Niklas Erben Johansson
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iconiklas.bsky.social
Niklas Erben Johansson
@iconiklas.bsky.social
300 followers 490 following 4 posts

A linguist who likes cognitive biases, iconicity, typology and maps

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Psychology 28%
Business 26%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

cborstell.bsky.social
Calle Börstell @cborstell.bsky.social · 7d
Four years(!) after the chapter was originally written, the official publication is now live (pre-print has been out for some time though):
doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...

How can plurality be expressed with iconic forms across different modalities of human languaging?

#linguistics
Screenshot of a chapter by Carl Börstell called "Iconic plurality across modalities"

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

cborstell.bsky.social
Calle Börstell @cborstell.bsky.social · 8d
Very late to one of the last #TidyTuesday of 2025: The Languages of the World (Glottolog)

Looking at linguistic diversity 🌍🌎🌏

Used this dataset to try out a personal theme package.

Code: github.com/borstell/tid...

#ggplot2 #DataViz #R4DS
A scatterplot entitled "Linguistic diversity in the world: Language family entropy by binned latitude" showing that "The amount of linguistic diversity in the world — as measured by language family entropy — decreases as one moves further away from the equator." Data: Glottolog 5.2.1; Visualization: C. Börstell; Packages: {tidyverse, scales, marquee, cbthemes}

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

amandasokolnicki.bsky.social
Amanda Sokolnicki @amandasokolnicki.bsky.social · 10d
Gulan Avci hoppar av två dagar efter 1,4-mätningen. Svårt att tänka sig ett mer effektivt sätt för en enskild riksdagsledamot att ytterligare försämra bilden av och läget för partiet.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Niklas Johansson

simongreenhill.bsky.social
Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · 12d
Demographic shifts, inter-group contact and environmental conditions drive language extinction and diversification.
#linguistics

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

specialkhersoncat.bsky.social
🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 @specialkhersoncat.bsky.social · 12d
Trump's "Peace Council" and their democracy index score.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

lameensouag.bsky.social
Lameen Souag @lameensouag.bsky.social · 13d
Found one! Before blocking it, I took a look, and - amusingly, but in hindsight predictably - it too looks like AI (my guess would be Grok, but I haven't properly compared rhetorical tics across different ones). Note how it reapplies the same template over and over again:

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Simon J. Greenhill, Niklas Johansson

mattpope.bsky.social
Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 19d
Breaking news and congratulations to the team, Sulawesi preserves evidence for the oldest art yet recorded, and strengthens claims for the early colonisation of Australia. At 68k BP this art is almost 30k years earlier than the accepted record for Europe. Bravo🏺🦣🎨
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Oldest cave painting could rewrite origins of human creativity
A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world's oldest known cave painting, researchers say.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Steve Peers, David Rothschild, Charles West , and 9 more

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 27d
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f
Today is the Smithsonian's deadline to give thousands of documents to the White House
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology."
n.pr

Reposted by Niklas Johansson, Elisa Freschi, David Spurrett

dingemansemark.bsky.social
Mark Dingemanse @dingemansemark.bsky.social · Jan 8
Re: the AI slop paper shared by @thomaspellard.bsky.social and @lameensouag.bsky.social, I wrote to the editors — will update when I get a reply, and will be following closely what they do.

Key point is that we should hold the *journal* accountable for this mess

I have a few predictions...

