​New article!: The Origins and Evolution of Writing www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... 🧵1/

The Origins and Evolution of Writing

For centuries, scholars have debated the etiology and evolution of writing. The most persistent concerns relate to the relationship between writing and social organization, linguistic structure, and c...

annualreviews.org

How many languages have existed over the Holocene—and what does that reveal about the design space of languages and cultures? Now out in @science.org www.science.org/eprint/QDZNY....

The rise and fall of language diversity through the Holocene

Characterizing the factors that have shaped linguistic diversity is fundamental for understanding human history, culture, and cognition. In this study, we combined statistical and social computational...

science.org

I don't normally endorse Wikipedia vandalism, but this seems valid: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clacton... (surely reverted by now)

First Father's Day without my dad. Miss you, big guy.

Stephen Chrisomalis@schrisomalis.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My dad, Peter Chrisomalis, died last night, at the age of 83. I've put together some thoughts, because although most of you didn't know him, I learned so much from him, so the least I can do is pass some of that along. glossographia.com/2025/12/17/p...

"Socialism not nationalism or liberalism is the sole justification for wrenching Canada free from American domination." — Ed Broadbent (1967)

Canadian Socialism Against US Domination - Broadbent Institute

In 1967, responding to an open letter calling for an alliance of socialists and liberals to address growing American encroachment in Canada , Ed Broadbent argued forcefully that the two ideologies wer...

broadbentinstitute.ca

brief introduction to Venetic here from @viewsproject.bsky.social with links to some further posts by @katherinemcdon.bsky.social

Reitia, Venetic goddess of writing

I have been promising for a while to say something about the Venetic goddess of writing. Last term, my colleague Dr Katherine McDonald gave a short seminar series on the Venetic language, which was…

crewsproject.wordpress.com

I've been joking about having everything I need to write a department chair simulator game but turns out one exists, it's from 1974, and it is FASCINATING as both a snapshot of higher ed and gaming history: dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10....

The closure of Hampshire College means the Five College consortium will have only four colleges…but do we have a name for that reduction? Yes, since 2008, when @schrisomalis.bsky.social (in another context) coined «quinquemation»! glossographia.com/2008/11/30/f...

Five paragraphs on the pentathlon

In news from the burgeoning field of the anthropology of numbers, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne has decided that the pentathlon will now comprise only four distinct events, combini…

glossographia.com

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

scim.ag

I wanted to share the individual abstracts I posted over at the Language and Societies website, summarizing the work of my fantastic students in my grad #linganth / #sociolx seminar this semester. Check them out, and feel free to comment! (1/x) languageandsocieties.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/l...

Language and Societies abstracts, vol. 17 (2026)

The abstracts below are summaries of papers by early-career scholars from the 2026 edition of my course, Language and Societies. The authors are undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology …

languageandsocieties.wordpress.com

The students in my Language and Societies grad course this semester have done it again! My Wayne State folks can stand proud alongside anyone in any grad program anywhere, in terms of the sophistication of their work. Check it out, and comments are welcome! #linganth #sociolinguistics

Language and Societies abstracts, vol. 17 (2026)

The abstracts below are summaries of papers by early-career scholars from the 2026 edition of my course, Language and Societies. The authors are undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology …

languageandsocieties.wordpress.com

The students in my Language and Societies grad course this semester have done it again! My Wayne State folks can stand proud alongside anyone in any grad program anywhere, in terms of the sophistication of their work. Check it out, and comments are welcome! #linganth #sociolinguistics

Language and Societies abstracts, vol. 17 (2026)

The abstracts below are summaries of papers by early-career scholars from the 2026 edition of my course, Language and Societies. The authors are undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology …

languageandsocieties.wordpress.com

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

Oof, have not been posting here much. Alas. For context, I just sent my 100th email of the week. It's only Wednesday.

I was interviewed about AI & here’s what I said: I believe in the idea of a writer’s voice—a unique voice that’s particular to you, that only you can write with. & I really work hard to develop that with my students. AI will never have your voice—it cannot touch that voice.

