John Mansfield
@johnbasil.bsky.social
my job is just LANGUAGING
Pinned
Our Anthropological Linguistics group at Uni Zurich has a webpage now:
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
Reposted by John Mansfield
🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!🚨
The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social)
Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social)
Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
November 25, 2025 at 7:49 PM
🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!🚨
The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social)
Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social)
Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
Reposted by John Mansfield
How are we still making discoveries about the 5000-year-old ancestor to English, Latin, Czech, Hindi and many other languages?
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
110: The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate
Before there was English, or Latin, or Czech, or Hindi, there was a language that they all have in common, which we call Proto-Indo-European. Linguists have long been fascinated by the quest to get a
soundcloud.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
How are we still making discoveries about the 5000-year-old ancestor to English, Latin, Czech, Hindi and many other languages?
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
my understanding of semantics comes from Guess Who
November 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
my understanding of semantics comes from Guess Who
enjoying the vibe of an academic article, without really being able to say exactly what it was about
November 18, 2025 at 7:22 PM
enjoying the vibe of an academic article, without really being able to say exactly what it was about
I just sent an "oops sorry here's the attachment" email, but still without the attachment
November 18, 2025 at 7:25 AM
I just sent an "oops sorry here's the attachment" email, but still without the attachment
Reposted by John Mansfield
“social reproduction” is so cool bc it could just mean whatever you want it to mean
November 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
“social reproduction” is so cool bc it could just mean whatever you want it to mean
Reposted by John Mansfield
Since 7th Oct 2023, Israeli prisons have become torture camps of the worst kind.
www.972mag.com/98-palestini...
www.972mag.com/98-palestini...
New data reveals 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody since October 7
Post-mortems of the deceased and testimonies from former detainees suggest many died from torture, medical neglect, and food deprivation. According to a leaked Israeli intelligence database, dozens we...
www.972mag.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Since 7th Oct 2023, Israeli prisons have become torture camps of the worst kind.
www.972mag.com/98-palestini...
www.972mag.com/98-palestini...
Our Anthropological Linguistics group at Uni Zurich has a webpage now:
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
November 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Our Anthropological Linguistics group at Uni Zurich has a webpage now:
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
www.isle.uzh.ch/en/AnthroL.h...
Reposted by John Mansfield
Struck this morning by how the win wasn’t from the UC system itself pushing back—it was its worker power through *unions* and aligned groups like @aaup.org defending UC interests, even though admin itself wasn’t.
There’s some kind of lesson here
There’s some kind of lesson here
One reason why elite schools (Columbia, Brown, Cornell) caving to Trump’s illegal impoundment and extortion is so galling — a betrayal, really — is that they would have won had they fought. By giving up, they guaranteed every other school will have to fight harder.
Judge bars Trump from immediately cutting funding to the University of California | CNN Politics
The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimina...
www.cnn.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Struck this morning by how the win wasn’t from the UC system itself pushing back—it was its worker power through *unions* and aligned groups like @aaup.org defending UC interests, even though admin itself wasn’t.
There’s some kind of lesson here
There’s some kind of lesson here
Reposted by John Mansfield
If you are in NY on Wednesday, I will be moderating this discussion of B'Tselem's research and recent report on the genocide in Gaza. Link to register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
November 14, 2025 at 6:45 PM
If you are in NY on Wednesday, I will be moderating this discussion of B'Tselem's research and recent report on the genocide in Gaza. Link to register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by John Mansfield
#Vacancies: we are looking for not just one but three #postdoctoral researchers interested in bridging #genetics, #archaeology and #linguistics in exploring the #humanpast. shorturl.at/B3Qdd @haam-community.bsky.social @cschlebu.bsky.social
Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past - Uppsala University
Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
shorturl.at
November 10, 2025 at 7:49 AM
#Vacancies: we are looking for not just one but three #postdoctoral researchers interested in bridging #genetics, #archaeology and #linguistics in exploring the #humanpast. shorturl.at/B3Qdd @haam-community.bsky.social @cschlebu.bsky.social
„Find a political home, be it a nonprofit, mutual aid group, or a community garden, so you have a network of people you want to be with as things get harder.”
This is a great piece from @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social, who was out all day in NYC reporting. It's about Mamdani but from the perspective of the organizers and volunteers who helped him to victory, and who won't stop organizing to help him carry out his agenda.
prospect.org/2025/11/05/n...
prospect.org/2025/11/05/n...
New Yorkers Say Yes to Mamdani, That’s Spelled M A M D A N I - The American Prospect
By 3 p.m. Tuesday, New York voters had already surpassed the turnout of any mayoral election since 2001, casting 1.4 million votes. Volunteers and advocates say the best thing to do today is celebrate...
prospect.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:53 AM
„Find a political home, be it a nonprofit, mutual aid group, or a community garden, so you have a network of people you want to be with as things get harder.”
