Martin Haspelmath
@haspelmath.bsky.social
comparative linguist, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig); https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/staff/martin-haspelmath
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
The Romance Inter-Views no. 4 on theory and experimental evidence is online on #Isogloss!
Six linguists talk about the integration of experimental and theoretical linguistics, when experiments challenged theory and when they confirmed it, and share ideas for new research directions in Romance ling!
Six linguists talk about the integration of experimental and theoretical linguistics, when experiments challenged theory and when they confirmed it, and share ideas for new research directions in Romance ling!
November 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The Romance Inter-Views no. 4 on theory and experimental evidence is online on #Isogloss!
Six linguists talk about the integration of experimental and theoretical linguistics, when experiments challenged theory and when they confirmed it, and share ideas for new research directions in Romance ling!
Six linguists talk about the integration of experimental and theoretical linguistics, when experiments challenged theory and when they confirmed it, and share ideas for new research directions in Romance ling!
hit-ašknz-u!
This article contains the longest consonant cluster I've ever come across in a Semitic language other than Moroccan Arabic, from a Hebrew article written in 1897:
hit-ašknz-u "they Germanised", a denominal verb from Ashkenaz (which, in this context, meant "Germany")
hit-ašknz-u "they Germanised", a denominal verb from Ashkenaz (which, in this context, meant "Germany")
In a new article (open access!) I argue that the Ottoman state played a crucial role in creating Ashkenazi identity in Jerusalem - as an overarching category for Yiddish speaking Jews from Central and East European countries.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
November 4, 2025 at 11:37 AM
hit-ašknz-u!
It's striking how good AI assistants are at reading linguistics texts. I couldn't have explained the neologism "synexpression" better. In fact, saying that synexpression is about bundling, while coexpression is about sharing is perhaps better than anything I have said. (ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/007...)
November 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
It's striking how good AI assistants are at reading linguistics texts. I couldn't have explained the neologism "synexpression" better. In fact, saying that synexpression is about bundling, while coexpression is about sharing is perhaps better than anything I have said. (ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/007...)
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Episode no. 51 is out 🤩
Martin Haspelmath (@haspelmath.bsky.social) talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current state of the field.
🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/01/p...
#Histlx
Martin Haspelmath (@haspelmath.bsky.social) talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current state of the field.
🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/01/p...
#Histlx
Podcast episode 51: Martin Haspelmath
In this interview, Martin Haspelmath talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current…
hiphilangsci.net
October 31, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Episode no. 51 is out 🤩
Martin Haspelmath (@haspelmath.bsky.social) talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current state of the field.
🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/01/p...
#Histlx
Martin Haspelmath (@haspelmath.bsky.social) talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current state of the field.
🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/01/p...
#Histlx
Yuen-Ren Chao was a phenomenal linguist. I recently discussed the enduring relevance of his key 1934 article here: dlc.hypotheses.org/3381
#OTD 134 years ago, Yuen Ren Chao (1892-1982) was born 🎉 He was an expert on Chinese grammar and phonology and the author of the Gwoyeu Romatzyh, a Latinised spelling system for Standard Chinese. He served as the president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1945.
#LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
#LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
November 3, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Yuen-Ren Chao was a phenomenal linguist. I recently discussed the enduring relevance of his key 1934 article here: dlc.hypotheses.org/3381
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
📅 The deadline to submit abstracts has been entended to November 23rd!
📅 La date limite de soumission des résumés est prolongée jusqu'au 23 novembre !
📅 La date limite de soumission des résumés est prolongée jusqu'au 23 novembre !
📢 10th international conference of the French Cognitive Linguistics Association - 𝗔𝗙𝗟𝗶𝗖𝗼𝟭𝟬
📍𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀 (campus Condorcet)
📆 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟮𝗻𝗱-𝟮𝟰𝘁𝗵, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
The theme of the conference will be 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. Submit your abstract before October, 31st. More information here: aflico10.sciencesconf.org
📍𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀 (campus Condorcet)
📆 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟮𝗻𝗱-𝟮𝟰𝘁𝗵, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
The theme of the conference will be 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. Submit your abstract before October, 31st. More information here: aflico10.sciencesconf.org
October 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM
📅 The deadline to submit abstracts has been entended to November 23rd!
📅 La date limite de soumission des résumés est prolongée jusqu'au 23 novembre !
📅 La date limite de soumission des résumés est prolongée jusqu'au 23 novembre !
