Johann-Mattis List

Yesterday, I released EvoBib 1.12. Apart from new quotes in the quote collection and new BibTeX-Entries, the internal consistency should have improved by now. The next update may even be bigger, with thousands of new references, but I am still working on it. evobib.digling.org

For those preferring reading it in PDF, it can be accessed from the journal's homepage. The Role of Epistemology and Ontology in Terminology doi.org/10.15475/cal...

In blog / journal Computer-Assisted Language Comparison in Practice, #CALCiP, I discuss in our October contribution the role of epistemology and ontology in terminology. calc.hypotheses.org/9611

Finally out, we will try to improve it further, but you can test it already now, our Database of Cross-Linguistic Partial Colexifications (CLIPS) at clips.digling.org

Software: The Database of Cross-Linguistic Partial Colexifications (CLIPS)

Finished my reviews for one well-known conference. 3 out of 4 submissions were meaningless – because, most likely, AI-generated. But wait, it gets better: most reviews (you can later see others' reviews) are positive (!) because... they *also* look AI-generated. It's gonna be a fun event, no doubt.

New preprint with #KnowledgeCommons. "Computer-Assisted Comparison of South-East Asian Languages" doi.org/10.17613/nsd...

Mein Blogbeitrag im Oktober via @dehypotheses.bsky.social befasst sich diesmal mit der Frage von Privatsphäre, in Zeiten, in denen manche Menschen alles mit ihren Chatbots bequatschen und damit eigentlich auch die Privatsphäre anderer missachten. Von privaten Sphären wub.hypotheses.org/3615

Why can't editors check if an articles conforms to open science principles before asking me to review it? Why should I always require to see the data? This is the editor's job, if they take open science seriously!

Mein monatlicher Blogbeitrag via @dehypotheses.bsky.social im September handelt von stummen Lauten im Englischen und Deutschen. "Von dummen Kämmen" wub.hypotheses.org/3589

New preprint by Alžběta Kučerova, Carlo Meloni, and myself: "Naming variation across languages is shaped by shared histories, semantics and familiarity" doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Boghossian et al.'s "Vanderbilt report" claimed "a deterioration in scholarly standards” in the humanities. What was their evidence? The companion reports have begun to trickle out. I argue that they show no evidence to support this claim. The report should be corrected or retracted: osf.io/ta6kg

What exactly is "colexification"? This was recently asked by List et al. (calc.hypotheses.org/9547) Here is my blogpost addressing this point: dlc.hypotheses.org/4439

In our August contribution to our blog Computer-Assisted Language Comparison in Practice #CALCiP, we discuss The Ambiguity of the Colexification Term (with Katja Bocklage and Thanasis Georgakopoulos) calc.hypotheses.org/9547 doi.org/10.15475/cal...

Mein Blogbeitrag im August, via @dehypotheses.bsky.social, handelt vom Publikationswesen in der Wissenschaft und meinem Ärger darüber, wie schlecht die Websysteme sind, mit denen Verlage die Gutachten organisieren. wub.hypotheses.org/3559

If most “readers” of scientific articles aren’t humans anymore, what does this to do the publication record? Really insightful and thought-provoking post by @omearabrian.bsky.social on how AI could impact scientific publishing. brianomeara.info/posts/ai_opt...

It's hard to believe that OECS has now published 200 articles!🎉 A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to OECS—our authors, reviewers, readers, and fantastic section editors, and especially @mcxfrank.bsky.social frank.bsky.social and @hbaum.bsky.social Excited for the next chapter!

Just appeared in the Journal of Language Evolution, by David Snee, Luca Ciucci, and myself: "Variation in language phylogenies may result from variation in concept translation" doi.org/10.1093/jole...

A new contribution to our CALCiP Journal/Blog appeared today, looking at sound laws and how they can be described. Towards a Specification for the Formal Notion of Sound Laws calc.hypotheses.org/9435

Mein Blogbeitrag im Juli via @dehypotheses.bsky.social handelt von Sprachgrenzen und deren Konsequenzen für sprachbasierte KI-Modelle. wub.hypotheses.org/3541

Eine halbe Million Menschen unterstützen bereits unsere Petition. Gemeinsam machen wir klar: Hände weg vom IFG! Hilf auch Du, den Druck auf die Politik hoch zu halten & unterschreibe jetzt für die Informationsfreiheit & gegen Korruption: weact.campact.de/petitions/sp...

Behörden sollten transparent bleiben ... oder? Falls ihr es noch nicht gehört habt: Die Koalition plant Einschnitte ins Informationsfreiheitsrecht – also die Pflicht, BürgerInnen Auskunft über die Arbeit von Behörden zu geben. Wir von @correctiv.org haben eine Petition gestartet:

📣 I'm hiring! Two positions (PhD student & Postdoc) in my ERC project Macroevolution of European Literature. Let's study the cultural evolution of literature using massive data 📚📈 📍Frankfurt | Apply by August 15 Details: www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/career/jo... Please repost to help spread the word!

