SamuelJBeer

Don’t mind me just cold calling language & culture reporters. I’m trying to get back in the media/news circuit after a bit of a lapse—if anyone can help with that and make any introductions do get in touch!

Make of that what you will!

Two silhouettes deer, one sharp and one motion blurred, are framed by a silhouette of a bare tree and resplendent sunset-orange clouds against a deep blue sky.

Something nice

There is a perspective that fusional morphology is not “on-line” but mostly stored and there is a perspective that it is constructed online via morphophonological processes. When I elicit forms in Mixtecan languages with fusional tonal morpholology, speakers regularly pause and take longer… 1/n

Yesssss ultra and Jenn Lichter representation!

Yay the barkleys! during which i cheer blindly at a list of unhelpful nicknames of insane people i dont know as they endure 3 days of sleep deprivation & terrain-and-weather-related torture on a mountain in TN, on purpose, as narrated by a mysterious figure called "keith" #bm100

Colorado launches new system for reporting misconduct by federal agents Each report will be reviewed and may be shared with the Colorado congressional delegation and local district attorney offices

Coloradans who want to report claims of federal agent misconduct can do so through a new complaint filing system with the state’s Department of Law, officials announced Wednesday.

coloradosun.com/2026/01/21/c...

The slides from my #OCP23 presentation, "Against Occam's razor", can be found here: roryturnbull.github.io/Presentation...

Thanks!

Look at my baby! ☺️

I reedited Modole folk stories published 110 years ago

Old journals and archives are full of story collections in underdocumented languages, often difficult or impossible to access for both linguists and the speaker community. Using legacy material is valuable and sustainable 🙌🏻

Interest 👀

Do I have an expert on Hakka in my timeline who could check potential loans?

In which Comrade Punished Ulyx believes that Reagan destroyed the American nation and we must RETVRN to the wholesome ways of the Carter era.

The milkshake ducking of slop

Cover of Andrew Garrett's "The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall: Language, Memory, and Indigenous California", with a picture of the first letter of the word Kroeber being removed from a wall

My book The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall: Language, Memory, and Indigenous California (2023) is now open-access to read or download:

escholarship.org/uc/item/59w3...

Thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social, where you can still buy lovely print copies (mitpress.mit.edu/978026254709...).

In what follows, I offer a mashup of leftover fieldwork data I don’t want to waste

We salute ancestor Thomas.

“To enter or exit the train, please press the door button when lit.”

*anxiously looking around at other people at the train stop*

“So uh how much do you guys drink before you press the button”

This is wonderful.

Claire rules!

To the examples described here can be added work by Ihnat and Shaffer (2024), who show similar trends of “minor religious centers connecting themselves to more famous figures” in liturgical manuscripts relating to St. Vincent in Medieval Iberia.

www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...

They can’t be stopped. They won’t be stopped. 🐦🐦

Alur (Ukoko et al.) has an ideophone for "something white spread over a wide surface".

Does any other language lexicalise this rather particular meaning?

Hey look it’s possible to tell different kinds of stories, in which indigenous people make choices and practice solidarity and resist oppression and overcome harm. Many such cases.

apnews.com/article/alas...

Support Indigenous data sovereignty and support independent journalism.

4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...

Car Size

xkcd.com/3167/

For what it’s worth I was out on a jog a week or so ago and a propos of nothing in particular, the thought that popped into my mind was: “You know who is a really skilled communicator? Kirby Conrod.” And I meant to tell you but I forgot!

All of which is to say I think you’re still doing awesome.

I’m 37 for another few weeks thank you very much

Mamdani sign generator meme. Text reads: you may: 1. Attempt to for-d the river 2. Caulk wagon and float it across 3. Take a ferry across 4. Wait to see if conditions improve 5. Get more information

💉🩸