#OTD 215 years ago, Karl Richard Lepsius (1810–1884) was born 🎂 He was an archaeologist, pioneering Egyptologist, and author of a grammar of the Nubian languages. He also proposed the so-called Standard Alphabet to transcribe Egyptian hieroglyphics and other languages. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 119 years ago, Alice E. Kober (1906–1950) was born 🎂 She was a historical linguist whose work was fundamental to the later decipherment of Linear B. She established that the language, later identified as Mycenaean Greek, was inflectional. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 160 years ago, Hermann Hirt (1865–1936) was born 🥳 Hirt was one of the most influential Indo-Europeanists and he specialized in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stress and ablaut. He supported the claim that the PIE homeland was located in Northern Europe. #Histlx #LinguisticBirthdays

Sto lat! 🎉 Episode 15 of our podcast explores the development of modern phonology, focusing primarily on the work of Roman Jakobson and Nikolai Trubetzkoy, while also highlighting the crucial role played by Mikołaj Kruszewski. 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2021/06/01/p... #Histlx

📢 Acabamos de publicar el nuevo número del Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Historiografía Lingüística. Si queréis echar un vistazo a tremendos artículos sobre #histlx, podéis consultarlo aquí: revista.proeditio.com/BSEHL/issue/...

Confs: International Conference on the 500th anniversary of Manuel Álvares, S.J. (1526–1583): Teacher, Grammarian and Humanist

All: In Memory of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Lars Johanson

Books: Wirkungsgeschichte der Soziolinguistik des Deutschen: Dittmar and Neuland (eds.) (2025)

Feliĉan naskiĝtagon, dear Dr Esperanto! 🎉 If you ever find yourself in Berlin, be sure to visit Esperantoplatz (Esperanto Square) in the hip neighbourhood of Neukölln. #Histlx #Esperanto

Job alert! 3 tenured research positions at CNRS, France with one preferably in philosophy of language Get in touch with a lab for more information #linguistics www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORF...

'Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics: An Introduction', a new blog by Emanuel J. Drechsel, author of WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND EARLY AMERICAN LINGUISTICS 📚 https://cup.org/48kxilA

@jamesmcelvenny.bsky.social has just given me a copy of his book on the origins and development of modern linguistics. It's a little gem, referencing all my favourite linguists and more! It's in German doi.org/10.1515/9783... - also available as an ebook!

#OTD 172 years ago, Jacob Wackernagel (1853–1938) was born 🎂 He was an Indo-Europeanist, specializing in Greek and Sanskrit. He formulated the so-called Wackernagel’s Law, describing the positional constraints on clitics in Indo-European, which is named after him. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 96 years ago, Lila R. Gleitman (1929–2021) was born 🎉 A pioneer of cognitive science focusing on language acquisition, working also on the theory of syntactic bootstrapping. She served as president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1993. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx #WomenInLinguistics

#OTD 306 years ago, Ann Fisher (1719–1778) was born 🥳 She was an entrepreneur, a school director, and an author of several works on language. Her "A New Grammar", printed in 1750, was the first grammar book of contemporary English written by a woman. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx #WomenInLinguistics

#OTD 202 years ago, Max Müller (1823–1900) was born 🎉 He was an expert on Sanskrit and the study of religion, as well as a scholar of language evolution and a translator. Müller later became the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 98 years ago, William Labov (1927-2024) was born 🥳 He was a pioneering sociolinguist studying language variation, dialectology, but also AAVE. In 1966, Labov published his landmark study "The Social Stratification of English in New York City". #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 100 years ago, Joseph R. Applegate (1925–2003) was born 🎉 He was, among other things, a specialist in Tashelhit, a Berber language spoken in Morocco, as well as an expert in machine translation. In 1955, Applegate became the first Black faculty member at MIT. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 213 years ago, Matthias Castrén (1813–1852) was born 🥳 He undertook several journeys through Lapland, Karelia, and Siberia, and became an expert in the Finnic, Ugric, and Samoyedic languages. In 1841, he also translated the Finnish epic poem Kalevala into Swedish. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Confs: Colloque International "La Linguistique ‘Fonctionnelle’ Cent Ans après la Fondation du Cercle Linguistique de Prague"

#OTD 146 years ago, Ethel S. Drower (1879–1972) was born 🎉 She published a number of romantic novels under her maiden name Stevens, but later became an authority on Mandaean culture and an important collector of Mandaean manuscripts. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx #WomenInLinguistics

New episode (no. 53) alert 🚨 James McElvenny (@jamesmcelvenny.bsky.social) talks to Paul Kiparsky about the ancient Indian grammarian Pāṇini and the philosophical significance of his grammatical description of Sanskrit. 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/12/01/p... #Histlx #Panini #Sanskrit

#OTD 83 years ago, Robin Lakoff (1942–2025) was born 🎉 She was a pioneering sociolinguist, focusing on the relationship between language and gender. She also studied power relations, politeness, and the role of frames in meaning. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx #WomenInLinguistics

Call for Papers ICHoLS XVII (23–27 August 2027), Niterói (Rio de Janeiro) 🔗 hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/26/c... #Histlx

Happy World Linguistics Day 🎉 Not Saussure how to celebrate? Episodes 12 and 13 of our podcast will give your plans some structure... 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2021/02/01/p... 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2021/03/01/p... #LinguisticBirthdays #LinguisticQuotes #Histlx #WorldLinguisticsDay

