Language Log (original) (raw)
Xi lies flat
May 15, 2026 @ 6:07 pm · Filed by under Uncategorized
From the renowned cartoonist, Rebel Pepper
Losing languages: Ubykh
May 15, 2026 @ 9:54 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Language extinction, Language preservation
"What Happens When We Lose a Language?" by Sophia Smith Galer, The Guardian (5/12/26)
The Ubykhs are people I've known about for half a century, but now I wish that I knew them better.
We are lucky to know anything at all about the Ubykh language. In the 1800s, tens of thousands of people spoke it on the Black Sea coast. When Russia conquered the region, the Ubykhs resisted until they were forced into exile in the Ottoman empire. Transported thousands of miles by a traumatised community now scattered across Turkey, Ubykh survived until 1992 when its last fluent speaker died. It was one of at least 244 languages that has become extinct since 1950, and soon – unless anything changes – my grandmother’s language will have joined them.
Much ado about Marco Rubio's new Chinese name
May 14, 2026 @ 9:25 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Transcription
Dreibelbis redux
May 13, 2026 @ 5:34 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and kinship, Names
You may remember the "Customer Experience Manager" named Steven Dreibelbis whom I met in a Home Depot about half a year ago (see the post I wrote about him and his surname, the first entry in "Selected readings" below). This afternoon, I received the following communication from his father:
This is James (Jim) Dreibelbis, father of the Steven Dreibelbis mentioned in the original post on your Language Log. Steven's son, Esteban Dreibelbis, a student at Drexel, found and sent me this interesting discussion on our family name.
Some years ago I was historian for the Dreibelbis Cousins of America, an association of Dreibelbis related individuals, so I can provide some relevant background. The Dreibelbis are all descendants (with their relations) of John Jacob Dreibelbis, who came to Philadelphia from Rotterdam on the ship Mary of London, on September 26, 1732. He was the son of Jacob Treibelbiss of Hassloch, Germany, though the family had moved there from the village of Hemmenthal, in the Canton of Schauffhausen, Switzerland.
Blue: the color that didn't exist until someone invented a word for it
May 12, 2026 @ 7:34 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Cognitive science, Language and perception
Keywords
Homer; Berlin and Kay; Jules Davidoff; Himba; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic relativity); pigment synthesis; lapis lazuli; Russian; goluboy, siniy; time; space; emotions; William Gladstone; κύανος > κυανός > cyan
Scarlatti and dodecahedrons
May 11, 2026 @ 2:31 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and mathematics, Language and music
On May 9, M. Paul Shore sent this note to me:
A belated thank-you for the April 22nd Galuppi (1706-1785) link*. I’d never heard of him. That whole Baroque-to-Classical transition phase is a fascinating and enjoyable but underappreciated one. The composers from that phase who get the most attention (and deservedly so) are two of J.S. Bach’s sons, J.C. and C.P.E.
*"A bridge between Baroque & Classical"
Some recent articles on language and linguistics, part 2
May 8, 2026 @ 6:39 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Announcements, Bibliography, Language and genetics, Language and music, Language and philosophy, Language and psychology, Language preservation, Manuscripts, Syntax
- "How Six Minnesotans Are Preserving Their Rare Languages." Das, Shubhanjana. Sahan Journal, April 28, 2026. https://sahanjournal.com/arts-culture/native-speakers-rare-languages-minnesota/.
- "An Inverse Correlation between Structural Linguistic and Human Genetic Diversity." Graff, Anna et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123, no. 18 (May 5, 2026): e2526762123. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2526762123. Read the rest of this entry »
Promoting Taiwanese language usage in Taiwan
May 7, 2026 @ 8:35 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Uncategorized
Taipei City Council forms Taiwanese Language Revitalization Caucus
Civic groups call for wider everyday use of Taiwanese
Keoni Everington, Taiwan News (5/6/26)
statistics show that in 2020, 66.4% of people primarily used Mandarin, while 31.7% used Taiwanese as their main language, CNA reported. However, 54.3% reported using Taiwanese as a secondary language, indicating that many people have some ability in the language but lack an environment in which to use it.
Some recent articles on language and linguistics
May 6, 2026 @ 6:33 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Animal communication, Announcements, Bibliography, Language teaching and learning, Psycholinguistics
- "Does the Brain Really Know What Word Is Coming Next?" Antonello, Richard J. eLife 15 (April 27, 2026): e111163. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.111163.
- "The Sound of Populism: Distinct Linguistic Features Across Populist Variants." Wang, Yu et al. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (April 27, 2026). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-06799-8.
- "The Phonology of Sperm Whale Coda Vowels." Beguš, Gašper et al. Royal Society Proceedings B: Biological Sciences 293, no. 2069 (April 15, 2026): 20252994. https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.2994. Read the rest of this entry »
Decipherment of Linear Elamite, part 2
May 4, 2026 @ 5:32 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Decipherment, Language and archeology
I was aware of this article nearly a week ago, but was too preoccupied with other matters to post on it till today.
French researcher cracks 4,000-year-old Elamite script from Iran
The 4,000-year-old Linear Elamite script from what is now Iran has long eluded archaeologists hoping to unlock the secrets of a near-forgotten age. French archaeologist François Desset's work on deciphering the writing system now has some comparing him to Jean-François Champollion, the famed philologist who deciphered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
By France 24 (28/04/2026)
Was Homer (color)blind?
May 3, 2026 @ 3:23 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Psychology of language, Vocabulary