Maarten Kossmann
@maartenkossmann.bsky.social
Berber linguistics // linguistique amazighe // ⵜⵎⵓⵙⵏⵉ ⵏ ⵜⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ
Universiteit Leiden
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/maarten-kossmann
Profile picture: RIL 176
Universiteit Leiden
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/maarten-kossmann
Profile picture: RIL 176
Pinned
It’s Tuesday, oral exams period coming up, so a (temporary?) end to this Libyco-Berber tombstones series.
But first: some really puzzling stuff.
A series of inscriptions was found in 1938 in Mechta el Maza close to Bouchegouf (ex-Duvivier), Guelma region, eastern Algeria (RIL 1076-1091)
🧵
But first: some really puzzling stuff.
A series of inscriptions was found in 1938 in Mechta el Maza close to Bouchegouf (ex-Duvivier), Guelma region, eastern Algeria (RIL 1076-1091)
🧵
Thread of threads on Libyco-Berber inscriptions:
bsky.app/profile/maar...
bsky.app/profile/maar...
that feeling when you want to eat and someone put a baby blanket in your manger...
January 18, 2026 at 5:20 PM
that feeling when you want to eat and someone put a baby blanket in your manger...
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
C'est dimanche et vous vous ennuierez peut-être en fin de journée, or ça fait longtemps que je ne vous ai pas parlé de mes aventures héllénophones. Aujourd'hui je ne vous parlerai pas de faux amis rigolos (comme le Ministère des Hypothèses Ésotériques), mais d'écriture.
January 18, 2026 at 12:18 PM
C'est dimanche et vous vous ennuierez peut-être en fin de journée, or ça fait longtemps que je ne vous ai pas parlé de mes aventures héllénophones. Aujourd'hui je ne vous parlerai pas de faux amis rigolos (comme le Ministère des Hypothèses Ésotériques), mais d'écriture.
Academic life a short thread from Musée Cluny
1. Lecturing
1. Lecturing
January 17, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Academic life a short thread from Musée Cluny
1. Lecturing
1. Lecturing
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
Salishan linguist Sarah Thomason has updated her site with online publications after twelve years (life as a tenured research academic is WEIRD) https://websites.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/papers.html #linguistics #philology #firstnations
January 17, 2026 at 4:55 AM
Salishan linguist Sarah Thomason has updated her site with online publications after twelve years (life as a tenured research academic is WEIRD) https://websites.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/papers.html #linguistics #philology #firstnations
That sounds plausible. But still interesting that Ayt Snus and Senhadja kept Bujlud solar
January 16, 2026 at 8:48 PM
That sounds plausible. But still interesting that Ayt Snus and Senhadja kept Bujlud solar
I know similar things exist in the Ketama/Sanhadja region with yennayer, but not, afaik, in the region in between the two
January 16, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I know similar things exist in the Ketama/Sanhadja region with yennayer, but not, afaik, in the region in between the two
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
Abstracts are due today for the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics and the 3rd Bantoid workshop! To be hosted in Buffalo in May, with remote presentation options. sites.google.com/view/acal57/...
ACAL 57 & Bantoid 3
The University at Buffalo will host the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57) on May 21-23, 2026. ACAL 57 is co-organized by members of the department of Linguistics at the Universit...
sites.google.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Abstracts are due today for the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics and the 3rd Bantoid workshop! To be hosted in Buffalo in May, with remote presentation options. sites.google.com/view/acal57/...
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
A review of: Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Locative predications in Chadic languages: Implications for semantic analysis, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2024
Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Locative predications in Chadic languages: Imp...
Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, is a prolific author continually seeking to expand our scholarly understanding of language, in general, and Chadic languages, ...
journals.openedition.org
January 16, 2026 at 5:42 PM
A review of: Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Locative predications in Chadic languages: Implications for semantic analysis, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2024
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
Peer Review is broken because a generation of Editors were trained that peer review is sacrosanct. Thus we have Editors who are clerks, sending and re-sending manuscripts to reviewers until they are happy. That's not the job. Be an Editor, not a clerk. Use your skill and judgement. Make decisions.
January 14, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Peer Review is broken because a generation of Editors were trained that peer review is sacrosanct. Thus we have Editors who are clerks, sending and re-sending manuscripts to reviewers until they are happy. That's not the job. Be an Editor, not a clerk. Use your skill and judgement. Make decisions.
