Research into emotions is a developing field within Assyriology, and NLP tools for Akkadian texts offers new perspectives on the data. We use PMI-based word embeddings to explore the relationship between parts of the body and emotions. Using data downloaded from Oracc, we ask which parts of the body were semantically linked to emotions. We do this…[Read more]

A Cultural History of the Sea in the Medieval Age, ed. by Elizabeth Lambourn.

The cultural history of the sea during the Middle Ages is a young and dynamic field. Born only recently in the literary criticism of European sources, this innovative volume pushes out beyond this European heartland to explore the shape and potential of a cultural…[Read more]

A Cultural History of the Sea in the Medieval Age, ed. by Elizabeth Lambourn.

The cultural history of the sea during the Middle Ages is a young and dynamic field. Born only recently in the literary criticism of European sources, this innovative volume pushes out beyond this European heartland to explore the shape and potential of a cultural…[Read more]

An overview of the dialect of Old English used by Tolkien to represent the language of Rohan. I argue that Tolkien chose the dialect represented by the early glossaries in Old Mercian, especially the eighth-century Corpus Glossary, as representatives of the kind of Old English he thought Beowulf was originally composed in.

An overview of the dialect of Old English used by Tolkien to represent the language of Rohan. I argue that Tolkien chose the dialect represented by the early glossaries in Old Mercian, especially the eighth-century Corpus Glossary, as representatives of the kind of Old English he thought Beowulf was originally composed in.

This paper examines the use of the Gothic mode in historical television drama to suggest it is used to emphasise engagement with historical traumas, and suggest that these traumas still have relevance today. This emphasis works by engaging with the associations that are acquired around the Gothic mode through experience, recognising the aesthetic…[Read more]

The Hebrew word “ruach” – the word connected to the idea-symbol of “spirit” translates alternately as “wind,” “breathe,” or “spirit.” In Arabic, there are two words for the words: spirit, soul or self – namely, ruH (spirit, soul) & nafs (spirit, soul, self). Both of these Arabic words are also connected to the ideas of breath or wind (e.g. ruH is…[Read more]

This is the final post of a series of 12 blog posts discussing 10 open problems in computational diversity linguistics.

This is the eleventh of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the typology of semantic promiscuity.

This is the tenth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the typology of sound change.

This is the ninth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the typology of semantic change.

This is the eighth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of statistical proof of language relatedness.

This is the seventh of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of simulating sound change.

This is the sixth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of simulating lexical change.

This is the fifth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of automatic phonological reconstruction.

This is the fourth of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of automatic sound law induction.

This is the third of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It discusses the problem of automatic borrowing detection.

This is the second of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It presents the problem of automatic morpheme segmentation.

This is the first of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It presents a list of 10 problems on computational diversity linguistics.