James McElvenny

NAAHoLS 2026 Annual Meeting Date: 8-11 January 2026Place: New Orleans, LouisianaDeadline for submission: 1 September 2025Information: The North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences (NAAHoLS) will hold…

Call for Papers for the Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences (NAAHoLS)

Date: 8-11 January 2026
Place: New Orleans, Louisiana
Deadline for submission: 1 September 2025

🔗 hiphilangsci.net/2025/08/05/n...

#Histlx

📕 Puss in Boots in Ottoman Turkish, 1910s #cat

S5 E3 - Hans-Jörg Rheinberger on Epistemic Things The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · Episode

It was a true privilege to have had the chance to interview Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, whose work has long influenced both my research interests and engagement with this discipline.

It's this week's episode of
The HPS Podcast – out now! 🎧

@hpspodcast.bsky.social

#hps #histsci #experiments

Making Science Public in a chaotic world As you know, I am now gradually moving from my old ‘Making Science Public’ blog home at the University of Nottingham to my new personal blog home here. This wasn’t easy and lots of people supported…

For weekend readers, my first Making Science Public post on my own blog site, reflecting on the current state of and challenges to science communication #scicomm - feel free to press 'subscribe'! makingsciencepublic.com/2025/07/25/m...

A perfect occasion to listen to ep. 44 of our podcast, in which James McElvenny (@jamesmcelvenny.bsky.social) talks to Ian Stewart (@princetonupress.bsky.social) about modern ideas about the Celts and and the role of historical-comparative linguistics.

🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/03/01/p...

#Histlx

HSS Bulletin Archive — Henry Sweet Society Bulletin of the Henry Sweet Society

Don't forget that the full archive of the Henry Sweet Society Bulletin (predecessor of Language & History) is available on our website in ✨OPEN ACCESS✨! This includes issues no. 1-51 (1984-2008). Drop by and browse: www.henrysweet.org/bulletin-of-...

Why the ANDC Matters? - The ANDC is Australia’s leading centre for lexicographical research, jointly funded by ANU and Oxford University Press. - It is the definitive authority on Australian English—documenting regionalisms, Aboriginal English, and producing landmark publications like the Australian National Dictionary. - Its widely celebrated “Word of the Year” initiative connects Australians with their evolving language and identity. - For ANU, it provides immense national and international visibility—while operating as a low-cost, high-impact asset. The Cost of Closure: - Damage to Australian English: Halting systematic documentation of our unique national language. - Setback for Indigenous Languages: Undermining efforts to research and preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. - Erosion of National Identity: Undermining the role of language in shaping how Australians see themselves, their history, and their culture. - Damage to ANU’s Reputation: Compromising its mission as a national university and leader in cultural heritage research.

The latest round of cuts at ANU include an outrageous plan to close the Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC). ANU has forgotten its vital function as the national university.

Please sign this petition urging ANU to reconsider and protect the ANDC:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The Vivien Law Prize — Henry Sweet Society The Vivien Law Prize

✨Vivien Law Essay Prize in the history of linguistic ideas✨
Deadline: 30th September 2025
If you are: a currently registered student or received your PhD/equivalent within the last five years (maternity leave excluded)
See details and get your submissions ready!👇
www.henrysweet.org/vivien-law-p...

(aber, ja, um Missverständnisse zu vermeiden: #climatechangeisreal)

Bah! Ich habe meine ganze Schulzeit bei 40 Grad im Outback verbracht.

‘If we could stop thinking of the brain like it’s a Rubik’s cube, then perhaps we would have more capacity to talk about what’s truly iconic about Gage: that he survived, both as a body and a person’ buff.ly/1gMuFXd

i.e. Voegelin as quoted in Hockett (ed.), just in case it’s not clear. Link to book on archive.org in the post.

„Charles F. Voegelin has told me of the relation between Bloomfield and Sapr as he observed it in the 1930’s. Each had deep respect for the other, but with certain reservations. Sapir admired Bloomfield’s ability patiently to excerpt data and to file and collate slips until the patterns of the language…“

„…emerged, but spoke deprecatingly of Bloomfield’s sophomoric psychology. Bloomfield was dazzled by Sapir’s virtuosity and perhaps a bit jealous of it, but in matters outside language referred to Sapir as a ‚medicine man‘.“

Sorry, I don’t know. The most fun anecdote I know about that period is the attached from C. F. Voegelin.

archive.org/details/leon...

Look what's arrived!

Interesting! And is there a connection to “slim” as in American “slim customer”?

