Language Log

New article in Antiquity (05 November 2024):  "Seals and signs: tracing the origins of writing in ancient South-west Asia", by Kathryn Kelley, Mattia Cartolano, and Silvia Ferrara

Abstract

Administrative innovations in South-west Asia during the fourth millennium BC, including the cylinder seals that were rolled on the earliest clay tablets, laid the foundations for proto-cuneiform script, one of the first writing systems. Seals were rich in iconography, but little research has focused on the potential influence of specific motifs on the development of the sign-based proto-cuneiform script. Here, the authors identify symbolic precursors to fundamental proto-cuneiform signs among late pre-literate seal motifs that describe the transportation of vessels and textiles, highlighting the synergy of early systems of clay-based communication.

Other video angles and edits are available on YouTube.

Jichang Lulu congratulated me on the completion of my continental diabasis.  Since I didn't know the meaning of that word and couldn't readily find a suitable definition for it online (I was familiar with the Anabasis of Xenophon [c. 430-probably 355 or 354 BC], the title of which means "expedition up from"), I simply had to ask him.  The following is what Lulu said in reply:

The use of the term is probably not classically warranted. I meant diabasis (διάβασις, ‘crossing, traversal, passage…’, literally ‘going through’) as a pun on Xenophon's Anabasis (the ‘march up’, i.e., inland, although most of the book is about the march back down to the coast). 

[This is a guest post by Conal Boyce]

La 9e édition du Dictionnaire de l’Académie française:

La 9e édition du Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, dont la publication a commencé dans les années 1980, s’est achevée en novembre 2024, avec la parution du tome 4 aux éditions Fayard.

The 9th edition of the Dictionary of the French Academy, whose publication began in the 1980s, was completed in November 2024, with the publication of volume 4 by éditions Fayard.

Le Dictionnaire de l’Académie française est l’un des plus anciens dictionnaires de la langue française, dont la première édition date de 1694 et a été suivie de sept autres datant respectivement de 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835, 1878 et 1935. La 9e édition, dont les trois premiers tomes sont parus en 1992, 2000 et 2011, est désormais achevée ; elle constitue sans aucun doute la version la plus aboutie du projet académique, auquel elle reste fidèle et dont elle conserve les principes.

The Dictionary of the French Academy is one of the oldest dictionaries of the French language, the first edition of which dates from 1694 and was followed by seven others dating respectively from 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835, 1878 and 1935 The 9th edition, the first three volumes of which were published in 1992, 2000 and 2011, is now completed; it undoubtedly constitutes the most accomplished version of the academic project, to which it remains faithful and of which it preserves the principles.

I just received the following book:  P.N. Singer and Ralph M. Rosen, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Galen (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2024).  The volume has 29 chapters, the last of which is "Galen in Premodern Tibet and China: Impressions and Footprints" (pp. 658-674) by Dror Weil and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim.  Naturally, this chapter is of great interest to me.  It mentions many parallels and correspondences between Galenic and Sinitic medical practice and thought (e.g., humors, colors, purging, etc.), much of it passing through what is called "Islamicate" (Huíhui 回回) medicine and pharmaceutics, and through Persian literature as well.  The authors also take into account Sogdian, Syriac, and Sanskrit sources.

Of all the instances of Galenic thought and practice in China mentioned by the authors, the one that struck me most powerfully was this:

One record gives an account of a surgery on a boy’s head that experts in Islamicate medicine (Huihui yiguan 回回醫官) performed in order to extract a tumor. The tumor, interestingly, is described in this Chinese record by the term little cancer (xiao xie 小蟹), a literal translation of the Arabic sarṭān (cancer). (p. 664)

Today's xkcd:

Mouseover title: "There's a maximum likelihood that I'm doing phylogenetics wrong."

An interesting recent review article (Wooster et al., "Animal cognition and culture mediate predator–prey interactions", Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2024) argues for bridging the academic silos of "predator-prey ecology" and "animal cognition and culture":

Abstract: Predator–prey ecology and the study of animal cognition and culture have emerged as independent disciplines. Research combining these disciplines suggests that both animal cognition and culture can shape the outcomes of predator–prey interactions and their influence on ecosystems. We review the growing body of work that weaves animal cognition or culture into predator–prey ecology, and argue that both cognition and culture are significant but poorly understood mechanisms mediating how predators structure ecosystems. We present a framework exploring how previous experiences with the predation process creates feedback loops that alter the predation sequence. Cognitive and cultural predator–prey ecology offers ecologists new lenses through which to understand species interactions, their ecological consequences, and novel methods to conserve wildlife in a changing world.

Oddly, there's nothing in the article about communication, which would seem to be a relevant aspect of "culture", and relevant to studies of "cognition" as well.

[This is a guest post by Denis Mair]   

  Cai Xutie was a Taiwanese woman who ran a family farm with her husband in a village near Jiayi in central Taiwan. She was a rice farmer and had never attended a public school. After her husband died in middle age, she sold some of the land, moved to Taipei with her children, and bought a modest apartment. Because of economic pressure, she helped to set up a number of revolving credit pools, which were used by economically disadvantaged people in the 1950s and 60s to obtain credit when they couldn't get it from banks.

There is a discussion on Linguistics Stack Exchange whether wristwatch in Chinese came from the French:

The first two panels of yesterday's SMBC:

In recent weeks and months, we've been having many posts and comments about Taiwanese language.  Today's post is quite different:  it's all about the difference between Mandarin as spoken on the mainland and as spoken on Taiwan.

"Words of Influence: PRC terms and Taiwanese identity", by Karen Huang, Taiwan Insight (8 November 2024)

What is a ‘video clip’ in Mandarin Chinese? In Taiwan, a video clip is yingpian (影片), while in China, it is referred to as shipin (視頻). Similarly, tomatoes are called fanqie (番茄) in Taiwan, but xihongshi (西红柿) in China. These vocabulary differences between Taiwan Mandarin (Guoyu 國語) and PRC Mandarin (Putonghua 普通话) are expected. After all, it is natural for different dialects of a language to have some differences in their vocabulary—just like how ‘rubbish bin’ in British English is ‘garbage can’ in American English.