Xavier Bach

Transalpine Typology Meeting is coming to Munich this year (26–28 November)! We invite submissions for presentations on topics related to linguistic typology and comparative linguistics. The deadline for abstract submission is 15 April 2026. Spread the word! sites.google.com/unipv.it/tra...

The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve? We argue that an understanding of the faculty of language requires substantial interdisciplinary cooperation. We suggest how current developments in linguistics can be profitably wedded to work in evo...

Hauser, Chomsky and Fitch 2002 is one of the most cited papers in linguistics. Hauser has since been found guilty of research misconduct. Chomsky told his racist, slave-trading, child-raping friend that he thought MeToo had gone too far.

Maybe it‘s time for better role models.

Manuel des langues créoles à base française The handbook offers a state-of-the-art overview of French Creole studies, from a both comparative and language-specific perspective. Covering structural and historical features of French-based Creole ...

After more than ten years of preparation, our Manual of French-based Creoles is finally available for download.
What better place to announce this publication than during a visit to Martinique?
🦎🌴
Fok zot kouri gadé-y !

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Just published "Negation in the worlds languages" (3 vols) edited by Matti Miestamo & Ljuba Veselinova with Héloïse Calame. #rcg #openaccess langsci-press.org/catalog/book...

#OTD 100 years ago, Luise Hercus (1926–2018) was born 🎉 She initially focused on Middle Indo-Aryan languages, but later turned to fieldwork, documenting a number of Australian Indigenous languages such as Paakantyi, Wirangu, and Diyari.

#WomenInLinguistics #Histlx #LinguisticBirthdays

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Just published "A grammar of Hewramî" by Masoud Mohammadirad #cogl #openaccess langsci-press.org/catalog/book...

Validation par le droit du fait que l'écriture inclusive est bien du français. Cette décision a été prise en 2023 (voir ci-dessous) et entérinée par le Conseil d’État récemment.
Bon, c'est juste du bon sens, l'usage du point médian en français peut difficilement être autre chose que du français.

Ma langue natale - Documentaire en replay La France en Vrai - Normandie <p>Un road-movie à la rencontre de ceux&nbsp;qui s’efforcent de maintenir vivants les patois normands et leur patrimoine.</p>

Ma langue natale, a documentary about some of the last speakers of #normand
www.france.tv/france-3_nor...
#Oïl #normaund #GalloRomance

To be or not to be: Exploring a unique word in the world’s languages Dr Luca Ciucci is among the editors of a groundbreaking work that could help us to understand how the world's languages handle "to be". Here, he explains his research.

📖 ‘To be or not to be?’ That’s just the beginning of a linguistic mystery

The linguist Dr Luca Ciucci is among the editors of a new 1,300-page work exploring how the world's languages handle ‘to be’. Here, he reveals more about his research 👇

@lingulist.de #linguistics 🧪

A curated global dataset of social contact between diverse language communities

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lobatar | Xavier Bach Dins la familha lop, i a lo lop segur, que servís a l'encòp de mot generic per l'espècia e de mòt per dire lo mascle, mes i a tanben la loba e lo pichon, lo lobat o lo lobet, segon los parlars. Pel…

🐺 L'occitan a una regularitat dins la formacion de d'unes mots. Atal per "far los pichons", mas sonque se siètz un mamifèr ! Emai pel lop doncas, que coneis son fais de derivats, çò explica Xavier Bach... 🧑🏫

5-year (!) postdoc opportunity: Join our Edinburgh team and do fieldwork on the Burun languages!

Deadline for application: 17 December.

Position starts March 1st, 2025

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

A special issue on Occitan literature in the 17th century, with a contribution with colleagues on early traces of dance music in Occitan for the violin, and so much more (Christmas carols in Toulouse, Gascon in Canada, polyphony in Provence...)