"Was ist das. - Was - ist das . . ." "Je, den Düwel ook, c'est la question, ma très chère demoiselle!" Im Salon der Familie Buddenbrook versucht die achtjährige Antonie in schulmäßigem Hochdeutsch den Katechismus herzusagen, was ihr Großvater, der ältere Johann Buddenbrook, mit einem wenig christlichen Einwurf auf Plattdeutsch und Französisch unterbricht. Die ersten Sätze in Thomas Manns Roman entfalten die sprachliche Situation, die noch in der Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts in Lübeck und vielen anderen norddeutschen Städten herrschte: Seine Glanzzeit als internationale Schriftsprache der Hanse hatte das Niederdeutsche zu dieser Zeit zwar längst hinter sich, aber es führte auch im Großbürgertum noch ein geachtetes Dasein neben der Bildungssprache Französisch. Hochdeutsch beherrschte man in diesen Kreisen zwar auch, aber es spielte keine hervorgehobene Rolle. In den kommenden Generationen änderte sich das. Niederdeutsch, dessen Gebiet sich von den Küsten bis in den Nordrand Hessens und über große Teile Westfalens erstreckt, wurde zur Sprache der "einfachen Leute". Bis vor nicht allzu langer Zeit galt es als Hemmnis schulischer Bildung und beruflichen Aufstiegs. Erst in jüngster Zeit hat ein Umdenken eingesetzt; der Rückgang wird nun als drohender Verlust angesehen. Das einst belächelte Provinzidiom genießt in großen Teilen Norddeutschlands mittlerweile ein beachtliches kulturelles Prestige. Der wechselvollen Geschichte des Niederdeutschen und seiner Erforschung widmet sich eine Ausstellung in der Hamburger Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, ausgerichtet vom Verein für Niederdeutsche Sprachforschung aus Anlass seines 150-jährigen Bestehens. Das Spektrum der Exponate in der Staatsbibliothek (zu sehen bis zum 21. Juli) spannt sich von mittelalterlichen Handschriften über illustrierte Drucke der frühen Neuzeit bis zu Sprachkarten, Schulbüchern, der Dokumentation plattdeutscher Straßennamen und der Präsentation aktueller linguistischer Untersuchungen. Deutlich…

Die FAZ über unsere aktuelle Ausstellung:
„Warum wir nicht alle plattdeutsch sprechen
Die Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg widmet sich in einer Ausstellung der Geschichte des Niederdeutschen.“

Noch bis 21.7. in der Stabi: blog.sub.uni-hamburg.de?p=40359

‘Enchantment and wonder can still coexist with the most serious science.’ How French ‘merveilleux-scientifique’ fiction reframed reality buff.ly/QnbZuh8

Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – June 2025 Zwartjes, Otto, ed. 2025. The History of Chinese Linguistics in East and West. [Special issue] Historiographia Linguistica 51(1-3). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 385 p. ISSN 0302-5…

Check out the latest publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences for June 2025 🤩

📚 hiphilangsci.net/2025/06/23/p...

#Histlx

"Alles Verstehen ist […] zugleich ein Nicht-Verstehen"

#LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx #LinguisticQuotes

#OTD 258 years ago, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) was born 🎉 A diplomat, politician, and highly influential philosopher of language, he was an early language typologist who contributed to the description of numerous languages, including Basque and Kawi.

#LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Should be interesting: “The Bloomsbury handbook of Saussure” ed. by John E. Joseph (July ’25) www.bloomsbury.com/ca/bloomsbur...

I missed out on meeting her, unfortunately, but I’ve absorbed so much of her work and heard so much about her from others

Happy birthday, dear Anna! 🥳

#Histlx #LinguisticBirthdays #LinguisticQuotes

It’s a problem how ephemeral digital content tends to be, and that it’s increasingly captured by platform capitalism. But universities of all institutions should be providing a stable, long-term home for this important form of sci-com.

If you've ever fed Vegemite to someone from overseas, I salute you. It's our national duty to do so.

photo shows a line of trees with the figure of a woman in hat, white blouse and long dark skirt to the right, a bridge faintly visible behind

Along the Elbe in Dresden in 1909 (photo by Karl Struss)

Very excited about the Call for Papers for the upcoming 2025 conference for the Australasian Association for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science.

Come join us in sunny Brisbane QLD this December!! It is always a wonderful event.

#hps #histSTM #philsci #STS #metasci 🧪

Thanks for posting. My chapter in Limits of Structuralism covers similar material in greater depth and with refs and footnotes.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

author beat me to posting this! tl;dr awesome book – highly recommmended

From the sublime to the ridiculous?