1/n
AI slop published on your watch: very bad look for HSSComms and Springer/Nature  Dear editors, I have failed to locate contact information for most of the academic editors for Humanities and Social Sciences Communications; I trust that you will forward this message to them. I want to note that AI slop is being published on your watch in the journal you edit. This paper, out last week (Al-Jarrah 2026), is full of inaccurate claims and includes countless hallucinated references. Even a cursory look at the bibliography shows that at least 10 and probably many more references are bullshit pure and simple; the simplest explanation is that they are confabulated by generative AI, which sheds doubt on the quality of the manuscript as a whole and on the review and editorial processes at your journal. It is a great lapse of editorial judgement to let this kind of obvious drivel pass and I am warning my colleagues at MPI and Radboud to avoid your journal until clear and unambiguous action is taken. You may also want to take note that many people are finding out about this and the online discussion of this paper and of the journal's failing standards is something I hope that Springer Nature cares about. In my opinion the paper does not pass even the most minimal quality assurance checks and is fully against the COPE guidelines on publication ethics. You may want to hold the author accountable for this; I think the only reasonable course is retraction. But the scholarly community also holds the journal accountable. By letting AI slop through, your journal is polluting the information ecology of scientific publishing. Amidst a rising tide of synthetic text, scholarly publishing, with its tradition of human oversight and strong peer revidew, should be one of the last stalwarts to defend the integrity of our research. I look forward to your response and to find out what decisive action you are taking.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson, Michael Larkin

dingemansemark.bsky.social
Mark Dingemanse @dingemansemark.bsky.social · Jan 8
This paper is batshit insane. It also (of course) has A TON of bullshit references that do not exist. Hey @springernature.com retract this AI slop and fire the editor that let it pass. There is evidently no review or quality assurance process in place at this journal.

Reposted by Martín Haspelmath, Niklas Johansson

lameensouag.bsky.social
Lameen Souag @lameensouag.bsky.social · Jan 8
Hey, did you know that Greek lost the phoneme /h/ because of secularism? You see, /h/ intrinsically symbolises the Creator. And hydrogen.

This journal is published by @springernature.com , and is hosted by @nature.com. How did this incoherent nonsense make it into print?

Reposted by Niklas Johansson, Johanna Laakso

dmncschmtz.bsky.social
Dominic @dmncschmtz.bsky.social · Jan 8
I'd love to know who reviewed this.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

thomaspellard.bsky.social
Thomas Pellard @thomaspellard.bsky.social · Jan 8
WTF?! 🫣 Is this a joke?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A religious quote, "primitive languages", and nonsense everywhere. Is Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications a scam journal?
A cross-linguistic investigation of /h/ symbolism: the case of H2O - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - A cross-linguistic investigation of /h/ symbolism: the case of H2O
www.nature.com

Reposted by Robert Wolfe, Niklas Johansson, Andrew Duff

anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Jan 3
LOL

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

tendar.bsky.social
(((Tendar))) @tendar.bsky.social · Jan 3
It appears that Putin won't get Maduro for his collection of failed dictators.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Jan 3
The Iranian regime divides and isolates the opposition, writes Saeid Golkar, which is how it survives mass discontent. Also it has help from friends in China and Russia

open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...
Why the Iranian Regime Endures
Protests have broken out across the country. We’ve been here before.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Martín Haspelmath, Niklas Johansson

glossa-linguistics.bsky.social
glossa-linguistics.bsky.social @glossa-linguistics.bsky.social · Dec 29
It is unclear to me how much traction Glossa: a journal of general linguistics is getting on BlueSky. I am thinking of switching communication about new papers to LinkedIn, which gives better insight into the # of views garnered. Give us a like if you want Glossa to stay on the Blue side of things.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson, Pam Jarvis

alisonfisk.bsky.social
Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · Dec 27
Something lovely for the weekend!

Beautiful blue glass beads from the late Bronze Age 💙

Ploughed up by a farmer in Denmark in 1885, analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia, pointing to long-distance trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago.

📷 National Museum of Denmark

#Archaeology
The image shows fourty-four annular (ring-shaped) translucent turquoise blue glass beads strung on a modern circular thread and displayed against a black background. The glass beads were found in 1885 when a farmer ploughed up a cremation urn at Kongehøj in Denmark. The urn broke and was found to contain burnt bones, the 44 blue glass beads and two gold spiral rings. Recent analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), indicating far-reaching trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

gtconway.bsky.social
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · Dec 25
Nothing to see here. This is definitely a normal post that perfectly demonstrates appropriate behavior for a man with grave responsibilities to the nation and absolutely, positively does not show psychological derangement and incapacity to serve as president under section 4 of the 25th Amendment.

