",
"description": "Use when polishing the prose and house style of a Language (LSA) manuscript so it reads for a general linguistics audience and conforms to the Language Style Sheet \/ Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics. Language prizes analysis legible across frameworks and subfields; jargon and single-formalism prose lose readers. Polishes and conforms; it does not build the argument."
}
Writing Style & House Style (lang-writing-style)
Language is read across the whole discipline, so its prose bar is legibility across subfields and
frameworks: a syntactician should follow a phonology paper's argument, and vice versa. The journal
also has a specific citation and formatting house style — the Language Style Sheet, closely tied to
the Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics Journals — that differs from APA, Chicago, or a subfield's
local habits. This skill polishes the writing and conforms the mechanics; it does not build the argument
(that is lang-theory-building).
When to trigger
- Polishing a draft before submission
- A reader said the paper is "only readable by [framework] people" or "buried the claim"
- Converting citations/references to Language house style
- Tightening a General Research Article toward or under the length bar
Write for the whole discipline
- Front-load the claim. By the end of the introduction the reader should know the generalization, the analysis, its key prediction, and why a linguist outside the subfield should care.
- Gloss your jargon. Define framework-specific terms on first use; give the theory-neutral statement of the pattern before the formal one, so the data are legible without the formalism.
- Let the numbered example carry the point. Prose should set up and interpret examples, not restate them; refer to data by example number.
- Earn the length. A General Research Article is capped at 18,000 words and held to a stricter bar past 12,000; cut throat-clearing, redundant derivations, and literature-for-coverage.
Language house style (verify on the Style Sheet)
- Citations: author-date, in the Unified/Language Style Sheet form — e.g., in-text
(Author 2020:145), and a reference list with the Style Sheet's punctuation and capitalization (sentence-style article titles, full journal names, page ranges). - Examples and glosses: numbered, Leipzig-glossed (see
lang-tables-figures). - Terminology and symbols: consistent IPA; grammatical labels in small caps; language names and ISO 639-3 codes where helpful.
- Notes: footnotes for substantive asides, kept lean; do not offload the argument into notes.
Conform the mechanics (checklist)
- In-text citations and reference list in Unified/Language Style Sheet form (not APA/Chicago)
- Numbered examples with aligned Leipzig glosses; abbreviations listed
- Jargon defined on first use; theory-neutral statement precedes the formal one
- Claim and prediction stated in the introduction, not deferred to the conclusion
- Consistent IPA and small-caps labels; language names/codes correct
- Within the section's word limit; length earned
Referee-pushback patterns on prose (Language fixes)
| Referee writes… | The Language-specific fix |
|---|---|
| "Impenetrable to non-[framework] readers." | give the theory-neutral generalization first; gloss terms |
| "The contribution is buried." | front-load the claim and prediction in the intro |
| "References not in journal style." | convert to the Unified/Language Style Sheet form |
| "Padded / over the bar." | cut coverage citations and redundant derivations |
Calibration (Language voice, hedged)
Reflects Language's house and readership, not universal rules; confirm wording on the Style Sheet. The most common avoidable style failure is prose that assumes the reader already lives inside your formalism — a general reader bounces off undefined notation. The second is mis-applied citation style (APA/Chicago instead of the Unified/Language Style Sheet). Illustrative: a Minimalist syntax paper opens with three pages of framework machinery before any data; the fix leads with the descriptive generalization and a glossed example, defers the formal derivation, and reformats 60 references from APA into Style Sheet form — the same analysis, now legible to a semanticist or a typologist.
Anti-patterns
- Prose readable only by insiders of one framework (undefined notation, no theory-neutral statement)
- Burying the claim until the discussion section
- APA/Chicago/subfield-local citation style instead of the Unified/Language Style Sheet
- Offloading the real argument into dense footnotes
- Padding to look comprehensive, pushing a General Research Article past the earned length
Output format
【Reads across subfields】claim + example legible to an outsider? [Y/N]
【Front-loaded】claim + prediction in the intro? [Y/N]
【House style】Unified/Language Style Sheet citations + refs? [Y/N]
【Glossing/IPA】examples and symbols conform? [Y/N]
【Length】within the section cap, earned? [Y/N]
【Next】lang-submission
Supplementary resources
../../resources/external_tools.md— reference managers, CSL styles, glossing tools../../resources/official-source-map.md— Language Style Sheet / Unified Style Sheet source
Version History
- 9f86f09 Current 2026-07-19 16:58
