The little dictionary I made for the Chhé’ee Fókaa is now up on the Tribe’s website: www.saltpomo.org/our-mission-1

An example of the work that must be done to repair Tasmanian language data: the Northeastern language(s) (my current focus) were largely recorded by an Englishman (G. A. Robinson) who couldn’t hear initial /ŋ/. Here are examples of NE forms for ‘spear’ from Plomley (1976):

Got to attend my first Tasmanian NAIDOC celebrations at an Aboriginal centre. There was dancing, and I got to try native-plant-infused treats!

New toy! (It’s fantastic) @chirila.bsky.social

I'm still amazed that we have these in Unicode! Definitely my favorite writing system in the Old World. 𔓢𔓭𔓬𔔓𔒒𔓚𔓣𔐁 What will it take to get Mayan glyphs on Unicode? sei.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

Worth a read: sinoxenic.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/t...

Tangut grades

Grades in Sino-TibetanCompiling Sinitic comparadaAnalysis of dataExplanation of the extraneous comparadaMedial yodVelar codaeConclusionsPotential avenues of further researchWithin rGyalrongicWithin…

sinoxenic.wordpress.com

I've had a few days to get back to my ongoing effort to go through Sally McLendon's Chhé'ee Fókaa (Northeastern Pomo) 1950s field notes, which only came to light last year. I found some nice examples of question formation when asking someone whether they would like acorn mush:

Please join us this December! bsky.app/profile/wiel...

Western Institute for Endangered Language Documentation@wield.bsky.social · last mo.

We're pleased to announce our Fourth International Workshop on Endangered Languages. Presenters may participate in person at either James Cook University (Cairns, Australia) or California State University, Fullerton; they may also participate via video (live or prerecorded). See flyer for details:

𐐣𐐯𐑉𐐨 𐐗𐑉𐐮𐑅𐑋𐐲𐑅

ɑem θæŋkfʊl tə biː ɪn əstɹæɪljə

#ថៃជាអ្នកផ្ដេីមសង្គ្រាម /tʰaj ciə nĕək pɗaəm sɒŋkriəm/ [t̪ʰaj t͡ɕiə̯ n̪ĕə̯ʔ b̊ɗaə̯̃m sɒ̃ŋˈɡ̊ɾiə̯̃m]

Example of the Khmer love of alliteration in an injunction to slow to 40 when emergency lights are flashing on the side of the road: ឃើញពន្លឺភ្លើងភ្លឹបភ្លែតនៅជាយផ្លូវទេ [kʰɤ̃ːɲ b̥ŭə̯̃n̪.ˈlɯː pʰlɤ̃ːŋ pʰlɯp̚ pʰlɛ̝ːt̪̚ nɯʊ̯ t͡ɕiə̯j pʰlɤʊ̯ t̪eː]

Arms of Launceston, Tasmania Blazon: Arms: Or, on a Pall reversed Azure a Bezant in centre point and an Ingot of Tin proper on each of the lower limbs, on a Chief indented Vert three Waratah Flowers stalked and leaved also proper. (See picture I took in town today of the painted arms)

[ʔaːɪˈhɛiʔ͡t̪ːəˌkʰɔ̝ˑl̴d͡d̥]

#australiancoins Found a Norfolk Island centenary coin (one of only a few I’ve ever seen). This is one of my favorite designs.

#langsky I was recently interviewed by a professor of translation studies, and the interview has just been published in an outlet for his discipline. Check it out: hopscotchtranslation.com/2025/04/22/s...

Saving Lost Sounds

Neil Alexander Walker tells Peter Constantine about his scholarship and his efforts to document, preserve, and translate the Indigenous Pomoan languages of Northern California.

hopscotchtranslation.com

𐐐𐐈𐐑𐐀 𐐀𐐝𐐓𐐊𐐡! /ˈhæpi ˈistɚ/ Happy Easter! www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/genera...

#langsky Can anyone help me figure out to how to get Unicode Anatolian hieroglyphs to display on my iPhone?

youtu.be/fOd_hodh7Mc?...

Petra Goedegebuure | Luwian Hieroglyphs: An Indigenous Anatolian Syllabic Script

YouTube video by The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

youtu.be

#langsky #deseretalphabet Complete Twitter thread for Deseret Alphabet letters: 𐐨 x.com/neilalexande... 𐐩 x.com/neilalexande... 𐐪 x.com/neilalexande... 𐐫 x.com/neilalexande... 𐐬 x.com/neilalexande... 𐐭 x.com/neilalexande...

Dr Neil Alexander Walker (𐐙𐑏𐐽𐐲𐑉 𐐝𐐹𐐨𐐽𐐨) on X: "I thought it might be fun to teach the world one Deseret Alphabet letter each day. The first letter of the alphabet is 𐐀 /i/. https://t.co/xZQpE6VmIN" / X

I thought it might be fun to teach the world one Deseret Alphabet letter each day. The first letter of the alphabet is 𐐀 /i/. https://t.co/xZQpE6VmIN

x.com

#langsky #deseretalphabet Final Deseret Alphabet post: The digraphs. In the 1869 Book of Mormon, the letters 𐐦 /ɔɪ/ and 𐐧 /ɪu/ are replaced by the digraphs 𐐉𐐆 <ɒɪ> and 𐐆𐐅 <ɪu> respectively. It uses the digraphs 𐐊𐐡 <ʌɹ> and 𐐇𐐡 <ɛɹ> for /ɜ(ɹ)/ and /ə(ɹ)/. The digraph 𐐐𐐎 <hw> stands for /ʍ/.

The 40th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐧 /ɪu/. It's an optional diphthong. Like the 39th letter, it's problematic. It has 2 different shapes: one is a ligature of 𐐆 /ɪ/ + 𐐅 /u/ (as seen in the attached image, which is almost identical to the 𐐃 /ɔ/ + 𐐆 /ɪ/ ligature that is a variant for /ɔɪ/.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 39th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐦 /ɔɪ/. This is 1 of 2 optional letters for diphthongs. It's hugely problematic. There're 2 completely different forms of the letter: 1, as in the example image, is a ligature of 𐐉 /ɒ/ + 𐐆/ɪ/. The 2nd, which I see in my Firefox...

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 38th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐥 /ŋ/. Its name is /ɛŋ/. This is the final letter of the standard DA used in the 1869 Book of Mormon, though there are two additional (optional) letters.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 37th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐤 /n/. Its name is /ɛn/. It is coincidentally similar to Ethiopic ነ <nä>.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 36th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐣 /m/. Its name is /ɛm/.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 35th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐢 /l/. Its name is /ɛl/. 𐐢 /l/ together with the DA letters 𐐄 /oʊ/ and 𐐎 /w/ form the group of DA letters that are nearly identical in shape to the corresponding Latin letters that share the same values in English.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 34th letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐡 /ɹ/. Its name is /ɜɹ/. Its name continues to cause problems for modern users, who mistakenly believe it may always be used for the syllables /ɜɹ/ & /əɹ/.

#langsky #deseretalphabet The 33rd letter of the Deseret Alphabet is 𐐠 /ʒ/. Its name is /ʒi/. This is the last obstruent letter and the end of the fricative subclass.