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nabelew.bsky.social
nabelew
@nabelew.bsky.social
2.6K followers 940 following 1K posts
Linguist (revitalization, documentation, sociolinguistics) but also not a professional account so I’m gonna say cuss words 🤷‍♀️ she/her
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nabelew.bsky.social
every spring I feel so grateful to live in Portland. “City of Roses” is true, they love it here, they bloom untended on highway medians, they flourish in yards where they were planted thirty years ago and forgotten about, they flood the city with the smell of new life and make the days lighter 🥖🌹
two dusty lavender rose blossoms against a background of red roses and some other bright purple flowers a mottled blood red and cream colored rose blossom a group of rose blossoms that are pink in the middle and yellow on the outside
May 18, 2025 at 4:59 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
lmao
post by this guy reading “what’s wrong with being like Darth Vader! He was an equal opportunities employer bringing hope equity to the Galactic Empire!”
May 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
Without downloading any pics where are you mentally
Dale Gribble saying “Figure it out, Hank, the state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime”
May 10, 2025 at 12:46 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
any program officer who doesn’t submit an empty or deliberately garbled spreadsheet needs to grow the fuck up
Around 10,000 research grants have been flagged for review and distributed to various programme directors. Grants in one area of science are being distributed to directors in a separate area of science. For instance, the geosciences division is examining grants from the division of social, behavioural and economic sciences. The grants are being reviewed independently by two staff members instructed to indicate any potential violations of Trump’s orders. They will submit their reviews in a spreadsheet by 5 p.m. today.
February 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
there is a hotline:
ICE hotline number, eyewitness reports only: 1-888-622-1510
January 26, 2025 at 12:03 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
Portland & wider Oregon friends, just in case you don’t have this number saved in your phone yet: hotline to report any EYEWITNESS accounts (not rumors!!) of ICE activity.
Text reads “Emergeng Hotline if you are an EYEWITNESS to ICE activity. ONLY REPORT IF: •You are a witness to an immigration raid -Someone has been sent to a detention center that day WE CAN: -educate you on your Rights -provide Referrals & Resources WE OPERATE STATEWIDE DO NOT Share reports Report talse or second hand information Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition 1-888-622-1510” In the center is an illustration of an adult and child under a roof.
January 25, 2025 at 7:58 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
what a cursed headline on so many levels
“Technology meets mission: Starlink’s role in Bible translation - Mission Network News”
January 13, 2025 at 9:10 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics what's your energy going into 2025
bathroom graffiti reading “succeed - live - survive - out of spite”
December 28, 2024 at 6:46 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
turns out all you have to do to militarize a population en masse is switch around your theta-roles and add “effort-producing gutturals and hard vowels” to your phonemic inventory
was: "Farmer in state of exertion; axe agency; tree in state of subjection to attack.") "In the new language the sentence becomes: The farmer overcomes the inertia of the axe; the axe breaks asunder the resistance of tree.' Or perhaps: "The farmer vanquishes the tree, using the weapon-instrument of the axe'." "Ah," said Bustamonte appreciatively. "The syllabary will be rich in effort-producing gutturals and hard vowels. A number of key ideas will be synony-mous; such as pleasure and overcoming a resistance-relax-tion and shame-out-worlder and rival. Even the clans of Bat-marsh will seem mild compared to the future Paonese military.
December 24, 2024 at 7:18 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
finally getting around to reading this, and while it’s 75% boring pulp, I admit a liking for “watershed” as a linguistic relativity metaphor

(also, linguistic anarchism as hyper-individualism is so dumb, and just a decade later was so beautifully rebutted by Le Guin’s Pravic)
Fanchiel found his answer in Beran's expression. "Think of a language as the contour of a watershed, stopping flow in certain directions, channeling it into others. Language controls the mechanism of your mind. When people speak different languages, their minds work differently and they act differently. For instance: you know of the planet Vale?" "Yes. The world where all the people are insane." "Better to say, their actions give the impression of insanity. Actually they are complete anarchists. Now if we examine the speech of Vale we find, if not a reason for the behavior, at least a parallelism. Language on Vale is personal improvisation, with the fewest possible conventions. Each individual selects a speech as you or I might choose the color of our garments.
December 24, 2024 at 4:16 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
A grim but significant question: Lyle Campbell is wondering if anyone has documented examples of sudden language dormancy (death of all speakers/signers at once). Sharing here in case anyone knows of such cases - let him know, or I’ll share any replies I get here:

#linguistics 🐦🐦
[1] Does anyone have any information about what impact the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa had on languages? (It is reported that 165 villages and towns were destroyed near Krakatoa, and another 132 were seriously damaged, mostly in the tsunami following the explosion, and that there were 36,417 deaths (some sources say 120,000+). [2] Are there documented cases of languages becoming suddenly dormant (“extinct”) because all the speakers were killed by humans (in massacres, ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc.)? [I’m thinking of purposeful killing, but if there are any cases where all remaining speakers of a language were killed accidentally due to human error, I’d be interested to know of them too.] [3] Are there documented cases of languages suddenly being lost (becoming dormant [“extinct”]) due to diseases, epidemics? [4] Are there other instances of sudden loss (“extinction”) of languages due to catastrophic events of any other sorts? (I’m not sure what they might be, maybe the likes of mudslides, rock slides, sudden severe famine, drought, blizzards, tornadoes, ships/boats sinking, whatever?)
December 16, 2024 at 9:09 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
This is the energy I want to see at every city council meeting when some chud from Florida calls ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi or any Indigenous language "dead" 🔥

www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...
“It is not a dead language. It’s very much alive,” said Esther Kiaʻāina, Honolulu City Council vice chair. “If it wasn’t for the fact that those who helped to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawai’i and banned our language, we would only speak Hawaiian now, so please learn your history when you come to testify at the city council,” she added.
December 16, 2024 at 5:51 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
uhhh a linguistic relativity sci-fi novel from 1958 i’ve never heard of? SOLD

they were having some THOUGHTS about psychological sapir-worfare back then (🥴)
a very 1950s piece of sci fi cover art depicting a man in a heavy cloak pointing into the distance, above a group of men in cloaks and hats standing in snow at the bottom of the cover. the title is “The Languages of Pao” by Jack Vance back cover: “Beran Panasper, young heir to the throne of Pao, had seen his father assassinated and the throne stolen by his uncle, Bustamonte. Beran himself was saved only by the intervention of Palpfax, a multi-powerful scientist-wizard from Breakness. Years later, Beran discovered that he was protected only because the wizard had cunning plans for his future. Palofax had embarked upon a scheme to subjugate the docile Paonese. The wizard, under the guise of helping Pao defeat its enemies, had convinced the government to institute a system of class languages-one for warriors, one for technicians and one for bureaucrats. The new languages had subtle built-in defects that would make Pao ready for the reincarnation of its long lost legitimate ruler-controlled and manipulated by Palofax. Beran did want his throne back-but what could he do against, the almost-omnipotent wizard?”
December 9, 2024 at 12:37 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
Some of those critics advise us to substitute “you all,” “all,” “folks” or “people.” Some have even suggested “y’all,” a word that reads as much too slangy, regional or what you might even call ethnic to ever gain universal acceptance.
December 7, 2024 at 7:22 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
i feel attacked by my apple music replay