I don't know exactly, but I'd guess my colleague is in his 60s. I think he is from a rural area around Málaga, so maybe that's where the change started
January 15, 2026 at 6:19 PM
I don't know exactly, but I'd guess my colleague is in his 60s. I think he is from a rural area around Málaga, so maybe that's where the change started
Oh is that new? I heard a colleague of my age doing it quite consistently
January 15, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Oh is that new? I heard a colleague of my age doing it quite consistently
Enjoy your trip! (we're off to Paris tomorrow morning)
January 15, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Enjoy your trip! (we're off to Paris tomorrow morning)
It is at least sth totally different from the Arabic tribe ideology, as you don't need to claim common ancestry to belong to the same "tribe"
January 15, 2026 at 4:47 PM
It is at least sth totally different from the Arabic tribe ideology, as you don't need to claim common ancestry to belong to the same "tribe"
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
And, personally, I find it heart-warming that there are folk celebrations specifically rejoicing over a tyrant getting his comeuppance; that seems a more important lesson than even the biggest questions of identity.
January 15, 2026 at 2:27 PM
And, personally, I find it heart-warming that there are folk celebrations specifically rejoicing over a tyrant getting his comeuppance; that seems a more important lesson than even the biggest questions of identity.
Tuareg has tawšét and the like. But more generally, I guess Arabic administrations have had their impact on naming (like also in the case of Sanhadja de Sraïr, which uses the written Arabic form of Iz'nagən)
January 15, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Tuareg has tawšét and the like. But more generally, I guess Arabic administrations have had their impact on naming (like also in the case of Sanhadja de Sraïr, which uses the written Arabic form of Iz'nagən)
as a linguistic entity obscures things. Loubignac was no doubt right that his spokesperson identified as Zayan. My Twitter responder was no doubt correct that he spoke more like people from M'rirt than like people from Khenifra. Both would have been better off by looking at location than at "tribe".
January 15, 2026 at 9:51 AM
as a linguistic entity obscures things. Loubignac was no doubt right that his spokesperson identified as Zayan. My Twitter responder was no doubt correct that he spoke more like people from M'rirt than like people from Khenifra. Both would have been better off by looking at location than at "tribe".
(incl. sub-group), he answered that he knew both dialects and that Loubignac, a very colonial linguist (he was in the close circle of Lyautey), must have made this up.
I don't believe Loubignac did (why would he?), but I do believe that we are exactly here at this point where the use of "tribe"...
I don't believe Loubignac did (why would he?), but I do believe that we are exactly here at this point where the use of "tribe"...
January 15, 2026 at 9:51 AM
(incl. sub-group), he answered that he knew both dialects and that Loubignac, a very colonial linguist (he was in the close circle of Lyautey), must have made this up.
I don't believe Loubignac did (why would he?), but I do believe that we are exactly here at this point where the use of "tribe"...
I don't believe Loubignac did (why would he?), but I do believe that we are exactly here at this point where the use of "tribe"...
A slightly (but not entirely) tangential remark. I remember a discussion I had on Twitter where the responder (someone very serious) claimed that Loubignac's data were not Zayan but Ayt Sgugu. When I remarked that Loubignac names his spokespeople and clearly indicates their Zayan tribal affiliation
January 15, 2026 at 9:51 AM
A slightly (but not entirely) tangential remark. I remember a discussion I had on Twitter where the responder (someone very serious) claimed that Loubignac's data were not Zayan but Ayt Sgugu. When I remarked that Loubignac names his spokespeople and clearly indicates their Zayan tribal affiliation
Is this related to the syllable lengthening under stress/utterance prominence that affects vowels in open syllables? Or the low part of the falling intonation on stressed syllables being realized on the sonorant? (I don't know a thing about Italian, just speculating)
January 15, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Is this related to the syllable lengthening under stress/utterance prominence that affects vowels in open syllables? Or the low part of the falling intonation on stressed syllables being realized on the sonorant? (I don't know a thing about Italian, just speculating)
Ah! No, with prosodic pause you get V2: "het ding is, je kunt er weinig over zeggen:
January 14, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Ah! No, with prosodic pause you get V2: "het ding is, je kunt er weinig over zeggen:
Reposted by Maarten Kossmann
Intéressante carte de BFMTV
January 14, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Intéressante carte de BFMTV
Ze vormen blijkbaar een serieus probleem 🤷♂️
January 14, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Ze vormen blijkbaar een serieus probleem 🤷♂️