Linguistics

I do not doubt that there are languages where the WORD for '20' is etymologically something like '(whole) person', which fact is constantly cited as proof that those people counted fingers AND TOES. But two questions: (1) is there a language that actually has a numeral that etymologically derives from a word for toe? (2) Has anyone observed people counting on fingers and toes?

I am the author and maintainer of the LinguisTiX bundle (ctan.org/pkg/linguistix) developed for enhanced support for linguistics in LaTeX. It’s a free (as in freedom) software. It is available at no cost with the latest (and updated) TeX Live 2025. I am currently working on a package that provides linguistic glosses in an accessible manner with LaTeX. Many of my peers from the LaTeX community have recommended me to discuss the software ideas with blind linguists (I am using blind as an u

Does Brazilian Portuguese allow P-stranding?A syntactic and lexical argument for P-orphaning Hi everyone, I’m preparing to present a version of my MA thesis this October at the Konstanz Linguistics Conference and would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback before then. The topic concerns the syntax of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) prepositions that appear without adjacent complements — often analyzed as P-stranding, but I argue these are better analyzed as P-orphaning, involving a lexic

Languages have complex ways of marking (coding) the names of languages that are used/spoken/known/written etc. English is pretty simple but in Polish f.ex. I speak POLISH (or any language whose name is an adjective plus Latin, whose name in Polish is a noun) has one construction, I speak SANSKRIT (or any language whose name is a noun other than Latin) has another, I speak MANY LANGUAGES has a third, I know Polish, Sanskrit, many languages, etc. has a fourth--and there much more. Then different

I recently had to retire a very ancient Mac computer running Mac OS 10.13 on which I was able to type in IPA using SIL keyboard drivers and SIL fonts or any Unicode font. Now on the new machine, I'm running Mac OS 15 and the SIL keyboard drivers don't work. I have also installed the Keyman utility along with two IPA keyboards, and those also don't work. If I can't type in IPA, I'm really in trouble. SIL have provided no advice that worked, and I was wondering if anyone knows how to fix the pr

Editor's Note: The following reply addresses content in the review for The Philosophy of Theoretical Linguistics: A Contemporary Outlook (Nefdt, 2024; Cambridge University Press) which can be read in its entirety here: https://linguistlist.org/issues/36/243/. As a writer of a monograph and a scholar in general, it is always pleasing to see someone engage thoroughly with your work. This feeling holds whether or not that person was particularly laudatory or critical. In fact, critical reviews h

Dear colleagues, I am an instructional designer and TESOL-trained educator developing a structured home reading program specifically for Japanese-speaking families raising bilingual children. The program, Ippo-English, employs an Orton-Gillingham-based approach to teach early English decoding and pronunciation, adapted for Japanese learners. It integrates multisensory instruction, contrastive phonology, and will soon include AI-based pronunciation feedback. I am seeking an academic collabo

The Circle of Neurocognitive Linguistics (CELINE) of the University of Bucharest organises the 1 Year Anniversary as a Q&A Session with Prof. Sydney M. Lamb, Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Rice University, Houston, Texas and the creator of the Relational Network Theory (RNT) a.k.a. Neurocognitive Linguistics. The meeting will be held on March 31, at 6 PM (EET), online: https://meet.google.com/qfe-zioe-oje For more information: clcc@lls.unibu

Dear colleagues, I'd like to introduce my new project: https://yourwrong.co.uk/. Your Wrong is a crowdsourced database of examples of linguistic prescriptivism from popular culture and I'd love your help to find more! If, during your usual reading, watching and listening habits, you notice either: a) an example of linguistic correction; b) a judgement (be that positive or negative) about language use; or c) descriptions of people or characters as prescriptivists in any form of pop

On March 24 at 9 PM (Italian time), we invite you to an engaging discussion on James Higginbotham's work on the imperfective paradox, hosted on the Google Meet platform. The topic is explored in Chapter 8 of Tense, Aspect, and Indexicality, UOP. Dr. Luigi Pavone will begin with a presentation on the subject, followed by commentary from Prof. Panizza, who will provide further insights and perspectives. We will then open the floor for discussion, offering everyone the opportunity to engage with

Title: Tone Sandhi I am interested in tone sandhi outside of Sinitic (Chinese dialects). Please send me any papers, presentations, etc. about tone sandhi that you have found interesting. These can come from any language family. If my findings are written up into a paper, please let me know how you would like to be acknowledged. I work at Academia Sinica Institute of Linguistics as a Research Fellow. Thank you! Jonathan Evans

Name this usage: negative adjective becomes a positive adverb (the exact same word, without adding “ly” at the end.) E.g.: filthy rich, mad talented. Please add more examples There should be a word for this.

Dear colleagues, I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to request your assistance with a survey I am conducting as part of my MA thesis on languages that have acquired Differential Object Marking (DOM) due to language contact. So far, I have identified a few well-attested cases, for example in the Tibeto-Burman language family, particularly the Kiranti languages (Ebert 2003; Bickel 2003, etc.), as well as a few other cases such as Afrikaans (den Besten 2000), Basque (Rodríguez-O

In languages like Latin, participles can express future actions as well as present and past ones. English, however, lacks a dedicated future tense participle. This paper examines how certain English constructions function similarly to future tense participles, particularly in expressing actions occurring in the future and the sequence between them. We propose that "after" + verb-ing, "upon" + verb-ing, and "with" + noun + verb-ing constructions can be used as counterparts to future tense partici

I wanted to let you know that I’ve been involved in translating a course for the University of Vienna, designed for anyone interested in the humanities, social sciences, and linguistics who would like to learn about working with corpora of minoritized languages. The course offers a chance to discover how these types of corpora are created and explores key frameworks that are essential for working with them. This short introductory course provides insights into how language corpora contribute to

ExLing 2024 Paris Panel discussions The Future of Phonetics Outline Phonetics has always been a dynamic and experimental field, brimming with interdisciplinary possibilities and diverse applications. Today, with groundbreaking advancements in AI and cutting-edge methodologies, phonetics is poised at the forefront of innovation. Are you ready to explore where the study and practice of phonetics stand in this exciting new era? Unlock new opportunities with the latest scientific breakthroughs. E