Adam An
LightNews LightNews
banner
adamanlx.bsky.social
Adam An
@adamanlx.bsky.social
390 followers 580 following 510 posts
PhD student in linguistics at the University of Kansas. Morphosyntax, variation, change, revitalization, and a whole lot of food. "Big William & Mary guy." https://theycallmezeal.me [ædəm æn] he/him
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
adamanlx.bsky.social
Adam An @adamanlx.bsky.social · Dec 17
I knew how much I'd be writing. I didn't know how much I'd be rewriting.
adamanlx.bsky.social
Nguni languages write voiced clicks with a g, and I think that's a great way write them - to voice a click you really do just think really hard about the g
November 13, 2025 at 4:23 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Who wants a hot take I predict that Maltese contrastive vowel length will turn allophonic (conditioned by stress and syllable structure) within our lifetimes 🫣
November 12, 2025 at 12:57 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
I presented at #NWAV53! An honor to present work coauthored with Jean Paul Ngoboka.

Materials available at theycallmezeal.me/publications
Me with my poster. It is called "How do we evaluate what we don't know?" Me presenting. The slide reads "What are the surface distributions of these forms?" I am describing "negated ra-" but "negated" is crossed out. Under it is written "most instances are expected and socially unmeaningful / only a few instances are unusual." I am comparing it to "g-" which is "always unusual."
November 11, 2025 at 3:39 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Academic writing should have more bulleted or numbered lists. We write lists! Let them be what they are which is lists!
November 10, 2025 at 2:54 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Ten really hard things about German, a thread

1. drucken vs. drücken

2. der Druck, die Drucke vs. der Druck, die Drücke

3. der Teil vs. das Teil; bonus points for all the compounds

4. Konjunktiv I (who even uses this?)

5. die Punkte, which I always think is die Pünkte
November 9, 2025 at 11:58 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
I want to throw something into the top one and it comes out the bottom one.
An abstract art piece hanging in a building. It is a 3d sculpture made of purple and white horn-like shapes connected with tubes.
November 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Fractal recursivity on display with a non-linguist I know up here, lifelong Michigan resident with no Northern Cities Vowel Shift - he thinks the NCVS sounds firmly Canadian.
November 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
The session chair held up that 2 minutes left sign and I literally heard Running In The 90s start playing in my head #NWAV53
A frog power sprinting and making plap plap plap noises
November 7, 2025 at 1:33 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Since when did Subway allow you to put corn flakes in a sandwich and why is it like the best thing ever
November 5, 2025 at 1:44 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Raising or control? More like RAISIN or CEREAL
Raisin Bran
November 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
#NWAV travel log
November 4, 2025 at 11:48 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
For colloquy I made a Korean tea with persimmons, cinnamon, and ginger. I hate all of those things. You gotta commit to the bit.
November 3, 2025 at 2:28 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
WE CHEERED
November 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Adam An
danifroom.bsky.social
Great job, everyone, we did it again
"WEEN HALLOWED" with small skeletons dancing around.
November 1, 2025 at 12:06 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
I tried black licorice for the first time. Its flavors are ones that to my Asian tastes are squarely savory. Like anise is a defining flavor of red-braised pork. It was like eating a red-braised pork candle.
November 1, 2025 at 4:32 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Happy Halloween I am a Philadelphian bottle of Life Water
A bottle of Life Water. The label has greens, blues, purples, and pinks. There is a black cap. Me dressed in greens, blues, purples, and pinks with a black cap on. I'm wearing a label that says "Life Wooder".
November 1, 2025 at 2:44 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Happy Halloween I am an AI slop syntax tree
An AI slop syntax tree that is completely incoherent with garbled text. There are puppies wearing ties scattered around the tree for some reason. I'm wearing dog ears, a tie, and garbled constituents from the tree.
October 31, 2025 at 4:20 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
You don't need a weighted blanket. You need five normal blankets.
October 31, 2025 at 4:44 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Halloween costume a year in the making drops tomorrow
October 31, 2025 at 4:18 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Today for Halloween I am the bunny from the head turn experiment
A pink bunny playing the drums Me in a pink shirt with bunny ears and a plastic tub I'm banging on like a drum with a ladle
October 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
I think every conference should have a designated no dress code day. Present in a snuggie if you want idc!
October 29, 2025 at 1:39 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
I just sent my poster to the printer, so I can't wait for the next 15 minutes when I find a typo on it
October 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Korean people always cut up the japchae noodles... why don't they just sell shorter noodles 🤔
October 25, 2025 at 4:49 PM
adamanlx.bsky.social
My teaching go to phrases are "as you've correctly identified" and "I sense discontent" like what do those even mean? Who even am I?
October 25, 2025 at 2:56 AM
adamanlx.bsky.social
Adam's Nonalcoholic Sangria Recipe

Kombucha, your choice of flavor (I used mixed berry)
Pomegranate juice (100%)
Dash of red wine vinegar (don't skip, it really sells it)
Sprite for sweetness to taste
Dilute to desired intensity
adamanlx.bsky.social Adam An @adamanlx.bsky.social · 20d
Today's colloquy spread shouldn't have worked. But it worked.
A colloquy spread with snacks and sangria. A sign indicates that there is tomato bread, which is covered in the photo with a bowl.
October 24, 2025 at 3:17 AM