Recent language sciences references
« previous post | next post »
Because there are so many excellent entries of interest to Language Log readers in various fields, I am including all of those in this extensive list;
- "Genetic History of Scythia." Andreeva, Tatiana V. et al. Science Advances 11, no. 30 (July 25, 2025): eads8179. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads8179. Updated 27 March 2026.
- "Decoding Parrot Duets: Complex Communication in Yellow-Naped Amazons." Dahlin, Christine R. et al. Journal of Avian Biology 2026, no. 1 (February 12, 2026): e03552. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jav.03552.
- "The Dual Formative *tsi in Tibeto-Burman Languages." DeLancey, Scott. Himalayan Linguistics 25, no. 1 (March 3, 2026). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92z910mm.
- "Lexical Richness in the Speech of Mandarin Chinese for L2 Learners." Hao, Yuxin et al. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 13, no. 1 (April 9, 2026): 437. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-06566-9.
- "Biomechanics and Evolution of the Primate Tongue." Sekhavati, Yeganeh et al. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 35, no. 2 (April 2, 2026): e70026. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.70026.
- "One Test, Many Tongues: Surveying Language Proficiency across the Globe." Van Rijn, Pol et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123, no. 13 (March 27, 2026): e2420179123. https://pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420179123.
- "Enduring Constraints on Grammar Revealed by Bayesian Spatiophylogenetic Analyses." Verkerk, Annemarie et al. Nature Human Behaviour 10, no. 1 (November 17, 2025): 126-136. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02325-z.
- "Social Perception of Creaky Voice in Mandarin Chinese: Everyone's Gender Matters." Yao, Yao et al. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (March 27, 2026). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-07108-z.
[Thanks to:
Edward M "Ted" McClure, Librarian
https://patreon.com/Bluehorse887
https://researchbuzz.masto.host/@Bluehorse ]
Chris Button said,
April 13, 2026 @ 2:23 pm
I wonder how the creaky voice experiments would fare on a language that uses a "creaky" lexical tone.
David Marjanović said,
April 14, 2026 @ 6:02 am
Let alone one that distinguishes plain and creaky vowels independent of tone (and length); there are some in and around northern Ghana for example.
Chris Button said,
April 14, 2026 @ 7:04 am
I actually don't think it matters to my question whether the creaky voice is considered phonologically as a kind of "tone", or whether it is considered phonologically independent of "tone", or whether it is part of the phonetic realization of one or more tones.
I was just curious how the experiment might have fared under any such circumstances.
Jonathan Smith said,
April 14, 2026 @ 11:34 am
Creaky voice *is* associated with tone in Mandarin, specifically being a common non-contrastive feature of Tone 3. The authors note this. Their "creaky" vs. "modal" data are synthesized, not natural. So IDK about this study.
Chris Button said,
April 14, 2026 @ 2:51 pm
Good point about the phonetic creakiness that can accompany mandarin 3rd tone. But it is indeed non-contrastive and acoustically comparable to a continuation fall-rise in English, which one wouldn't normally talk about in terms of creaky voice. So, I suppose the study (which I have not read) could still be viable.
M. Paul Shore said,
April 15, 2026 @ 11:41 am
If this isn’t too irreverent, I’d like to submit the following Higgledy-Piggledy poem inspired by the seventh-listed article, obeying the classic Hecht/Pascal rules except that, instead of the second line of the second stanza being solely occupied by one eight-syllable word, I’ve spread a two-word sixteen-syllable term from the first to the third line.
Higgledy-piggledy,
Frau Prof. Verkerk et al.,
Plumbing the topic of
Grammar constraint,
Wielding their spatio-
phylogenetic a-
nalyses deftly, where
Others might faint.
M. Paul Shore said,
April 15, 2026 @ 11:54 am
Sorry, I should’ve said “ instead of the second line of the second stanza being solely occupied by one six-syllable word, I’ve spread a two-word twelve-syllable term from the first to the third line”.
Philip Taylor said,
April 19, 2026 @ 2:34 am
[Coming to this late, as I've been away] — love the poem, MPS : well done !