Language Log

Since 2001, the Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies (SJEAS) has been playing an increasingly prominent role in scholarship on East Asia, especially language aspects. Sponsored since 2001 by the Academy of East Asian Studies (AEAS) at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea, SJEAS is an international, multidisciplinary publication dedicated to research on pre-1945 East Asian humanities. SJEAS presents new research related to the Sinographic Cosmopolis/Sphere of pre-1945 East Asia, publishing both articles that stay within traditional disciplinary or regional boundaries and works that explore the commonalities and contrasts found in countries of the Sinographic Sphere. SJEAS is particularly keen to highlight new research by scholars from China (broadly conceived), Japan, Korea, and Vietnam that engages with Western scholarship in this field.

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The social media site r/PetsWithButtons (created in 2020) is full of interesting observations and questions. One of my favorites is "My cat has started to use “vacuum” as a curse word":

Basically the title. I gave him a “vacuum” button because the vacuum is stressful for him and I wanted to be able to clearly communicate that the vacuum was going to happen and let him know “vacuum all done.” He definitely knows what it means because when the vacuum is running he will push “vacuum” repeatedly and also add “nervous” in there too. But now he has started spamming vacuum after I tell him no, like he is using it as a curse word. For example, he will ask for “snackie” when we JUST got done with snackie and I will say “snackie all done” and then he will go spam the vacuum button. Yeah, ok bud, I hear you loud and clear that you feel “vacuum” about “snackie all done.” Or he snuck a lick from the end of my spicy curry dish (I did not authorize this, I looked away for ONE second), I could tell he regretted this (spicy), and then he went and pressed “snackie vacuum.” Yeah, ok bud, that snackie made your mouth feel “vacuum”.

I don’t know what I’m asking really, just commiserating. I guess maybe he needs a “mad” button?

"‘We’re a bit jealous of Kneecap’: how Europe’s minority tongues are facing the digital future", Stephen Burgen, The Guardian (11/26/25)

What does it mean to lose a language? And what does it take to save it? Those were the big questions being asked in Barcelona recently

The author tells us:

There’s an Irish saying, tír gan teanga, tír gan anam: a country without a language is a country without a soul. Representatives of some of Europe’s estimated 60 minority languages – or minoritised, as they define them – met in Barcelona recently to discuss what it means to lose a language, and what it takes to save it.

Sino-Platonic Papers is pleased to announce the publication of its three-hundred-and-seventy-first issue:

“The Multifaceted Saga of the Ethnonym Han,” by Sanping Chen. (free pdf)

"The hottest new AI company is…Google?", CNN 11/29/2025, shows a slide telling us that Google Search is "Bringing Generative AI to more people than any product in the world":