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

oz-of-the-ancients.bsky.social
Oscar Lozada @oz-of-the-ancients.bsky.social · Dec 25
Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄🌟

We all love a good reindeer at Christmas! These ones were painted in Font-de-Gaume cave in France 18,000 years ago!

Rudolph the Red-backed Cave deer? 🎶🦌

#RockArtThursday #archaeology 🏺
A faded cave painting of a two reindeer facing eachother, with a modern reconstruction painting above

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Mark D. White, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 16 more

cnn.com
CNN @cnn.com · Dec 24
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

simongreenhill.bsky.social
Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · Dec 15
New paper: Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity
Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity - Volume 7
www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Niklas Johansson

simongreenhill.bsky.social
Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · Dec 11
A curated global dataset of social contact between diverse language communities

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

ertrunnell.bsky.social
Emily R. Trunnell, Ph.D. @ertrunnell.bsky.social · Dec 10
The human brain doesn’t just recognize human voices—it also recognizes those of #chimpanzees.

🧠 Using #fMRI, @leoceravolo.bsky.social, @thibaudgruber.bsky.social, & colleagues played vocalizations from humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, & macaques to 23 participants. ⬇️

🧪 🧬 #neuroskyence #evobio
a close up of a chimpanzee 's face with a national geographic logo in the corner
ALT: a close up of a chimpanzee 's face with a national geographic logo in the corner
media.tenor.com

Reposted by Thomas Backhaus, Diane Ravitch, Jacob Montgomery , and 5 more

markhamillofficial.bsky.social
Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · Dec 6
How to buy yourself a needy malignant narcissist? Just offer him a phony, made up "Peace Prize" & he's all your's!!!
No need for a formal ceremony as he'll snatch from the box & put it on all by himself. Both laughably pathetic AND pathetically laughable. 🤡 🫣

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

svtnyheter.bsky.social
SVT Nyheter @svtnyheter.bsky.social · Dec 4
Stoppar bidrag till kyrka efter Säpos larm
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/stoppar-bidrag-till-kyrka-efter-sapos-larm
Stoppar bidrag till kyrka efter Säpos larm
Eritreanska ortodoxa kyrkan i Sverige blir av med sitt statliga bidrag, rapporterar Sveriges Radio. Myndigheten för stöd till trossamfund drar in bidraget efter ett utlåtande från Säpo.
www.svt.se

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

torek.bsky.social
Tore Kullgren 🦁☀️ @torek.bsky.social · Nov 30
Nazister är dumma i huvudet.

1. De är nazister
2. De firar Karl XII, som tvingade Sverige att förlora ett dyrt och hopplöst krig
3. De firar Karl XII:s död, inte hans födelsedag eller kröning
4. De firar 30 november utomhus, när det är mörkt och kallt

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Rebecca Sear, Jussi T. Eronen , and 1 more

mehr.nz
samuel mehr @mehr.nz · Nov 28
New in Science, Macaques tap to the beat.

Very cool study for its main result and its null one: consistent with nearly every other comparative study of music, monkeys don't differentiate beats by their relative strength—which even young children do innately. Monkeys have rhythm but not meter!
Monkeys have rhythm
Synchronizing movements to music is a hallmark of human culture, but its evolutionary and neurobiological origins remain unknown. This ability requires (i) extracting a steady rhythmic pulse, or beat,...
www.science.org

Reposted by Niklas Johansson

mh-christiansen.bsky.social
Morten H. Christiansen @mh-christiansen.bsky.social · Nov 28
📣 Very happy to announce a new BBS target article with Nick Chater in which we propose a new theory of cultural evolution, highlighting the importance of bottom-up social interaction in explaining the emergence of cultural complexity
🧵 1/8

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Social Tinkering: The Social Foundations of Cultural Complexity | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Social Tinkering: The Social Foundations of Cultural Complexity
www.cambridge.org