Rory Turnbull
@roryturnbull.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology at Newcastle University ✦ Bahá’í ✦ Scottish ✦ he/him ✦ I like bikes, network science, R, and Linux
Assuming onset maximisation, we see it in _exclusive_ too. I think that this gap is pretty clearly an accident of history rather than a systematic grammatical restriction.
November 28, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Assuming onset maximisation, we see it in _exclusive_ too. I think that this gap is pretty clearly an accident of history rather than a systematic grammatical restriction.
"Sorry, I have to duck out of this meeting"
November 25, 2025 at 2:25 PM
"Sorry, I have to duck out of this meeting"
Both, typically. But not fixed-term positions like postdocs or a 12-month teaching gig.
November 24, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Both, typically. But not fixed-term positions like postdocs or a 12-month teaching gig.
They haven't had the time since 1472 to update the map, give them a little grace please
November 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
They haven't had the time since 1472 to update the map, give them a little grace please
In US academic hiring, typically there would be first-round interviews with maybe 10 candidates, after which they'd invite the top ~3 for a campus visit (where they give a talk and are interviewed further, meet everyone, etc). So, two rounds.
November 24, 2025 at 12:01 PM
In US academic hiring, typically there would be first-round interviews with maybe 10 candidates, after which they'd invite the top ~3 for a campus visit (where they give a talk and are interviewed further, meet everyone, etc). So, two rounds.
First-round interviews at the LSA annual meeting in January used to be quite common, but they've mostly been replaced by video calls nowadays.
November 24, 2025 at 11:58 AM
First-round interviews at the LSA annual meeting in January used to be quite common, but they've mostly been replaced by video calls nowadays.
Ah, I forgot to give the whole wingdings story in the lecture! It gets harder to explain every year - "imagine a time before emojis" 😂
November 19, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Ah, I forgot to give the whole wingdings story in the lecture! It gets harder to explain every year - "imagine a time before emojis" 😂
People do this in France too, so perhaps it's a continent vs UK thing? It feels the same as saying hello to the shopkeeper when you enter.
November 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
People do this in France too, so perhaps it's a continent vs UK thing? It feels the same as saying hello to the shopkeeper when you enter.
Me neither. I suppose our current system front-loads the effort to childhood learning.
November 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Me neither. I suppose our current system front-loads the effort to childhood learning.
Oh yes, you even mentioned this earlier! If we were feeling fancy we could flip the 8 to represent infinity 😂
November 13, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Oh yes, you even mentioned this earlier! If we were feeling fancy we could flip the 8 to represent infinity 😂
Can you even get all the way up to 110 with only three blocks? Highest I could figure out was up to 87 (with blocks 123456, 012789, 034567), assuming we display only the blocks we need.
November 13, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Can you even get all the way up to 110 with only three blocks? Highest I could figure out was up to 87 (with blocks 123456, 012789, 034567), assuming we display only the blocks we need.
I'm not sure this is a huge problem - we understand other dialects in speech, and doing it in writing is something authors often already do in non-standard ways. "Marry needed a pin for her riding" is interpretable, as is "luck at hair now", with practice.
November 13, 2025 at 9:08 AM
I'm not sure this is a huge problem - we understand other dialects in speech, and doing it in writing is something authors often already do in non-standard ways. "Marry needed a pin for her riding" is interpretable, as is "luck at hair now", with practice.
Famously litigious throughout time and space
November 12, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Famously litigious throughout time and space
"Spies", even, using the new-fangled plural conjugation
November 12, 2025 at 7:17 PM
"Spies", even, using the new-fangled plural conjugation
And shush me when we do sibilants
November 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
And shush me when we do sibilants
They tut tut when I mention clicks 😥
November 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
They tut tut when I mention clicks 😥
Thanks, this is helpful perspective. Back to an 18th-century model of science being funded by wealthy patrons, I see.
November 12, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Thanks, this is helpful perspective. Back to an 18th-century model of science being funded by wealthy patrons, I see.
I've seen her stuff pop up in my YouTube recs but never watched anything. Is there a tl;dr somewhere for this?
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
I've seen her stuff pop up in my YouTube recs but never watched anything. Is there a tl;dr somewhere for this?