Bonnie McLean
@bonniemclean.bsky.social
PhD student at Uppsala University
iconicity and ideophones are the best words
🇸🇪🇪🇺🇯🇵🇦🇺🌈
bonniemclean.net
she/her
iconicity and ideophones are the best words
🇸🇪🇪🇺🇯🇵🇦🇺🌈
bonniemclean.net
she/her
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
September 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Bit embarrassed to be sharing this so late but I've been on parental leave... a short blog post explaining why this (not so) recent paper led by Stella Punselie & @dingemansemark.bsky.social offers a neat method to dispel some of the scepticism around iconicity: www.bonniemclean.net/news/2025-02...
New paper - The anatomy of iconicity✨
Our new paper on unpicking the iconicity of ideophones is out in Open Mind!
www.bonniemclean.net
April 30, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Bit embarrassed to be sharing this so late but I've been on parental leave... a short blog post explaining why this (not so) recent paper led by Stella Punselie & @dingemansemark.bsky.social offers a neat method to dispel some of the scepticism around iconicity: www.bonniemclean.net/news/2025-02...
So happy to see our chapter in Capturing Expressivity is now out! Our best dreams of all the wonderful ways you can explore #ideophones! 😍
New paper! @bonniemclean.bsky.social & Dingemanse 2025, A multi-methods toolkit for documentary research on ideophones — reviewing a diversity of methods and analytical approaches to the documentation of #ideophones.
ideophone.org/new-methods-...
⛓️💥 PDF pure.mpg.de/pubman/item/...
#iconicity
ideophone.org/new-methods-...
⛓️💥 PDF pure.mpg.de/pubman/item/...
#iconicity
April 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
So happy to see our chapter in Capturing Expressivity is now out! Our best dreams of all the wonderful ways you can explore #ideophones! 😍
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
🚨🚨🚨 I'm hiring a Postdoc for a 3-year position to come work with me at the University of Oslo using iterative learning experiments to understand the evolution of sound symbolism. Please share widely.
🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25
⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25
shorturl.at/vSTZx
🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25
⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25
shorturl.at/vSTZx
Postdoctoral Research Fellow connected to "ICONIC" (277523) | University of Oslo
Job title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow connected to "ICONIC" (277523), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Saturday, May 31, 2025
shorturl.at
March 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
🚨🚨🚨 I'm hiring a Postdoc for a 3-year position to come work with me at the University of Oslo using iterative learning experiments to understand the evolution of sound symbolism. Please share widely.
🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25
⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25
shorturl.at/vSTZx
🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25
⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25
shorturl.at/vSTZx
Super excited to run these experiments, thank you to @gorillapsych.bsky.social for funding curiosity-driven research! 🎉
Bonnie May McLean – Linguistics
@bonniemclean.bsky.social's research explores iconicity—the resemblance between word forms and meanings—in language evolution. With her grant, she’ll conduct an online experiment with 🦍’s Multiplayer to model how an artificial protolanguage develops over time.
@bonniemclean.bsky.social's research explores iconicity—the resemblance between word forms and meanings—in language evolution. With her grant, she’ll conduct an online experiment with 🦍’s Multiplayer to model how an artificial protolanguage develops over time.
February 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Super excited to run these experiments, thank you to @gorillapsych.bsky.social for funding curiosity-driven research! 🎉
Sharing a new paper with Kimi Akita, Jiyeon Park & Arthur Thompson. We introduce a new concept of "phonosemantic maps" for typological research on #iconicity, inspired by @haspelmath.bsky.social's semantic maps for tracking patterns of grammaticalistion. Enjoy!
www.bonniemclean.net/news/2024-04...
www.bonniemclean.net/news/2024-04...
✨New paper - Phonosemantic maps for exploring iconic associations
Our new paper on phonosemantic maps for exploring iconic associations is out in the JASA special issue on Iconicity and Sound Symbolism 🎉
www.bonniemclean.net
April 30, 2024 at 9:08 AM
Sharing a new paper with Kimi Akita, Jiyeon Park & Arthur Thompson. We introduce a new concept of "phonosemantic maps" for typological research on #iconicity, inspired by @haspelmath.bsky.social's semantic maps for tracking patterns of grammaticalistion. Enjoy!
www.bonniemclean.net/news/2024-04...
www.bonniemclean.net/news/2024-04...
