Adam Schembri (ˈʃɛmbɹi/ˈʃkɛmbri)

Very thoughtful, well-informed and clearly motivated stance

This is what happens if you don’t recognise (reverse) right dislocations 🤣 #linguistics

Deaf Signers Adapt Their Eye Gaze Behaviour When Processing an Unknown Sign Language Author(s): Sander, Jennifer; Meister, Nina-Kristin; Finkbeiner, Thomas A.; Rowland, Caroline F; Steinbach, Markus; Friederici, Angela D.; Zaccarella, Emiliano; Trettenbrein, Patrick C. | Abstract: Sig...

Coming to CogSci 2025 - where do we look when watching sign language? Deaf signers look at the face (tho novice hearer-speakers look at the hands), showing how the language faculty adapts to different modalities. Led by @jennisander.bsky.social & Patrick Trettenbrein escholarship.org/uc/item/0183...

Complexity and Diversity of SiLs - Position Statements | Gallaudet University In short: Basically, we respect the diversity and complexity of communities and their languages and encourage you to do the same.

New position statement dropped by our department

gallaudet.edu/linguistics/...

Basically, as y'all know, people and language use are diverse. Respect that. Trying to standardize any of that backfires and is actually racist, classist and ableist

📢 We’re pleased to announce IcoLL2026: Joint conference of IcoSem and ILL (21–23 Feb., Nagoya U., Japan). The conference will feature invited talks by Dr. Mutsumi Imai, Dr. Noburo Saji, Dr. Pamela Perniss, and Dr. Neil Cohn. We look forward to welcoming you to Nagoya!
🌐 ianjoo.github.io/icosem/4

👇🏻In academia this is very common. People feel flattered or obliged when they are asked to be part of a project, give a talk, write a chapter ... What is often not part of the thought process is their own wellbeing. Why do so many academics ignore that they are the most important person for themself?

Great to see my colleague Bodo's class on iconicity in language - how I would love to be there!

I welcome the UK Government’s commitment to recognise the State of Palestine, but it shouldn’t be subject to conditions.

It must be unequivocal, irreversible and backed by sanctions on Israel.

Israel must agree to a ceasefire now and allow more aid into Gaza to stop starvation.

I spent last week in Berlin at the Summer School in Sign Language Studies organised by Humboldt University and Tallinn University -- it was such a great experience! #linguistics

YouTube video by NativLang Parts of speech English doesn't have, but these languages do!

Great that sign languages get mentioned here: youtu.be/F4kXiGT6lPU?... Less great that some work I did over 20 years ago is cited without sufficient explanation (and also when I no longer use the terminology being joked about 😂)

Auslan (the majority sign language of Australia's deaf community) has some interesting intensification phenomena - including the grammaticalisation of a sign originally meaning 'bad luck/unfortunate' as an intensifier used with both positive and negative adjectives.

Native and Foreign Vocabulary in American Sign Language: A Lexicon Wit This chapter examines the composition of the ASL lexicon with particular reference to the status of the types of words containing fingerspelled letters. There

Yes, in fact, I believe sign language linguists has already made the same observation: www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

hello world. new paper out!

An academic poster with images and text that goes through roughly the same points as this thread. To download a PDF of the poster, see https://brandon-prickett.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SCiL_Poster.pdf .

Artificial language learning experiments often explain typology by showing that more common patterns are easier to learn. But this isn’t always the case. In work I recently presented at SCiL, I present a possible explanation for one such mismatch between the lab and typology. 🐦🐦 #linguistics
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Book cover for Speaking with Pictures by Neil Cohn

My book has a cover and the final copyedited pages are submitted… my graphic novel "Speaking in Pictures: A Vision of Language” about language, cognition, and graphic communication will be out in February 2026! www.visuallanguagelab.com/sip

Nick Enfield, author of 'What Is Truth For?', is speaking at #HowTheLightGetsIn this September.

Find Nick's book: buff.ly/znpugeD

Find out more about the event: buff.ly/QO8oDjm

Well you just gained this linguist follower! Well done on this post.

Officially endorsed by me on behalf of #linguistics

Only missing tip in @hormiga.bsky.social 's post: Please, never write in your review "This paper should be edited by a native English speaker." You mean, "This paper needs edits for [grammar/style/voice/insert specific problem here]."

I wonder if would find the same trend for sign language grammar and iconicity? At the University of Birmingham, we are currently investigating the iconicity of British Sign Language morphology (BSL is a relatively larger signing community) so we are only beginning to explore this topic.

Including deaf scientists

I’m not a Brit actually, but that doesn’t make much difference to the point being made here.

Neural associations between fingerspelling, print, and signs: An ERP priming study with deaf readers Fingerspelling is a leading predictor of reading ability for deaf people who use a signed language, but few neuroimaging studies have examined how it …

New ERP study with Brittany Lee! Fingerspelled word primes elicit early N400 effects for printed word targets, similar to printed primes and unlike ASL sign primes. This results suggest shared orthographic representations for fingerspelling and print. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yes, that's what's been happening as far as I understand - people haven't been allowed to enter based on their social media activity.

Martin - were you asked to share your social media accounts when you went to either country so they could be checked for political content? I’ve been to China too (and the UAE recently) and that didn’t happen.

Would love to see New Orleans and attend LSA but, like many European academics, I'm currently being advised by my employer to reconsider conference travel to the US.

A photo of Adam teaching a session at the summer school

A photo of Adam teaching a session at the summer school

The second session today is taught by @adamcschembri.bsky.social‬ and is titled 'Towards a Corpus Linguistics of Sign Languages'. #ccrss25

Evidence for the cognitive advantages of #bilingualism may be inconclusive, but it’s still a superpower! #edusky #langsky #mflsky #linguistics

I see the "we cured deafness" injection is making the rounds in the UK now. Let's discuss 🧵

The Sinclair Lecture by @jwgrieve.bsky.social, mentioned by @lanthony.bsky.social in his plenary speech yesterday, will be held next Monday at 5pm at the University of Birmingham and will also be live-streamed. For details and registration, visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edac... #CL2025