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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4h

theconversation.com/birds-all-ov...

If you want more of the latest news, research, and interesting reads in language and linguistics, check out my free weekly digest!

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/current-ling...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/s/current-li...

Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats

The findings of a new study about communication between birds also offer key insights into the origins of language.

theconversation.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4h

But while birds that have never seen a brood parasite know how to respond to this call, they don’t know how to produce it. They only do it after watching others produce it when a brood parasite is nearby.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4h

A new study finds a bird call that appears to be a mix of instinct and learning: over 20 species of birds from around the world, separated by 50 million years of evolution, using the same call when they see a brood parasite (birds that trick other species into raising their young).

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4h

At some point in the evolution of human language, our species transitioned from instinctual vocalizations to ones that had to be learned and passed down through culture rather than genetics. 🧵

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 1d

If you want more of the latest news, research, and interesting reads in language and linguistics, check out my free weekly digest!

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/current-ling...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/s/current-li...

Current Linguistics - Linguistic Discovery

A weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and other media dealing with language and linguistics.

linguisticdiscovery.com

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 1d

The Māori language, recently saved from obsolescence, faces fresh threats.

The latest issue of Babel: The Language Magazine looks at this renaissance at risk.

Get your own subscription to Babel: The Language Magazine here:

babelzine.co.uk

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

If you want more of the latest news, research, and interesting reads in language and linguistics, check out my free weekly digest!

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/current-ling...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/s/current-li...

Current Linguistics - Linguistic Discovery

A weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and other media dealing with language and linguistics.

linguisticdiscovery.com

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

A word which baffled the producers of the latest series of Race Across the World is among 10 Welsh words to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary in its latest update.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Fin Gough and Sioned Cray confused Race Across the World producers with the word poody earlier this year

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

Want to learn more about Sumerian and Babylonian mathematics? Check out this issue of the Linguistic Discovery newsletter:

linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/Sumeri...

#cuneiform #writing #numbers #counting #linguistics #language #Sumerian #Akkadian #Babylonian

From counting to cuneiform: How writing was invented

The earliest version of cuneiform wasn't used to write language at all—it was used to count! And that Sumerian system of counting still influences our counting systems today. Here's the story of…

LinguisticDiscovery.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

They kept counting by 60s! And just used 10 as a subbase.

Here is how the Akkadians (and later the Babylonians) counted. They only used the first two symbols from the Sumerians, 𒐕 for 1 and 𒌋 for 10.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

But the Akkadian language counted by 10s. So what did the Akkadians do when they adopted Sumerian cuneiform?

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

The original Sumerian language counted by 60s. Here is their counting system:

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 2d

Cuneiform was first used to write the Sumerian language, but eventually the Akkadian Empire displaced the Sumerians. The Akkadians then adopted Sumerian cuneiform.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 3d

If you want more of the latest news, research, and interesting articles in language and linguistics, check out my free weekly digest!

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/current-ling...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/s/current-li...

Current Linguistics - Linguistic Discovery

A weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and other media dealing with language and linguistics.

linguisticdiscovery.com

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 3d

Linguists have long speculated that language may have originated in gesture, as a type of early sign language, before shifting to a spoken medium. Using experimental evidence, a 2022 paper suggests that the meanings of gestures are sufficiently universal to have provided a basis for early language.

Hand Gestures May Have Been the Start of Human Language

Our unique language systems distinguish us from other species, but researchers explore how early hand gestures paved the way for civilization.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 3d

📰 Here’s what happened this week in the world of language and linguistics:

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2025-40/
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/p/2025-40

#linguistics #language #science

China lays claim to Austronesian languages

Also this week: The Linguistics of a Showgirl: How Taylor Swift’s accent has changed over time + We will soon be able to talk with other species—but which one will be first?

linguisticdiscovery.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 3d

🇨🇳🏝️ China lays claim to Austronesian languages

🎤 The Linguistics of a Showgirl: How Taylor Swift’s accent has changed

🐬 We will soon be able to talk with other species—but which will be first?

China lays claim to Austronesian languages

Also this week: The Linguistics of a Showgirl: How Taylor Swift’s accent has changed over time + We will soon be able to talk with other species—but which one will be first?

linguisticdiscovery.com

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Reposted by Linguistic Discovery

Jess Zafarris @jesszafarris.bsky.social · 4d

I am woefully addicted to @linguisticdiscovery.com's Substack.

In it, Dr. Danny Hieber curates a wonderful and wonderfully sourced collection of linguistic news—and this week, he's also included an excerpt from my book!

Check it out and sub:

linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/p/useless-et...

What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology

A sneak peek at Jess Zafarris’ new book, “Useless etymology: Word origins for curious minds”

linguisticdiscovery.substack.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

And if you want to learn more about the kinds of changes in language that happen over the course of individual lifespans, I’ve got an entire article that teaches you about exactly that:

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/iron-d...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/p/iron-dream...

‘Shake it off’: Taylor Swift’s changing voice shows how our accents evolve

An analysis of Swift’s interviews suggests her speech pattern has changed over her career.

www.nature.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

This study is an excellent example of how the way we speak can change even as adults, when we tend to think of our language as fairly stable.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Shake it off’: Taylor Swift’s changing voice shows how our accents evolve

An analysis of Swift’s interviews suggests her speech pattern has changed over her career.

www.nature.com

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

This confirms what people have long noted—“that Swift had a fairly marked shift in her pronunciation once she moved to Tennessee and then back to Pennsylvania again.”

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

An analysis of Taylor Swift’s interviews from three different eras of her career (and I don’t just mean the Eras Tour) show that her accent has shifted over time, from a notably Southern accent to now one that reflects the Pennsylvania dialect where she grew up.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

The Linguistics of a Showgirl: Linguists show how Taylor Swift’s accent has changed over the course of her career.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 5d

Get your own copy of the book here:

amzn.to/4krA7qf

amzn.to

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 5d

Learn all about eponymous etymology from today’s special guest @JessZafarris.bsky.social as she gives you a sneak peek into her new book, “Useless etymology”—which comes out today!

Website: linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/useles...
Substack: linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/p/useless-et...

What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology

A sneak peek at Jess Zafarris’ new book, “Useless etymology: Word origins for curious minds”

linguisticdiscovery.com

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