Trần Phan
banner
tranphan.bsky.social
Trần Phan
@tranphan.bsky.social
/ʈə̆n˨˩ fan˧/
postdoc @NTHU清華大學 | adjunct @NCHU中興大學 | taiwan-based linguist & language educator | history buff | zero-waste cooking & morning jogs | 20 countries/territories & counting.
https://sites.google.com/gapp.nthu.edu.tw/tranphan
Reposted by Trần Phan
In “The Conscience of the Party,” Robert L. Suettinger provides a pathbreaking account of Hu Yaobang, an essential figure in China’s grand process of “reform and opening” after Mao Zedong’s death. Read Chen Jian’s review:
The Man Who Almost Changed China
Hu Yaobang and the unfinished business of reform and opening.
fam.ag
January 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Trần Phan
Something to keep in mind for 2025

Written by James Miller of A Small Fiction
January 1, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Trần Phan
A lot of native speakers of English use 'to lay' instead of 'to lie':
'I'm laying here.'

This isn't a recent thing:
it started in the 14th century.

Several sister languages of English, such as Frisian and Afrikaans, even merged the verbs for "to lie" and "to lay" completely.

Click for more:

1/
December 15, 2024 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Trần Phan
How does the mind process language so efficiently, even with gaps or errors in what we hear? In this Abralin talk, @fernandaedi.bsky.social presents research on how we handle ambiguity, prioritize essential details, and make sense of sentences in real time.

▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUfP...
Fernanda Ferreira
YouTube video by Abralin
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2024 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Trần Phan
When nonspecialists talk about language endangerment, they sometimes invoke the survival of the fittest account.

You can read an example in a comment about my book, Endangered Languages.

Isn’t it true that only the fittest languages will survive? The short answer is “no”
November 27, 2024 at 10:08 AM
Exploring Kowloon Walled City in an Afternoon – Vlog (1991) by Suenn Ho
YouTube video by Johny Bobbles Archives
youtu.be
November 24, 2024 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Trần Phan
Move over bouba-kiki!

New study on crossmodal iconicity shows [r] = rough and [l] = smooth, even in langs that conflate them.

The results show "that speech sounds are not just acoustic objects, but they also have a texture and a shape to them".

#iconicity 🐦🐦
The alveolar trill is perceived as jagged/rough by speakers of different languages
Typological research shows that across languages, trilled [r] sounds are more common in adjectives describing rough as opposed to smooth surfaces. In this study
pubs.aip.org
November 23, 2024 at 8:57 AM
Reposted by Trần Phan
“Publish or perish” is an insult to my ability to multitask
November 17, 2024 at 2:55 PM
How humans invented nationalism.
youtube.com/watch?v=AXz0...
YouTube
Share your videos with friends, family, and the world
youtube.com
November 18, 2024 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Trần Phan
The word 'not' has a fascinating history.

'Not' comes from a Germanic combination of three words: *ne aiw wiht, lit. "not a thing whatsoever".

This also became 'naught/nought'.

German 'nicht' and Dutch 'niet' have the same origin.

Click to hear their evolutions:

Thread: 1/
November 17, 2024 at 4:18 PM