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
A bit of wisdom from my HoD's whiteboard which is easy to forget in this output-oriented academic world
March 24, 2024 at 10:15 AM
A bit of wisdom from my HoD's whiteboard which is easy to forget in this output-oriented academic world
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
It's claimed perceptual language reflects a biologically grounded hierarchy of the senses. Using a stratified global sample of 100 languages, a new study led by @enorcliffe.bsky.social finds domain-general constraints explain lexicalization patterns instead. muse.jhu.edu/pub/24/artic...
Project MUSE - Verbs of perception: A quantitative typological study
muse.jhu.edu
March 26, 2024 at 10:54 AM
It's claimed perceptual language reflects a biologically grounded hierarchy of the senses. Using a stratified global sample of 100 languages, a new study led by @enorcliffe.bsky.social finds domain-general constraints explain lexicalization patterns instead. muse.jhu.edu/pub/24/artic...
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
Important #stats thread. Relatedly, it's also important to remember that it doesn't make sense to talk about error control under misspecified models. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
March 25, 2024 at 2:41 PM
Important #stats thread. Relatedly, it's also important to remember that it doesn't make sense to talk about error control under misspecified models. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
Apparently I have the same taste in tourist destinations as grey nomads... we've had a whole tour group of Australian retirees following us across our babymoon in Norway, so romantic 🤣
March 23, 2024 at 7:35 AM
Apparently I have the same taste in tourist destinations as grey nomads... we've had a whole tour group of Australian retirees following us across our babymoon in Norway, so romantic 🤣
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
🚨 I'm looking to hire a post-doctoral researcher in multimodal communication to my ERC-funded project for 4️⃣ years!
For more information, please see the announcement here: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/3...
Please share the announcement widely!
#multimodality
For more information, please see the announcement here: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/3...
Please share the announcement widely!
#multimodality
March 14, 2024 at 12:22 PM
🚨 I'm looking to hire a post-doctoral researcher in multimodal communication to my ERC-funded project for 4️⃣ years!
For more information, please see the announcement here: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/3...
Please share the announcement widely!
#multimodality
For more information, please see the announcement here: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/3...
Please share the announcement widely!
#multimodality
Why does no one warn you the sleep loss of having kids actually starts during pregnancy already? Was planning to have this lovely time to farewell sleeping in but instead my body is waking me up earlier and earlier with each trimester 😭 Such betrayal!
January 31, 2024 at 5:15 AM
Why does no one warn you the sleep loss of having kids actually starts during pregnancy already? Was planning to have this lovely time to farewell sleeping in but instead my body is waking me up earlier and earlier with each trimester 😭 Such betrayal!
The level of security checks @adobe.bsky.social makes you go through just to log in to edit a pdf you'd think you were trying to get access to nuclear launch codes or something. Definitely does not make me inclined to continue my free trial.
January 29, 2024 at 5:44 PM
The level of security checks @adobe.bsky.social makes you go through just to log in to edit a pdf you'd think you were trying to get access to nuclear launch codes or something. Definitely does not make me inclined to continue my free trial.
Awesome innovative #ideophone compound just witnessed in Japanese. The caption says my legs are shaking gakuburu gakuburu, which is a combination of two ideophones, gakugaku (sound of shaky legs, e.g. knees knocking) and buruburu (depicting a shaking movement). Love it! 😍🐶🌨️
January 26, 2024 at 11:52 AM
Awesome innovative #ideophone compound just witnessed in Japanese. The caption says my legs are shaking gakuburu gakuburu, which is a combination of two ideophones, gakugaku (sound of shaky legs, e.g. knees knocking) and buruburu (depicting a shaking movement). Love it! 😍🐶🌨️
Yes, it's not hard to say "spoken languages"!
it would be great if we all could clarify whether signed languages are included in our typological studies. fight modality chauvinism (henner & robinson, 2023)🐦 🐦
January 18, 2024 at 3:10 PM
Yes, it's not hard to say "spoken languages"!
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
Yes! Australia is the worst for disenfranchising overseas citizens. Like we somehow betrayed them by daring to leave 🙄 So bad for a country of immigrants!
Yay! Now Australia do the same and bin the ‘6 year rule’ (after which you’re supposed to state your intentions to return to Australia - why is that relevant?).
Heads up UK citizens overseas! The disgraceful ‘15 year rule’ which disenfranchised you is being binned TODAY! From 16 January you can now at long last register to vote, which you should do ASAP in view of in the upcoming general election, because *gestures at everything* mailchi.mp/a6cd97a73d7e...
January 16, 2024 at 10:34 PM
Yes! Australia is the worst for disenfranchising overseas citizens. Like we somehow betrayed them by daring to leave 🙄 So bad for a country of immigrants!
Reading a review paper on abstract concepts. Very surprised to read colour-emotion associations are apparently found to be stable across cultures. So I check the study they cite of 30 "nations" (weird choice of unit). Look at the language family column, and also the double counting of languages
January 12, 2024 at 1:50 PM
Reading a review paper on abstract concepts. Very surprised to read colour-emotion associations are apparently found to be stable across cultures. So I check the study they cite of 30 "nations" (weird choice of unit). Look at the language family column, and also the double counting of languages
PSA for those into #iconicity the deadline for IACS-5 in lovely Lund next August is coming up on Monday next week (January 15th). Topics include
- semiosis, polysemiosis, multimodality
- universal vs culture specific semiosis
- metaphor and metonymy
konferens.ht.lu.se/iacs-5/
- semiosis, polysemiosis, multimodality
- universal vs culture specific semiosis
- metaphor and metonymy
konferens.ht.lu.se/iacs-5/
The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS-5)
konferens.ht.lu.se
January 12, 2024 at 9:10 AM
PSA for those into #iconicity the deadline for IACS-5 in lovely Lund next August is coming up on Monday next week (January 15th). Topics include
- semiosis, polysemiosis, multimodality
- universal vs culture specific semiosis
- metaphor and metonymy
konferens.ht.lu.se/iacs-5/
- semiosis, polysemiosis, multimodality
- universal vs culture specific semiosis
- metaphor and metonymy
konferens.ht.lu.se/iacs-5/
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
The LingComm grants are running again in 2024!
We have (at least) two $500USD grants for communicating linguistics to wider audiences. Please share with colleagues, friends and students if they have a pop linguistics project that needs some support!
lingcomm.org/grants/
We have (at least) two $500USD grants for communicating linguistics to wider audiences. Please share with colleagues, friends and students if they have a pop linguistics project that needs some support!
lingcomm.org/grants/
January 11, 2024 at 11:08 PM
The LingComm grants are running again in 2024!
We have (at least) two $500USD grants for communicating linguistics to wider audiences. Please share with colleagues, friends and students if they have a pop linguistics project that needs some support!
lingcomm.org/grants/
We have (at least) two $500USD grants for communicating linguistics to wider audiences. Please share with colleagues, friends and students if they have a pop linguistics project that needs some support!
lingcomm.org/grants/
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
Example for a successful language revitalization project: Salish School of Spokane doing a full immersion class room in Nsyilxcən (Colville-Okanagan Salish): youtu.be/urIlnR_6fRE?...
Northwest Profiles: Saving Salish - Language Revival
View more from our digital library: http://video.ksps.org/Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kspsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KSPSPub...
youtu.be
January 10, 2024 at 6:48 PM
Example for a successful language revitalization project: Salish School of Spokane doing a full immersion class room in Nsyilxcən (Colville-Okanagan Salish): youtu.be/urIlnR_6fRE?...
Everything you need to understand about Australian society once again perfectly encapsulated by the Aussie lamb ad 🤣 I live for these every year🐑🇦🇺
youtu.be/V1e0apyGASc?...
youtu.be/V1e0apyGASc?...
The Generation Gap | 2024 Lamb ad
Watch out for the Generation Gap: the impassable chasm that's divided Australia.#sharethelamb #2024LambAd #australianlamb
youtu.be
January 10, 2024 at 9:17 AM
Everything you need to understand about Australian society once again perfectly encapsulated by the Aussie lamb ad 🤣 I live for these every year🐑🇦🇺
youtu.be/V1e0apyGASc?...
youtu.be/V1e0apyGASc?...
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
Love the sentiment, design, and fit of this shirt!
January 4, 2024 at 10:59 PM
Love the sentiment, design, and fit of this shirt!
Reposted by Bonnie McLean
Yesterday, the account @lingdiscovery posted a thread on twitter with the title "Here are 3 reasons why I hate conlangs". In reply, I wrote this blog post that asks the question: What are Conlangs Good For?
halmahera.hypotheses.org/700
halmahera.hypotheses.org/700
What are Conlangs Good For?
This blog post is a reply to a twitter thread titled “Here are 3 reasons why I hate conlangs”. I show where the author of the thread is wrong in my opinion and explore what conlangs are good for.
halmahera.hypotheses.org
January 1, 2024 at 1:24 PM
Yesterday, the account @lingdiscovery posted a thread on twitter with the title "Here are 3 reasons why I hate conlangs". In reply, I wrote this blog post that asks the question: What are Conlangs Good For?
halmahera.hypotheses.org/700
halmahera.hypotheses.org/700