Language Log

The Koreans and Vietnamese got rid of them within the last century, even the Chinese — for more than a century — seriously considered abolishing the sinographs, and have simplified them until they are but a pale remnant of what they used to be.  Moreover, after WWI, when — with the help of the American occupation — Japan had a real chance to switch to an alphabet, the Japanese, on the whole, still clung to the kanji.  This is not to mention that the first great novel in an East Asian language, The Tale of Genji (before 1021 AD), which has a stature in Japan similar to that= of Shakespeare in the United Kingdom (Sonja Arntzen), was written by Lady Murasaki in the phonetic hiragana syllabary (aka "women's writing").  

The fact that the Japanese still have not abandoned the archaic morphosyllabic / logographic script is a conundrum that has puzzled me since I first learned Chinese and Japanese more than half a century ago.  Such a fundamental question about the history of East Asian writing is one that could scarcely escape the attention of rishika Julesy.  Here is her video about this thorny matter, "Why Kanji Survived in Japan (But Not in Korea or Vietnam)" (22:25).  I am confident that, as always, she will have something enlightening to say about this perplexing subject.

Just listened to the classic rendition of that song by Bobby Vinton. I was struck by the way he executed the long drawn-out glissando from the close back rounded vowel to the voiced labiodental fricative.

Following up on "Pets with Buttons", it's clearly time to return to "Dognitive Science" and catch up on the relevant literature.

Post 2/3
Three days after the inferno, the HK NatSec Office brands the fire “以火乱港 2.0” — the exact same phrase they used for 2019 rioters.
Translation: they’re prepping to blame “anti-China forces” so no tycoon or cadre ever sees a courtroom. pic.twitter.com/ndkFLHrCoE

— The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动 (@TGTM_Official) November 30, 2025

From Mark Swofford:

Here's a lighthearted Google Translate oddity from a newspaper article on the opening of ferry service between Taiwan and Ishigaki, Japan. 

The relevant bit:

選在冬季開航，海象較差船舶易晃，影響旅客搭乘意願。洪郁航表示，首航至明年2月底將採試營運優惠價，最低優惠至2000元，而最大優惠價差高達2000元，提高民眾嘗試及體驗意願。

Headline on NDTV, Nov. 29, 2025: "Japan Unveils Human Washing Machine, Now You Can Get Washed Like Laundry."

New book by Luke Waring:

Writing and Materiality in Ancient China:  The Textual Culture of the Mawangdui Tombs (Columbia University Press, December 2025)

Notable & Quotable: Lost in Woke Translation
‘Then a black Dutch fashion blogger wrote an article saying that Gorman’s work should only be translated by a black woman.’
Dec. 2, 2025

If we adhered to such a standard for choosing translators, where would it lead?

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.

(source)

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":