#OTD 152 years ago, Osborn Bergin (1873–1950) was born 🎂 Bergin was an expert on (Old) Irish language and literature, a translator of early Irish texts, and a poet. He formulated the so-called Bergin’s Law pertaining to word order in Old Irish. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 175 years ago, Eduard Sievers (1850–1935) was born 🎂 A historical linguist and one of the leading Neogrammarians, he is best known for his analysis of Old English metre and for formulating the so-called Sievers’ Law. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 175 years ago, Gustav Meyer (1850–1900) was born 🎉 A pioneer in the study of Albanian, he is famous for demonstrating that it belongs to the Indo-European family. A school in Tirana is named after him, and the Albanian Post has issued a stamp with his name. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Books: Die Melanesischen Sprachen: Von der Gabelentz (2025)

#OTD 152 years ago, Matteo Giulio Bartoli (1873–1946) was born 🎂 A historical linguist and dialectologist, he is best known for his descriptions of the now-extinct Dalmatian language. He is also known as the founder of the linguistic school known as Neolinguistics. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 238 years ago, Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) was born 🎉 A comparative historical linguist and author of a number of grammar books, he is today best known for showing the systematic links between the (North) Germanic languages and other Indo-European languages. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 212 years ago, Franz von Miklosich (1813–1891) was born 🎂 He was a pioneering scholar of historical-comparative Slavic linguistics. He also studied Romani dialects as well as the areal convergence between Slavic and Romance varieties in the Balkans. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 89 years ago, Suzette Haden Elgin (1936–2015) was born 🎉 Best known for her work on verbal self-defence and for the conlang Láadan from her Native Tongue series. The Elgin Award for the best sci-fi poetry collection is named in her honour. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Episode no. 52 is out 🚲 James McElvenny (@jamesmcelvenny.bsky.social) talks with Gereon Müller (@unileipzig.bsky.social) about his new book Lanes to Language, which unites the worlds of history of linguistics and cycling. 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/15/p... #Histlx

#OTD 223 years ago, August Friedrich Pott (1802-1887) was born 🥳 He started working as a schoolmaster in Celle, but would later become one of the pioneers of (historical comparative) linguistics as well as the leading scholar of Romani in the 19th century. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 206 years ago, Daniel Sanders (1819–1897) was born 🎉 A lexicographer and poet, he is best known as the co-author of the Muret-Sanders English-German Dictionary and as a critic of Jacob Grimm’s dictionary. The German city of Neustrelitz awards a prize in his honour. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

And Meillet's /Altarmenisches Elementarbuch/ (1913) is a go-to, easy-to-find-stuff-in, concise grammar.

Joyeux anniversaire, cher Antoine 🎂 To celebrate, remember that "each language forms a system where everything hangs together". #LinguisticQuotes #Histlx

#OTD 159 years ago, Antoine Meillet (1866–1936) was born 🎉 He was one of the most influential historical linguists of the twentieth century, who formulated the so-called Meillet’s Law on Proto-Slavic accents and in 1912 coined the term “grammaticalisation.” #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 124 years ago, Dorothy Whitelock (1901–1982) was born 🥳 She was a leading scholar of Old English, best known today for her editions of Old English texts. She was the first woman to hold the Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 134 years ago, Ida Suter (1891–1974) was born 🎉 An expert dialectologist, she spent 30 years working on the Swiss German Dictionary (@ch-idiotikon.bsky.social) and contributed to the edition of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s (1746–1827) letters. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

The next Henry Sweet Society (@henrysweetsoc.bsky.social) Colloquium will be held on 2-4 September 2026 at the University of Nottingham (@uniofnottingham.bsky.social). Thematic focus: (Non-)Native Speakers in the History of Linguistic Ideas CfP: hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/08/c... #Histlx

#OTD 114 years ago, Ruth Klappenbach (1911-1977) was born 🎉 She focused on lexicography, became one of the co-founders and co-editors of the Dictionary of Contemporary German Language (Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache, 1952-1977). #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

#OTD 191 years ago, Lucy C. Lloyd (1834-1914) was born 🥳 She was an ethnologist as well as a linguist, she collected an archive of ǀXam and ǃKung texts, who, in 1913, received an honorary doctorate for her work as the first woman in South Africa. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

I did my homework. Very informative. Thanks ! @randyallenharris.bsky.social @hiphilangsci.bsky.social hiphilangsci.net/2024/11/01/p...

#OTD 127 years ago, Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain (1898-1975) was born 🎂 During her anthropological and linguistic career, she investigated the origins of Haitian Creole and conducted field research in Haiti, but also in Congo, Togo, and Nigeria. #WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Yuen-Ren Chao was a phenomenal linguist. I recently discussed the enduring relevance of his key 1934 article here: dlc.hypotheses.org/3381

#OTD 134 years ago, Yuen Ren Chao (1892-1982) was born 🎉 He was an expert on Chinese grammar and phonology and the author of the Gwoyeu Romatzyh, a Latinised spelling system for Standard Chinese. He served as the president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1945. #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx

Episode no. 51 is out 🤩 Martin Haspelmath (@haspelmath.bsky.social) talks about how he got started in linguistics, the rise of large-scale areal typology in the 1990s, language description vs language comparison, and the current state of the field. 🎙️ hiphilangsci.net/2025/11/01/p... #Histlx

The October 2025 edition of our regular update on recently published works in the history and philosophy of the language sciences is now available 🤩 📚 hiphilangsci.net/2025/10/30/p... #Histlx