PhD on *interactional and neural processes in conversation*, to work with the delightful Prof Adrian Bangerter in the charming Swiss city of Neuchatel...
www.unine.ch/ipto/emploi/
www.unine.ch/ipto/emploi/
Emploi - Institut de psychologie du travail et des organisations
www.unine.ch
October 30, 2025 at 1:45 PM
PhD on *interactional and neural processes in conversation*, to work with the delightful Prof Adrian Bangerter in the charming Swiss city of Neuchatel...
www.unine.ch/ipto/emploi/
www.unine.ch/ipto/emploi/
the dysfunctional search function in Microsoft Outlook is an international scandal
October 29, 2025 at 12:40 PM
the dysfunctional search function in Microsoft Outlook is an international scandal
Last night I dreamt that our students started forming these radical political groups called „Noun Phrases“ and the uni management was really angry
October 7, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Last night I dreamt that our students started forming these radical political groups called „Noun Phrases“ and the uni management was really angry
Reposted by John Mansfield
Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.
2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services
Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.
bit.ly
October 4, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.
Social functions of language may drive faster change and faster diversification in some features.
Thanks to growing diversity in variationst sociolinguistics, I gathered studies of 63 languages from 28 families. Here I sketch some potential patterns
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Thanks to growing diversity in variationst sociolinguistics, I gathered studies of 63 languages from 28 families. Here I sketch some potential patterns
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Linguistic Diversification and Rates of Change: Insights From a Diverse Sample of Sociolinguistic Studies
Language diversification and change can be studied using phylogenetic modelling of families over thousands of years, or by close observation of changes unfolding over a few decades at the community l....
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Social functions of language may drive faster change and faster diversification in some features.
Thanks to growing diversity in variationst sociolinguistics, I gathered studies of 63 languages from 28 families. Here I sketch some potential patterns
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Thanks to growing diversity in variationst sociolinguistics, I gathered studies of 63 languages from 28 families. Here I sketch some potential patterns
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
ok I got curious and tried vibe coding for processing some cross-linguistic data... hilariously bad 😭 ... maybe a special case because I was dealing with GRAMMATICAL GENDER (AI was triggered), but it sure did produce some garbage
September 4, 2025 at 7:50 AM
ok I got curious and tried vibe coding for processing some cross-linguistic data... hilariously bad 😭 ... maybe a special case because I was dealing with GRAMMATICAL GENDER (AI was triggered), but it sure did produce some garbage
Reposted by John Mansfield
Interested in doing a PhD with me and lacns.github.io? Or with any of the incredible fellows in the IMPRS School of Cognition www.maxplanckschools.org/cognition-en - apply before Dec 1st at cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en/application
Language and Computation in Neural Systems
We are an international group of scientists consisting of linguists, cognitive scientists, cognitive neuroscientists, computational neuroscientists, computational modellers, computational scientists, ...
lacns.github.io
September 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Interested in doing a PhD with me and lacns.github.io? Or with any of the incredible fellows in the IMPRS School of Cognition www.maxplanckschools.org/cognition-en - apply before Dec 1st at cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en/application
Reposted by John Mansfield
Congratulations to Alexandra Bosshard for winning the #SLE2025 award for best presentation by a post-doctoral researcher with her excellent talk on processing perspectives in animal compositionality!
August 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Congratulations to Alexandra Bosshard for winning the #SLE2025 award for best presentation by a post-doctoral researcher with her excellent talk on processing perspectives in animal compositionality!
Reposted by John Mansfield
Punctuated equilibrium, a concept introduced by paleontologists in 1972, reimagines evolution’s tempo as a stochastic burst rather than a steady beat. A new model finds support for their theory in both molecular and fossil data. @jakebuehler.bsky.social reports www.quantamagazine.org/the-sudden-s...
August 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Punctuated equilibrium, a concept introduced by paleontologists in 1972, reimagines evolution’s tempo as a stochastic burst rather than a steady beat. A new model finds support for their theory in both molecular and fossil data. @jakebuehler.bsky.social reports www.quantamagazine.org/the-sudden-s...
Reposted by John Mansfield
The Guardian just revealed Israel’s own military data: 83% of those killed in Gaza are civilians. That’s not war, that’s genocide.
August 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The Guardian just revealed Israel’s own military data: 83% of those killed in Gaza are civilians. That’s not war, that’s genocide.
"Evolutionary dynamics of language: Insights from a diverse sample of sociolinguistic studies" forthcoming article comparing findings from phylogenetic and sociolinguistic studies
ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/008...
ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/008...
Evolutionary dynamics of language: Insights from a diverse sample of sociolinguistic studies - lingbuzz/008948
The evolutionary dynamics of language can be studied using phylogenetic modelling of changes over thousands of years, or by close observation of changes unfolding over a few decades at the community l...
ling.auf.net
August 21, 2025 at 2:35 PM
"Evolutionary dynamics of language: Insights from a diverse sample of sociolinguistic studies" forthcoming article comparing findings from phylogenetic and sociolinguistic studies
ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/008...
ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/008...
I'm gonna start using the word "hereby" more often
seems powerful
seems powerful
August 21, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I'm gonna start using the word "hereby" more often
seems powerful
seems powerful