De la marchandise au consulat : accès à une littératie vernaculaire... 1. Introduction Les archives et écrits de marchands sont rares dans la documentation conservée, particulièrement avant le xive siècle, où l’on commence à trouver de la correspondance commerciale. L...

New publication, open access:

De la marchandise au consulat : accès à une littératie vernaculaire à Montpellier au xiiie siècle
Xavier Bach et Pierre-Joan Bernard
doi.org/10.4000/156pz

#medievalsky #linguistics #Occitan #Montpellier

This just in from #Cornwall on #Kernewek #linguistics

Who wants to be the new professor for general #linguistics in Cologne? 👀

ifl.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/sites/lingui...

How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture A new collection of research papers examines how humans conceptualize numbers and the numeral systems we’ve build around them.

theconversation.com/how-number-s...

solidarity with all colleagues and students at Nottingham who are having their jobs and degrees destroyed by management. the relentless annihilation of language provision in UKHE is something that *every* academic should be calling out and pushing back against.

Discriminations : combattre la glottophobie - Éditions Lambert-Lucas Les discriminations fondées sur la langue sont largement ignorées alors (…)

Le livre de Philippe Blanchet sur la glottophobie est désormais disponible gratuitement sur internet. À lire pour vous faire une idée sur les discriminations liées aux langues et à nos manières de nous exprimer.
www.lambert-lucas.com/livre/discri...

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1937 Can't sign in? Forgot your password?

Interesting Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B theme issue: "A solid base for scaling up: the structure of numeration systems". Edited by Andrea Bender, Jean-Charles Pelland, @simongreenhill.bsky.social, & @coollinguist.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...

Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences The base concept in number systems is realized differently across multiple representational modalities—frameworks that incorporate sensory channel, medium of expression and semantic structures into integrated semiotic systems. Because these three factors ...

My paper "Base structures across lexical and notational numeral modalities" (PhilTransB) addresses a whole class of questions around the role that semiotic modality, and specifically number words vs. number symbols, plays in the structure of numerical systems.

C'est déjà fait avec Adam Raine, non?

Excited to see Gender Linguistics officially launched during LILG 2025 here at @hhu.de – and to share this moment with so many colleagues passionate about language and gender.

Looking forward to your submissions!

#linguistics

In Turin to work on the unpublished morphological data collected for the Atlante linguistico italiano. The city is great, and the data wonderful! #RomanceLinguistics #ALI #Torino

This year's #cilfr has been a wonderful week: lots of colleagues, plenty of linguistics, real scientific discussion. A beautiful celebration for 100 years of #slr Plus Lecce is an absolutely beautiful city!

📖📢PARUTION "LE CARTULAIRE DES TRENCAVEL" PAR @htldv.bsky.social (ÉD.)
📚Le dernier ouvrage paru dans la collection des documents inédits sur l'histoire de France est disponible dès aujourd'hui.
➡️ Se procurer l'ouvrage : cths.fr/ed/edition.p...
➡️ En savoir plus sur nos éditions : cths.fr/ed/index.php

Street sign saying in French "rue du fossé des tanneurs" and in Alsatian "Gerwergrawe"

In Strasbourg for a meeting of the DIVITAL project (divital.gitpages.huma-num.fr/fr/). So nice to share work done on multiple languages of France in a city where multilingualism is present! Street signs again, but also a lot of overheard conversations in the streets.

A major danger of LLMs is that humans are SO predisposed to attribute knowledge to any entity that uses natural language fluently. We cannot imagine that a machine that outputs natural-seeming speech/text doesn't have cognition. Brilliantly articulated by @emilymbender.bsky.social et al. (2021).

A trilingual sign showing Gare, ti-gar and Train station in French Breton and English

In Rennes, a lot of signs show multilingualism, including some street names, or these signs at the station with French, Breton and English #bzhg #multilingualism
Very little Breton and no Gallo heard in the streets though

In Rennes to work on archival documents about Gallo. Plenty of verb morphology and pronouns to be talked about soon!