how do I tell it “november we had a federal grant due and selected ambient works 85-92 is dulcolax for prose”
apple music replay for 2024, Clark is top artist for 8 months, Protomartyr for 3, and Aphex Twin for November. Clark’s artist photo, a very thin man staring downwards into the middle distance, appears at the right of the image a comical number of times
December 5, 2024 at 2:40 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
Call for panel participation at #SLA2025 on “Responses to regimes of colonial linguistics” - expressions of interest due Dec. 2. #linguistics
Dear All, Seeking two more panelists to round out our panel on Responses to regimes of colonial linguistics. Please see abstract below. We invite papers from a broad range of colonial sites of encounter and historical periods. Interested parties please respond with 250 word abstract by Monday, December 2 to: puninderemail@gmail.com As Irvine has noted, the work of colonial-era scholars of language has often ?cast a long shadow? (2015, 208) on subsequent developments in language ideologies and practices in those colonies and erstwhile colonies. This panel seeks to build upon a body of scholarship that has examined the development of colonial regimes of language (cf. Cohn 1996; Errington 2008; Fabian 1986; Hanks 2010; Heller & McElhinny 2017; Irvine 1993; Rafael 1993; Trautmann 2006, et al.) by attending to questions of how colonized and formerly colonized peoples have responded to the various outcomes of these regimes, including but not limited to the development of ?objectifying? forms such as grammars, dictionaries, schedules, and maps, forms of education, and linguistic policies, in both colonial and post-colonial periods. How have communities adopted, or rejected, or alternatively made accommodations with, in part or in whole, methods and structures of colonial regimes of "scientific" linguistics? What have been some of the products and effects of these various responses? How have discourse, method, organization, and policy shifted in response to these regimes? Finally, how has the ?long shadow? cast by colonial linguistics affected the development of knowledge systems and forms of praxis around language in the colonial and post-colonial eras? Best, Puninder Singh University of Michigan
November 28, 2024 at 5:22 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
jeez, duckassist, biases replicated by llms include heightism
“Lil Wayne is 5 feet 5 inches tall (1.65 meters). Despite his shorter stature, he is regarded as one of the most successful and influential rappers of all time.”
November 25, 2024 at 2:14 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
share a crush you have, no explanation
Brad Dourif in “The Eyes of Laura Mars”, looking freakily intense and distressed like Brad Dourif so often does
November 23, 2024 at 12:20 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
saw this comment in a professional context, and it’s a GREAT reminder that maybe you can shift one vote that will keep HR9495 from endangering every Palestinian rights (& then every other) advocacy nonprofit
“My congressional rep previously voted yes. I just spoke with his staff, and he is voting no tomorrow. Your voice matters—pick up the phone!”
November 21, 2024 at 5:48 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
Are you interested in how Indigenous communities are revitalizing their languages?

Come learn about language revitalization firsthand, from a group of incredible activists around the world! Monday at 1:00pm Pacific: bit.ly/R2R-Showcase

#linguistics #langsky 🐦🐦
Green, yellow, maroon and white flyer with text “Save the date! Ready to Revitalize: 2024 Participant Showcase. Monday, November 18, 1:00pm Pacific.” Below is the registration URL and the logo of the Endangered Languages Project.
November 13, 2024 at 6:56 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
i sure hope rene fucking gonzalez isn't mayor of portland by the end of the day
photo of someone holding yard signs that read "Rene Gonzalez is the nastiest skank bitch I have ever met"
November 5, 2024 at 7:13 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
One of my favorite sessions of our annual language documentation webinars is coming up tomorrow! All are welcome - stop by for an always-wonderful workshop on biocultural knowledge and #IndigenousLanguages, led by the fantastic Dr. Haʻalilio Solomon. 🐦🐦

Registration is free: bit.ly/LDWebinar2024
Flyer with a photo of green and grey misty riverlands, with maroon text box on top reading: "Language Documentation Training Webinar Week 5: Documenting Biocultural Knowledge, N. Haʻalilio Solomon, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa." There is a photo of Dr. Solomon in a grey shirt, holding his hand to his chin thoughtfully. The date and time are listed: Friday, November 1, 2024, 2:30 pm Hawaii. At the bottom are the logos of the Endangered Languages Project and the Language Documentation Training Center.
October 31, 2024 at 6:11 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
this was on my office door about a decade ago
old superhero comic re-dubbed: superhero shows up in rural village, someone says “only you can save our language for us, o ghost who walks!” superhero says “i’m from the university and i’m here to help you. no time to lose, languages are dying everywhere” final panel as the crowd looks on, superhero is saying “let’s decide on whether to use ‘p’ or ‘b’ in the spelling system. should we be OLAC compliant? and what about the GOLD ontology? what else now…” as the text spills out of speech bubble onto the bottom of the page
October 21, 2024 at 3:13 PM
nabelew.bsky.social
Without downloading new pics where are you mentally
photo of a raccoon wearing neon green headphones sitting at a sick gamer desk with a can of mountain dew, with text “trying to have a good time / despite knowing facts and information”
September 19, 2024 at 2:09 AM
nabelew.bsky.social
(scrabbling for the only cred I will ever conceivably have) um excuse me I think you mean first 3%
user number 266,253
September 17, 2024 at 12:25 AM