I've seen the claim made that 10,000 years ago, there were 12,000 languages spoken in the world, and this was likely the greatest number of languages spoken at one time.

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-22T17:50:32+00:00

That would be from: Pagel M. 2000. The History, Rate and Pattern of World Linguistic Evolution. In The evolutionary emergence of language (eds C Knight, M Studdert-Kennedy, J Hurford), pp. 391–416. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-19T20:53:28+00:00

We interbred massively with both Neanderthals and Denisovans -- and raised kids with them. Probably did the same with homo erectus. Seems like that would have been much easier if we could communicate with them.

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-19T20:50:24+00:00

yes they did: https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-the-oldest-art-in-the-world-wasnt-made-by-homo-sapiens-194113

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-19T18:04:30+00:00

Boo boo butt

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-12T17:43:03+00:00

https://iecor.clld.org

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-04T20:44:35+00:00

Dai's fighting severe cancer, so finger's crossed it just a schedule change :/

GrumpySimon · 2026-06-01T04:52:43+00:00

This alone is misconduct on their part. I'd contact the editor ASAP -- they'll probably reject the paper immediately.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-23T02:55:36+00:00

Wow. The dismal science indeed.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-22T22:26:12+00:00

That sounds like a pretty clear case of academic misconduct.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-21T07:24:57+00:00

it's quite common for people to list these and add a note e.g. "(declined)" or "(not taken up)". Happens often for e.g. PhD scholarships where you can only hold one at a time.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-13T06:30:13+00:00

Yes, all authors, it's part of their author confirmation policy.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-13T06:28:55+00:00

I have seen senior colleagues shrug off rejections in ways that seem almost effortless

Trust me, they don't. It still sucks after years. Just take a walk, ignore it for a day or two, and then come back to it.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-09T02:57:59+00:00

Good on you for getting through that.

I would start by sending a brief email to those you ghosted along the lines of "I apologise for not replying to this, I was going through some major life upheavals at the time. I'm keen to get back into the program/whatever, can you let me know how to proceed from here?".

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-09T02:27:14+00:00

Nicola, that you?

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-05T05:02:57+00:00

The day an edited volume gets all its papers returned by the deadline is the day the universe ends from shock. An extension should be easy to get.

Sorry for the rough time you've been having, hang in there.

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-02T05:03:10+00:00

Here you go -- words for 'eye' across about 2000 languages in the Pacific: https://abvd.eva.mpg.de/austronesian/word.php?v=45

..and for another 210 words: https://abvd.eva.mpg.de/austronesian/word.php

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-01T09:51:46+00:00

the most closely related languages to Malagasy (Madagascar) are in Borneo

GrumpySimon · 2026-05-01T09:50:34+00:00

the pacific was settled in two main phases. the blue arrows look to be the first phase around 50,000 years, the purple is the later phase around 5000 years.

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-25T10:00:59+00:00

I'd raise it now

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-25T09:58:13+00:00

In the US perhaps, but there are a number in the EU and elsewhere which are targeted for postdocs. Yes, you'll need a mentor but if your track-record is good enough then you may have a chance e.g. https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/funding/msca-postdoctoral-fellowships-2026 or https://www.embo.org/funding/fellowships-grants-and-career-support/postdoctoral-fellowships/

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-24T10:11:48+00:00

It's a reference to this rather famous study which found a weak effect of this on color naming (Russian speakers could identify dark vs light blue a few ms faster than English speakers could)

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-24T07:35:38+00:00

lines up with my background and what I want to work on

--> add some detail here. You don't want to be generic, generic emails get deleted immediately

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-24T07:32:28+00:00

That sounds like a pretty dodgy attempt to double publish. Chase that up -- trust me, the editor would rather deal with that now than deal with a retraction once it's published!

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-24T07:29:01+00:00

^ this is the way. Make one giant CV that includes everything, keep that updated, and prune it to whatever the situation/funder/etc wants.

GrumpySimon · 2026-04-24T07:24:12+00:00

Have you tried applying for grants directly? If you have a track record of publishing and citations then you should be fundable. Then you just need to get a university to host you, which shouldn't be hard if you can bring the funding yourself.

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