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
We accepted "I always migrated by reindeer: Lamunkhin and Bystraja Even narratives about their traditional way of life" by Brigitte Pakendorf langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
October 31, 2025 at 2:22 PM
We accepted "I always migrated by reindeer: Lamunkhin and Bystraja Even narratives about their traditional way of life" by Brigitte Pakendorf langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
What is a “copula”, and what is “predicative inflection”? This new blogpost continues the comparison between the comparative concepts of Creissels et al. (2026) (in Bertinetto et al. 2026) and those of Haspelmath (2025): dlc.hypotheses.org/3865
October 28, 2025 at 11:26 AM
What is a “copula”, and what is “predicative inflection”? This new blogpost continues the comparison between the comparative concepts of Creissels et al. (2026) (in Bertinetto et al. 2026) and those of Haspelmath (2025): dlc.hypotheses.org/3865
Many thanks to Lilián Guerrero for inviting me to give lectures at UNAM in Mexico City! (The lecture materials are here: zenodo.org/records/1743...)
October 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Many thanks to Lilián Guerrero for inviting me to give lectures at UNAM in Mexico City! (The lecture materials are here: zenodo.org/records/1743...)
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Just published "Notes on the grammar of Andakí" by Jelien Moens and Matthias Pache #openaccess #ela langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
October 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Just published "Notes on the grammar of Andakí" by Jelien Moens and Matthias Pache #openaccess #ela langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
Bertinetto, Ciucci and Creissels just published a fantastic new cross-linguistic handbook. But I have some critical comments on their introductory chapter. It turns out that it's not so easy to say what exactly is "nonverbal predication". dlc.hypotheses.org/3832
October 15, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Bertinetto, Ciucci and Creissels just published a fantastic new cross-linguistic handbook. But I have some critical comments on their introductory chapter. It turns out that it's not so easy to say what exactly is "nonverbal predication". dlc.hypotheses.org/3832
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Good to be back home after a week-long trip to Germany for a symposium at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology on "What Makes Us Human?" (www.eva.mpg.de/events/2025-...).
I spent about the same amount of time traveling as I did at the symposium, but it was worth it.
I spent about the same amount of time traveling as I did at the symposium, but it was worth it.
October 12, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Good to be back home after a week-long trip to Germany for a symposium at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology on "What Makes Us Human?" (www.eva.mpg.de/events/2025-...).
I spent about the same amount of time traveling as I did at the symposium, but it was worth it.
I spent about the same amount of time traveling as I did at the symposium, but it was worth it.
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
A bit of linguistic cartography to brighten your day. This map shows how the words for camel 🐫 spread across the Old World.
October 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
A bit of linguistic cartography to brighten your day. This map shows how the words for camel 🐫 spread across the Old World.
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Because I think better in pictures, here is a visualisation of languages according to documentation and endangerment status (I'm calling it glottocloud).
glottolog.org/langdoc/status
glottolog.org/langdoc/status
October 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Because I think better in pictures, here is a visualisation of languages according to documentation and endangerment status (I'm calling it glottocloud).
glottolog.org/langdoc/status
glottolog.org/langdoc/status
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Thrilled to announce the publication of my paper "A Modern Synthesis: The Fillmorean Construction and its Hidden Lineage" in Constructions! The article digs into the prehistory of #ConstructionGrammar and is based on the first chapter of my upcoming book
constructions.journals.hhu.de/article/view...
constructions.journals.hhu.de/article/view...
A Modern Synthesis: The Fillmorean Construction and its Hidden Lineage
| Constructions
constructions.journals.hhu.de
October 10, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Thrilled to announce the publication of my paper "A Modern Synthesis: The Fillmorean Construction and its Hidden Lineage" in Constructions! The article digs into the prehistory of #ConstructionGrammar and is based on the first chapter of my upcoming book
constructions.journals.hhu.de/article/view...
constructions.journals.hhu.de/article/view...
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Confs: 4th International Conference "Prominence in Language"
Confs: 4th International Conference "Prominence in Language"
Prominence relations establish a ranking between linguistic units, such as prosodic units, arguments of a verb, and discourse referents. Prominence is one of the key notions in language and communication: it accounts, for instance, for prosodic highlighting and for the building of linguistic structure and discourse representations. The CRC 1252 Prominence in Language (University of Cologne) investigates the role of prominence from an interdisciplinary linguistic perspective, involving phonology
dlvr.it
October 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Confs: 4th International Conference "Prominence in Language"
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Advanced Tongue Route, obviously #IPA #Linguistics
What the Helen of Troy Does this Sign Mean? www.popville.com/2025/10/what...
What the Helen of Troy Does this Sign Mean? - PoPville
Is it related to the pay parking? All I can think of is playing tetris...
www.popville.com
October 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Advanced Tongue Route, obviously #IPA #Linguistics
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
“It is precisely because social media has democratised the public sphere that it has contributed to trends liberals (including myself) are so worried about.” 👏
www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/is-social-...
www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/is-social-...
Is Social Media Destroying Democracy—Or Giving It To Us Good And Hard?
It’s easier to blame the algorithm than the bewildered herd.
www.conspicuouscognition.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:30 PM
“It is precisely because social media has democratised the public sphere that it has contributed to trends liberals (including myself) are so worried about.” 👏
www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/is-social-...
www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/is-social-...
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
🚨Call for Papers | Morphology in Context!
We are organising a workshop at IMM 2026 (Budapest).
⏰Deadline for submissions: 1 december 2025. Details/call below. We are looking forward to your submissions!
#CfP #Morphology
We are organising a workshop at IMM 2026 (Budapest).
⏰Deadline for submissions: 1 december 2025. Details/call below. We are looking forward to your submissions!
#CfP #Morphology
Confs: Workshop at the 22nd International Morphology Meeting: Morphology in Context
Confs: Workshop at the 22nd International Morphology Meeting: Morphology in Context
Convenors:
Sabine Arndt-Lappe (Trier)
Barbara Schlücker (FU Berlin)
Complex words are produced, understood, and also coined in context, and a by now large, but diverse body of literature has explored different facets of the role of context. By ‘context’ we mean the linguistic context, both immediate (e.g. preceding and following words) and with a larger scope (e.g. text types), and the extralinguistic context such as the speaker and the listener or the situation of speaking and the discours
dlvr.it
October 7, 2025 at 1:08 PM
🚨Call for Papers | Morphology in Context!
We are organising a workshop at IMM 2026 (Budapest).
⏰Deadline for submissions: 1 december 2025. Details/call below. We are looking forward to your submissions!
#CfP #Morphology
We are organising a workshop at IMM 2026 (Budapest).
⏰Deadline for submissions: 1 december 2025. Details/call below. We are looking forward to your submissions!
#CfP #Morphology
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
"A compelling and thought-provoking analysis of human sociality and the origins of language."
The Interaction Engine by Stephen C. Levinson (@mpi-nl.bsky.social), Out Now & #OpenAccess
https://cup.org/4nusznG
#OA #Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦
The Interaction Engine by Stephen C. Levinson (@mpi-nl.bsky.social), Out Now & #OpenAccess
https://cup.org/4nusznG
#OA #Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦
October 1, 2025 at 9:05 PM
"A compelling and thought-provoking analysis of human sociality and the origins of language."
The Interaction Engine by Stephen C. Levinson (@mpi-nl.bsky.social), Out Now & #OpenAccess
https://cup.org/4nusznG
#OA #Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦
The Interaction Engine by Stephen C. Levinson (@mpi-nl.bsky.social), Out Now & #OpenAccess
https://cup.org/4nusznG
#OA #Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025.
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max
October 3, 2025 at 7:53 AM
We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025.
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Heute 13 h in Berlin und Stuttgart: Gemeinsam setzen wir vielfältige und deutliche Zeichen. Gegen alle Kriege. Gegen die Aufrüstung. Für diplomatische Initiativen, Verhandlungen und gemeinsame Sicherheit.
friedensdemo0310.org
friedensdemo0310.org
October 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Heute 13 h in Berlin und Stuttgart: Gemeinsam setzen wir vielfältige und deutliche Zeichen. Gegen alle Kriege. Gegen die Aufrüstung. Für diplomatische Initiativen, Verhandlungen und gemeinsame Sicherheit.
friedensdemo0310.org
friedensdemo0310.org
My paper on two types of comparative concepts (construction-functions and construction-strategies) is now published: langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
October 1, 2025 at 1:48 PM
My paper on two types of comparative concepts (construction-functions and construction-strategies) is now published: langsci-press.org/catalog/book...
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
Reposted by Martin Haspelmath
📢 Jetzt bewerben: Wissenschaftler:innen können bis zum 31. Januar 2026 ihre Forschungsvorhaben für das #Akademienprogramm 2028 einreichen! Fokus auf Geistes-, Rechts-, Wirtschafts- & Gesellschaftswissenschaften. Interdisziplinäre Projekte willkommen! Zur Ausschreibung 🔗 shorturl.at/GXQC3 #Forschung
September 29, 2025 at 2:04 PM
📢 Jetzt bewerben: Wissenschaftler:innen können bis zum 31. Januar 2026 ihre Forschungsvorhaben für das #Akademienprogramm 2028 einreichen! Fokus auf Geistes-, Rechts-, Wirtschafts- & Gesellschaftswissenschaften. Interdisziplinäre Projekte willkommen! Zur Ausschreibung 🔗 shorturl.at/GXQC3 #Forschung