Mein Blogbeitrag im Juni, via @dehypotheses.bsky.social behandelt die Rolle von Genie und Wahnsinn in der Wissenschaft. ... und Wahnsinn wub.hypotheses.org/3496

Language Science Press has published 300+ books in the last 12 years. Every 3 years, our funding has to be renewed. We need 100 institutions giving us €2000/year to continue our operations in 2027. Please visit langsci-press.org/knowledgeunl... for more information and talk to your librarian.

New contribution to our #CALCiP Journal/Blog by Anja Krišto: calc.hypotheses.org/9392 doi.org/10.15475/cal... Integrating Croatian into Concepticon: a Corpus-Based Frequency Mapping of Croatian Vocabulary

"CLDF Meta" (meta.clld.org) links to data from over 800 CLDF datasets that have been released on Zenodo (e.g. WALS, APiCS and Grambank). There are links to data on over 9000 languoids, e.g. 98 entries on Ambulas (to take a random language). Great work by my colleague Johannes Englisch!

Mein Blogbeitrag im Mai, via @dehypotheses.bsky.social handelt vom Warten, sowohl vom Warten von Gegenständen und als auch vom Warten von Wissen. wub.hypotheses.org/3450

New blog post by Frederic Blum in our #CALCiP Journal / Blog out now. "How To Visualize Language Polygons with QGIS (How to Do X in Linguistics 15)" calc.hypotheses.org/9287 doi.org/10.15475/cal...

New paper by Robert Forkel and myself in #JOHD just appeared: Extending CLDF -- Towards a Type System for Cross-Linguistic Data doi.org/10.5334/johd...

📣 New blog post! Introducing the web app for the Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications 4.0 🌐 (with @lingulist.de and Robert Forkel). We also discuss the future of CLICS. calc.hypotheses.org/9261 PDF here: doi.org/10.15475/cal...

This month, in our #CALCiP blog / journal, we introduce the CLLD application for the fourth version of the Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications (with @annikatjuka.bsky.social and Robert Forkel). "CLICS⁴ as CLLD Web Application" calc.hypotheses.org/9261 PDF here: doi.org/10.15475/cal...

panchr.hypotheses.org/4024

Version 1.0 of the Grammaticon is now online! This has been in the making for over eight years. Quite a few of the entries are still preliminary, but I hope to expand and improve it over the coming months and years. Comments are welcome! An intro text is here: dlc.hypotheses.org/4316

Finally out, so we have new space for new ideas now.

Database update 🌐 We launched a new version of CLICS 🚀 - the Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications clics.clld.org The paper introducing the new version is available here: aclanthology.org/2025.iwcs-ma...

Mein Blogbeitrag im April geht auf die Idee ein, von offener Forschung endlich auch zu offener Lehre an Universitäten zu gelangen. "Offene Lehre im universitären Kontext" via @dehypotheses.bsky.social wub.hypotheses.org/3421

Advice for @erc.europa.eu : Prohibit the use of LLMs for grant writing. Let applicants sign a declaration that they have not used such systems and that the text is written by them and them alone.

Love this clear-headed idea for ERC — @erc.europa.eu please take note. Innovative work requires independent minds. A policy like this would send the signal that the funder values clear thinking over automated thoughtlessness, quality over quantity, earnest novel work over mediocre rehashings.

I'm hiring! 2 x postdocs in Cognitive Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics, to work on the cultural history of Australia and Papua. More details in link below, and please do repost or share elsewhere! www.isle.uzh.ch/en/jobs/post...

'Ah but you're cherry-picking excellent writers. Surely the average person benefits? I myself found it useful this one time' No. None of us benefit from dragging down the level of writing to some lowest common denominator. Have some self-respect. Be ambitious. ideophone.org/find-your-ow...

Yes, #ScientificReports, with my background as a linguist interested in the evolution of languages, I will of course gladly review your paper on photovoltaic systems in 10 days, expect it in 5 🫡

Un nouveau cognat partagé exclusivement par le rgyalronguique et le kiranti: panchr.hypotheses.org/3993

Our chapter on the tree model (with @thomaspellard.bsky.social and @robinryder.bsky.social ) is at last published online: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The March contribution to our CALCiP journal / blog is the possible start of a more detailed series on "Foundations of Formal Etymological Analysis" calc.hypotheses.org/9208 doi.org/10.15475/cal...

Mein Blogbeitrag im März via @dehypotheses.bsky.social handelt vom "Vom Konsumieren von Information" wub.hypotheses.org/3386

13th Summer School of Chinese Lx, July 27-31 2026 @ U. Stuttgart, offering courses on "The Syntax-Semantics Interface of Modern Mandarin", "The diachronic development of the TAM system of Chinese", "The Syntax of Cantonese" and "Sinitic Languages of the Pearl River Region".