⭐️👏✊Please add your name to the letter below and join PEN America — and the hundreds who have already signed — in sending a strong message in defense of academic freedom to the Texas A&M Board of Regents. pen.org/dont-censor-...

End Academic Censorship at Texas A&M University

The Regents have the obligation to uphold academic freedom and encourage, rather than stifle, open inquiry in and out of the classroom.

pen.org

Happy 6th anniversary to us!! 🎉🎉 Thanks for spending time with us, old friends and new! As we celebrate this milestone, we've launched a short audience survey to get your thoughts on the show (and its future). We would be most grateful for your participation! Link: forms.gle/AnJSopuX8Cho...

Many Minds podcast – Listener survey

A brief survey for listeners of the Many Minds podcast.

forms.gle

STS folks, I'm organizing an open panel on CONTRAPTIONS for 4S this year, following up on a lovely panel at last year's AAA meetings. You should submit something if you got it! www.4sonline.org/accepted_ope...

📣📣📣 Applications for the 2026 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org

Congrats to @ncaaup.bsky.social & all who fought against this surveillance policy that would've allowed admin to hijack microphones in the classroom for secret recordings. This move would've chilled classroom discussion & suppressed students' willingness to ask questions & take intellectual risks.

UNC-CH Will ‘Scrap’ New Recording Policy, Chancellor Says

The move comes less than three weeks after the controversial rules were enacted.

theassemblync.com

Happy #AnosmiaAwarenessDay to those who don't smellebrate! www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day...

ANOSMIA AWARENESS DAY | February 27

ANOSMIA AWARENESS DAY Anosmia Awareness Day on February 27th brings attention to a condition causing a loss of smell. Of all our senses, smell perhaps is taken

nationaldaycalendar.com

It never ceases to confound me just how many folks think the point of essays is to provide teachers with essays. That teachers just like, collect them, or need them for sustenance or something. Rather than the point of them being the *actual fucking act of learning how to think about shit*

Aparna Nair@disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 5mo ago

what even is the fucking point

“Cognitive psychology has shown that students grow intellectually through doing the work of drafting, revising, failing, trying again, grappling with confusion and revising weak arguments. This is the work of learning how to learn.” #AI #HigherEd #EduSky 1/2 theconversation.com/the-greatest...

The greatest risk of AI in higher education isn’t cheating – it’s the erosion of learning itself

Automating knowledge production and teaching weakens the ecosystem of students and scholars that sustains universities, raising existential questions about their mission.

theconversation.com

I've long been unhappy at my answers to the question of whether we need cognitive/semiotic factors *at all*, to explain the history of numerical notations. My new @pnas.org paper on gradience is meant to clear the deck and respond 'if yes, this one is the most likely'. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Gradience as a cognitive principle for evaluating numerical notations | PNAS

More than 100 historically, archaeologically and ethnographically attested numerical notations have been used over the past 5,000 y; however, becau...

pnas.org

Quick, now: which is bigger, 25234991 or 25234? Next: which is bigger, MMI or DCCCLXIV? Some numerical notations' conciseness indexes their magnitude well, some less so. But how does that matter cross-culturally for their adoption and retention? Check it out @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Gradience as a cognitive principle for evaluating numerical notations | PNAS

More than 100 historically, archaeologically and ethnographically attested numerical notations have been used over the past 5,000 y; however, becau...

pnas.org

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point. I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it

Quick, now: which is bigger, 25234991 or 25234? Next: which is bigger, MMI or DCCCLXIV? Some numerical notations' conciseness indexes their magnitude well, some less so. But how does that matter cross-culturally for their adoption and retention? Check it out @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Gradience as a cognitive principle for evaluating numerical notations | PNAS

More than 100 historically, archaeologically and ethnographically attested numerical notations have been used over the past 5,000 y; however, becau...

pnas.org

"Almost paradoxically, Sequoyah’s numerals could not succeed because they had not yet succeeded, and came into existence in a social context where a prestigious, common notation had been adopted almost universally."

Sequoyah and the Almost-Forgotten History of Cherokee Numerals

The story of a numerical system nearly consigned to oblivion.

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu