tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94104912024-03-07T18:36:45.625+00:00Contiguous Synchronicity Development LocationA blog about language, chocolate and occasionally politics.George Walkdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08511721472986556962noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-1813553290487078822024-01-25T09:30:00.001+00:002024-01-25T09:33:48.357+00:00Konstanz Working Cafés #14: Backhaus Mahl<p>A new contender, in the brand new building off Sternenplatz. I don’t normally include bakeries in this series, but this one is unusual, as you’ll see!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51o_9BxglJ540OUYYhleMyCi2fjB7vAZnXcZhNHww5IbmnkOcXAN7edFca3865HeV95fjXvcJPvlobXhYKE2qQu-z1UZngZIuOmjAXetQbBQwkWm3Xw3ihv1PgOE_mxBGRSBh1K4PScGesFMepQseyl5dtaG-L4jrultuaXsh-0WXoYuNr5Xd/s4032/IMG_5400.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fake plants" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51o_9BxglJ540OUYYhleMyCi2fjB7vAZnXcZhNHww5IbmnkOcXAN7edFca3865HeV95fjXvcJPvlobXhYKE2qQu-z1UZngZIuOmjAXetQbBQwkWm3Xw3ihv1PgOE_mxBGRSBh1K4PScGesFMepQseyl5dtaG-L4jrultuaXsh-0WXoYuNr5Xd/w400-h300/IMG_5400.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fake plants</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Advantages:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Location</b>. Right next to Sternenplatz bus stop, just outside the city centre. Easy to reach by foot or by bus.</li><li><b>Wifi and power sockets</b>,<b> </b>the latter at pretty much every table. Amazing!</li><li><b>Food</b>. Nothing fancy, but alongside the usual bakery fare of filled rolls and cake there are some very nice hearty brunch-style options, including omelettes and salads.</li><li><b>Spacious</b>. There’s a deceptively large seating area at the back.</li><li><b>Open every day</b>. Even Sundays!</li><li><b>Cheap and cheerful</b>. Omelette and coffee for €8.05.</li></ul><div>Disadvantages:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Ambience</b>. Clean and bright, but unlovely, I’d say.</li><li><b>Kids</b>. It's right opposite a secondary school, and at certain times of day it is full of teenagers.</li></ul><div>Coffee here is decent, though nothing to write home about.</div><div><br /></div><div>Price of a regular black coffee: <b>€2.90</b> for a generous “normal”, with a small option for €2.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Overall rating: ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️ (5/5). I’ll be back!</div><p></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-59843489478396432422023-12-31T11:59:00.000+00:002023-12-31T11:59:35.407+00:00Books read 2023<p><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">36 books read this year – which works out at three a month, though they were in fact very unevenly distributed through the year.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Aminatta Forna, Happiness</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A beautiful, down-to-earth and unpretentious story about the consequences of a chance meeting. I’m uneasy about the antipsychiatry-adjacent message towards the end, but it’s a charming and thought-provoking book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Misha Glenny, The Balkans, 1804-2012: nationalism, war and the great powers</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A veteran journalist’s take on the most politically complex area of Europe. It’s both a big, dense book and at times one that cuts corners, taking a few things for granted. I probably need to read around and then return to this one. Glenny’s take seems very balanced to me; his harshest criticism is reserved for the “great power” interventions, none of which have ever ended well, even up to the present day.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Daniel Chandler, Semiotics: the basics</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I’ve always thought of semiotics as standing in the same relation to linguistics as astrology does to astronomy, but never knew enough about it to be sure, because most texts I tried to read on the subject descended quickly into obscurantism. Chandler’s text is a welcome exception. As I now understand it, semiotics is the project of Ferdinand de Saussure exegesis (but only the Cours – texts actually written by Saussure should be studiously ignored). And Charles Saunders Peirce exegesis, to be fair, though Peirce’s model of the sign is both more complex and less coherent than the one in the Cours. I had my quibbles with the author’s conclusions: in particular I don’t think it follows from the fact that Saussure (in the Cours) excludes reference from his model of the sign that Saussure is a Whorfian for whom language determines reality. But overall I liked the book, and can see the value of applying ideas from linguistics beyond linguistics. Though I will feel justified in continuing to mostly disregard semiotics in future.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Peter Dragicevic, Mark Baker, Stuart Butler, Vesna Maric, Brana Vladisavljevic, Anthony Ham, Jessica Lee & Kevin Raub, Lonely Planet: Western Balkans</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Okay, I didn’t read this one cover-to-cover. Reading about nightlife in cities I’m not visiting is a bit much. But I’ve spent so much time with this book in the first half of March that I feel justified in making an exception to my normal rule and adding this one to the list. It’s bee helpful – especially for sights and food options – even when I haven’t ultimately agreed with its assessment of a place, which did happen occasionally.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Stephen Wechsler & Larisa Zlatić, The many faces of agreement</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A thoughtful and thought-provoking book about the syntax of agreement, with an empirical focus mainly on Serbian/Croatian, that covers a lot of ground, some of it more convincingly than other bits. There are some ideas and thoughts in here that are likely to be be useful for my future work.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Edgar Allen Poe, Classic Stories</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">This collection of Poe’s works is a mixed bag. The nadir is probably The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, a detective story in which our protagonist spends pages explaining why the newspapers are wrong, only for the actual dénouement to not even be properly narrated. This one also sorely tests Poe’s principle that short stories should be read in a single sitting. Others, like Fall of the House of Usher and Masque of the Red Death, are sublime, though.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">R. F. Kuang, Babel</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A much richer, more thoughtful novel than the Poppy War. This one is historical fantasy set in Oxford and centred on magic derived from what gets lost in translation. It’s well written and moving, though the apparatus of footnotes doesn’t help matters, and there are some (I think unintended) almost farcical moments in what is otherwise a dark and serious book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Anthony Warner, Complementation in Middle English and the methodology of historical syntax</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A revised version of the author’s PhD dissertation, this book deals with all sorts of issues in the complementation system of Middle English, based on a corpus study of the Wyclifite sermons (c. 1400). It’s a rich and rewarding read, though the late 70s terminology/theory is not always easy for me to follow now. A big deal in this book is using intuitions and semantic judgements as a source of data for dead languages. Apparently Lakoff (1968) made the case for Latin, and Lightfoot says something similar! This seems bonkers to me, and I strongly agree with Warner that it isn’t a sensible thing to do.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rym Kechacha, Dark River</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Two parallel narratives of young mothers. A fine, moving piece of speculative fiction, though not one with a hopeful vision for the future.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Stephen Pax Leonard, Language, society and identity in early Iceland</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Been meaning to read this for a while. This slim book, a revised version of the author’s PhD thesis, is erudite and draws on a wide range of sources and approaches, but ultimately (in my view) fails to make the case for any strong thesis about early Icelandic identity. That’s perhaps not surprising, as the task Leonard has set himself is an almost impossibly ambitious one given the nature of the evidence. His conclusion perhaps sums it up best: “the relationship between language and identity in early Iceland remains of course nebulous and ill-defined”. One thing that’s missing is reference to historical (as opposed to sociological or sociolinguistic) scholarship on ethnicity and ethnogenesis, which seems very relevant to the question. The discussion of terms for and perception of languages - dönsk tunga vs. norrœna - in chapter 5 is to my mind the most interesting part of the book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ian Roberts, Diachronic Syntax, second edition</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I quite vividly remember reading this in 2007-8, as a final-year undergraduate, when it had just come out. It’s thus deeply weird (though also ego-boosting) to see that this new 2021 edition, very extensively revised, contains multiple references to me and my work: in particular there’s a whole section on null subjects in the history of Germanic. The first time I read this book I wasn’t very au fait with philosophy of science, and regarded the rather “brittle” predictions of the theory as a major weakness. Present-day me views this as a strength. It’s marketed as a sort of textbook, but one would have to be quite daring to teach a course based entirely on it, since it is fast-moving, wide-ranging and highly erudite, and students who haven’t had at least one course on generative syntax will probably struggle. I prefer to think about it more as a combination of detailed review of the “DiGS” literature and manifesto for a particular vision of syntactic change as parametric change. Either way it remains a thought-provoking read.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A re-read. First time round I was a bit blindsided by this book and where it ends up. It seems at one point like it’s going to be a grand sci-fi narrative, but it’s more of a series of vignettes exploring what it is to be human (and sapient more generally), lovingly crafted – a bit like the Mass Effect universe, but without the militaristic bluster, combat sequences and universe-ending plots. A genre-changer of a book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Georges Simenon, The Venice Train, trans. Ros Schwartz</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A man’s life begins to fall apart after a chance meeting on the Venice train. The key events that kickstart the plot are not new, but the way their consequences are narrated is masterful. Perhaps I get bonus points for reading it on the train from Zurich to Venice, though my route was via the Gotthard base tunnel, not via the Simplon tunnel as in the book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I read this on the train back from Venice to Paris. It doesn’t strike me as one of Shakespeare’s best works. Quite apart from the rather undeniable antisemitism, there’s an M. Night Shyamalan-style twist in Act IV and then a rather tedious Act V about feigned marital strife. And, to top it off, the Monty Hall plotline with Portia and her marriage is both absurd and barely connected to the main plot. Several classic quotables can be found within, though.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Catherine Belton, Putin’s People: how the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A helpful read for my understanding, if a depressing one. In Belton’s telling, after a wobbly and inequitable transition to free-market capitalism in the 1990s, Russia once again ended up under the rule of a faction of the KGB. Freed from any ideological link to communism, these men’s only guiding lights were authoritarian nationalism and personal control. Belton allows herself plenty of interpretations where the facts are not known, and is pretty clear about when she’s doing this. (Abramovich sued over the claim that he bought Chelsea on Putin’s orders, but I thought it was transparently Belton’s inference, and a denial by Abramovich’s spokesperson was included.) Even without the more speculative parts, though, this book – written before the Ukraine hostilities initiated in 2022 – paints a grim picture of today’s Russia.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Victoria Mackenzie, For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A short fictionalized account of the meeting between Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, two of the most interesting women in the history of the English language (in fact most interesting people, full stop). Despite the subject matter I felt that this novel fell somewhat flat in terms of its emotional impact, and the interleaving of two storylines did not work well for me.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">D. Gary Miller, Nonfinite structures in theory and change</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A salutary reminder that great intellect and erudition do not automatically make for a great book. This one ranges widely over theoretical and historical aspects of all sorts of nonfinite structures, mostly in English but with detours into West Greenlandic, Latin, and more. Sections were extremely useful for my research but overall the argument jumps around so much that it was difficult to follow what point was being made.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Adam Smith, A dissertation on the origin of languages</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A short work about the evolution of language. It starts out very speculative on the origin of word classes, but gets more interesting when it takes on a typological dimension, prefiguring to some extent Bopp-Schlegel morphological typologies, and even Trudgill’s sociolinguistic typology.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Walter Scott, Ivanhoe</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Reading a bit of Scotland’s most famous author while in Edinburgh. This is a ludicrous pastiche that has probably done more for the popular understanding of the British Middle Ages than any history book. Centring on an attractive young Jew, Rebecca, who all the men in the story seem to have the hots for, it canters along briskly. Still not sure why Scott is so fêted when Edinburgh’s authors also count Stevenson among their ranks.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Kenneth H. Jackson, Language and history in early Britain</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Good to read this in Edinburgh, where Jackson worked; I’d been trying to get hold of this book for a while. It’s a masterwork not just for the fact that it weaves history, archaeology and linguistics together well, but because it does so in ways that are ahead of its time. Against the “triple-X” theory of the fate of Celtic speakers in the face of Germanic speakers, Jackson is excoriating (and this well before the emergence of processual archaeology). I focused on the first 260 pages – a deep sociolinguistic examination of the interrelationships between Latin (varieties), “Anglo-Saxon”, and Celtic (varieties) – and only skimmed the 400 or so pages on the details of specific sound changes.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nina Puri, Queenig und spleenig? Wie die Engländer ticken</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A book about the English from a German perspective. The author spent some of her childhood in the UK before moving to Germany. It’s always interesting to see how one’s tribe is perceived by another tribe. Some bits I knew, some bits I didn’t. Our cringeworthy mating rituals I was aware of, but I didn’t know that the Germans tend to think we drive too slowly. And the author offers a remarkably nuanced view on the tricky topic of English cuisine. Not sure about some pieces of information: no one says “how do you do” any more, and I’m pretty sure a “swot” is a type of nerd, not a black-marketeer. Fun book, though, and amusingly written!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Donald Campbell, Edinburgh: a cultural and literary history</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Though it’s geographically structured, the heart of this book is the culture and the characters of Edinburgh over the years. A useful companion to this “mad god’s dream” of a city.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">In two minds about this one. On one hand, some of the most original and evocaitve fantasy I’ve read in years. On the other hand, the pacing is terrible: half the book (400 pages) is basically worldbuilding, and the other half feels rushed. For that reason it took me a tremendously long time to finish. Still, it leaves me with a good taste in my mouth, and (unusually for a fantasy novel!) has a good ending as a standalone book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">William Labov with Gillian Sankoff, Conversations with strangers</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">This short book is structured around ten sociolinguistic interviews. It was interesting to read about these people and their lives (and language), and beautifully put together. But if there was any broader meaning to it, it passed me by.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Margaret Atwood, The Testaments</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, this book is very… concrete. It’s a specific, situated future for North America, not some allegory. It raises intriguing questions about complicity and what it means to be a good person in an extreme situation. Atwood also handles the question of female physicality brilliantly, neither dismissing it not putting it on an essentializing pedestal.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">If Gormenghast and Warhammer 40,000 had a baby, this is what it would look like (but with extra skeletons). A creative, well-constructed fantasy novel without the epic-style bloat so often found in the genre. The writing style sometimes jars with me due to all the yoofspeak blending with baroque Peake-type prose, but that’s probably just me getting old. Great book.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Friedrich Schiller, Wallensteins Tod</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I do like a bit of Schiller, and this one almost makes me feel sorry for Wallenstein, who was an absolute monster, one of the inventors of modern professional warfare. But as a play I wonder how much fun it would be to watch, since it mostly involves men standing round talking to each other.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Susi Wurmbrand, Infinitives: restructuring and clause structure</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">After reading some rather… messy books about non-finite clauses, it’s a pleasure to read something that is not only insightful and clearly argued but also genuinely well written. The key idea is that a WYSIWYG approach to clause structure works as regards clause size, but that infinitives - even individual verbs - may take different sizes of complement: monoclausal (functional restructuring), VP (lexical restructuring), vP, TP or CP. I found it persuasive and not a little demystifying.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">This gothic novel, telling of a charismatic monk’s descent into darkness, is frankly absurd.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Seanan McGuire, Every Heart A Doorway</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A novella about the consequences of normal children travelling netween planes of existence. For all its feels and thoughtful world-building, it reads like a novel that hasn’t been filled out enough with character development - just over too quickly. That’s not to say that it wasn’t good, but it is unusually terse for fantasy.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Angela Chen, Ace: what asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">An eye-opening, thoughtful and thought-provoking read that nevertheless came across as somewhat rambling and unstructured. Perhaps a book that can’t quite decide what it wants to be or do - but still an invaluable exercise in awareness-raising.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Donna Tartt, The Secret History</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">An amazing book about the danger of privileging beauty over more important things, a modern Gothic novel that still rather ironically manages to be beautiful in its way. Also intriguingly difficult to date beyond the mid-20th century.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Richard V. Reeves, Of boys and men: why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I went into this book sceptical, but Reeves takes a sensible tack, on the whole, in arguing that men (particularly Black and working class men) are suffering as a side effect of the patriarchy. This part of the book is well supported with a variety of evidence, only some of which seems cherry-picked. Where Reeves is on shakier ground is his critique of progressive approaches to the question: while he’s right that there’s an unwillingness to admit that men’s problems are worth worrying about, and he’s right (to a lesser extent) that progressives can be dismissive of biological effects in some domains, his attack on the notion of “toxic masculinity” misses its mark completely, and more generally – despite many caveats – he seems not to have grasped the implications of sexual dimorphism as a more faithful reflection of reality than binarity; talking about “the exception that proves the rule” means nothing in this context, and is equivalent to sticking one’s head in the sand. His prescriptions are interesting, especially the idea of encouraging men to enter what he calls HEAL (humanities, education, administration and literacy) jobs, and the less narrow view of fatherhood he advocates – but I’ll need more convincing on his proposal for a later school starting age for boys.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A tiny book, basically an essay that’s had a hard cover slapped on it. I’m not generally any more impressed when someone calls something “bullshit, in the Harry Frankfurt philosophical sense” than when someone calls something “bullshit” tout court. But this is an interesting attempt to define bullshit as part of philosophy of language – as lack of concern for any connection with the truth. There are obvious links to speech act theory and formal semantics and pragmatics that could be exploited here.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Private Eye Annual 2023</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Amusing and on point, as always. The “Could AI bore us all to death?” article was a highlight.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Andrew Robinson, The last man who knew everything: Thomas Young</span></h4><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">The title is obviously false, but this biography is concise and engagingly written. Young was a fascinating figure who made significant contributions to several fields in the first half of the nineteenth century, most notably physics (a theory of light) and Egyptology (clearing the way for Champollion to fully decipher the hieroglyphic script). Significantly for linguists, he also came up with the term “Indo-European” (in an Encyclopedia Britannica article), and his Göttingen dissertation was on phonetics. The book also contains some interesting reflections on the advantages and disadvantages of polymathy. </span></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-19140338147793374132023-12-27T11:31:00.003+00:002023-12-27T11:43:16.207+00:00Review of 2023<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What did you do in 2023 that you'd never done before?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lived in Scotland.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11IvmEN7YpNThOu4NOBB1D8ajQE8iSX5AIHWTeOtZlHYyUT-AN7XIbhjCtJhnqGx_68b_StlrT01yEg1KFoeFug1ERVvllU3-FpPYIEhQ3DTTH7Ddz_5zU7VgxmdyqDLrhaqZ_2xrSXG26vCce_Okx67kEBn8UxfqfPt8USCh6PrjGicU2uNJ/s4032/IMG_4013.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Edinburgh Castle in the sun" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11IvmEN7YpNThOu4NOBB1D8ajQE8iSX5AIHWTeOtZlHYyUT-AN7XIbhjCtJhnqGx_68b_StlrT01yEg1KFoeFug1ERVvllU3-FpPYIEhQ3DTTH7Ddz_5zU7VgxmdyqDLrhaqZ_2xrSXG26vCce_Okx67kEBn8UxfqfPt8USCh6PrjGicU2uNJ/w400-h300/IMG_4013.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Visited 14 countries in one month.</span><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbDDW5HtPay8vgT0HEZZ0tnodFB6yqYayrOJ6CVCtIHNQW7Hnuix86bFArjjMy86d-l1i4PkDW9bPj3kPRu45dahHZyNxu5upowEuFWl7flfGG72RFkKZ7EfmX0SEY_ezvIiLUuTvjznDs3LqYpIv8JXCF7eqUCvioXVYp2Qg-oMsYkPVhP2l4/s4032/IMG_2989.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lake Skadar/Shkodër on the border between Montenegro and Albania." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbDDW5HtPay8vgT0HEZZ0tnodFB6yqYayrOJ6CVCtIHNQW7Hnuix86bFArjjMy86d-l1i4PkDW9bPj3kPRu45dahHZyNxu5upowEuFWl7flfGG72RFkKZ7EfmX0SEY_ezvIiLUuTvjznDs3LqYpIv8JXCF7eqUCvioXVYp2Qg-oMsYkPVhP2l4/w400-h300/IMG_2989.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-968X.12275" target="_blank">a paper from the STARFISH project</a>. Was interviewed on a <a href="https://dannybate.com/2023/09/04/introducing-a-language-i-love-is/" target="_blank">podcast</a>. Provided spoken Old English for a jazz track.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Did you keep your New Years' resolutions?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I didn’t have any this year, so… yes? No?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Do you have any resolutions for next year?</span></p><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">No.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Not as far as I know.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">No.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What countries did you visit?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">The UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands. 14 of these 18 in March.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">2023 was a fine year for me, so there isn’t much to wish for. I’ll keep donating to charity so that others can have what they lacked.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What date(s) from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">26th July: Michael and Rachel’s wedding celebration, much delayed but all the more joyous for it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Getting the LUKS prize for the second time was a nice validation of all the time I spent writing my bits of me and Míša’s textbook during the pandemic, and revising my big History of English course to reflect it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your biggest failure?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I don’t feel like I failed too badly at anything this year. Though there was one paper that got rejected, which I hope will resurface in the not-too-distant future!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I had more colds than usual, at least one of which might have been Covid again. Also blistered my feet quite badly in August and got a nasty UTI in September. But as illness goes this wasn’t too terrible.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was the best thing you bought?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">My trip on the Glacier Express was an absolute bargain, and a lovely experience.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRk0jzZY0FyHvtvgmWnv1mt_cGF6h-K9-2fi5narnjtNpWcUgsZkdEEd6TIYWeTe2TyV7O80gxX1SUviNVooQyM4-h6RmCVBALl45bvYXtdvH3Skamp6PXamQM5HYZZpzRWyDDB8fsaF5HJ1L1giC_WHxPuXr0MUjtxRT3liuB5-a2etXLdAGD/s4032/IMG_2652.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The train bends round on the Oberalppass." border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRk0jzZY0FyHvtvgmWnv1mt_cGF6h-K9-2fi5narnjtNpWcUgsZkdEEd6TIYWeTe2TyV7O80gxX1SUviNVooQyM4-h6RmCVBALl45bvYXtdvH3Skamp6PXamQM5HYZZpzRWyDDB8fsaF5HJ1L1giC_WHxPuXr0MUjtxRT3liuB5-a2etXLdAGD/w300-h400/IMG_2652.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I’m tremendously proud of my three <a href="https://www.ling.uni-konstanz.de/en/walkden/starfish/" target="_blank">STARFISH</a> PhD students. They’ve all really come out of their shells this year and become truly independent researchers producing exciting work. A shame that we have less than a year left working together.</span></div><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeOUpA4pHF4oaJz1DCNfWdLJxM889mEtebmfz5y0LV1ArwMgLxhfyCh8QIPA0yKqA8OIK2DFzARGDZFR-7Qb3Tlum2Mh8xd0l3iZ7Np8JHcP7BBwtDJgrgD7GEKv_3Dk1qiA5X1MwDZ8zuedTIp5Plzg0U7ONsqtGNB70MyQAGjjfnnNqTeUh/s3088/IMG_4316.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The STARFISH team at DiGS in Paris." border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeOUpA4pHF4oaJz1DCNfWdLJxM889mEtebmfz5y0LV1ArwMgLxhfyCh8QIPA0yKqA8OIK2DFzARGDZFR-7Qb3Tlum2Mh8xd0l3iZ7Np8JHcP7BBwtDJgrgD7GEKv_3Dk1qiA5X1MwDZ8zuedTIp5Plzg0U7ONsqtGNB70MyQAGjjfnnNqTeUh/w400-h300/IMG_4316.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Hamas, briefly, then the Israeli military, more extensively.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Where did most of your money go?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">“Travel and various good causes”, like last year.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Hosting ETG again for a return visit, this time with the Tempest. There’s a fine line between excitement and anxiety for me, and one I was walking this November-December.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvRUeFdsblJf_q7q4bo3z6vf-AsbgqYnrb8uiw07JZYVtlwQ2lnnekj7VUFwxZVg62axUekf-NWqOsTBLytJnY0J3GDVe9_U3cNbrlXEtBNph-FhX4_z2SXrbdIZ4z5gV_3eUkAGKF7lbWBNDmpcG5n0iw9GLMMAco1ksPgJaVEdqthraa7JG/s4032/IMG_0482.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cast of the Tempest at curtain call." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvRUeFdsblJf_q7q4bo3z6vf-AsbgqYnrb8uiw07JZYVtlwQ2lnnekj7VUFwxZVg62axUekf-NWqOsTBLytJnY0J3GDVe9_U3cNbrlXEtBNph-FhX4_z2SXrbdIZ4z5gV_3eUkAGKF7lbWBNDmpcG5n0iw9GLMMAco1ksPgJaVEdqthraa7JG/w400-h300/IMG_0482.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What songs will always remind you of 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">“In The Army Now”, by Status Quo, which seemed to be playing pretty much everywhere in the Balkans.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Compared to this time last year, are you:</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Happier or sadder? Happier.</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Thinner or fatter? About the same.</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Richer or poorer? Richer.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What do you wish you'd done more of?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Writing! All other parts of the research process went well, and I was finally able to chill out a bit more in 2023 (at least most of the time; in February, April, November and early December not so much). And I probably did do enough writing, but I always wish I’d done more.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Getting lots of glitter in my hair.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC70QXmsm9nOzfJ7JqfJd4F9cMG9WaRGEq6kND_fs8NqwX-BIWHz38jEMdMLPQnWqK7IKn71ATYvz4pS-5lEqrjJbVpQYMXGP-U-_mXqWG_8jThrkuCu6I0hyPYXP2lFILKJvPsFvwkTdykuHdxnoSewvimeaDWrzR8vEOcqxrUdwLiUHsKFE/s1024/IMG_5379.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Me chuckling while removing glitter from my luscious locks, surrounded by concerned family members." border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1024" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC70QXmsm9nOzfJ7JqfJd4F9cMG9WaRGEq6kND_fs8NqwX-BIWHz38jEMdMLPQnWqK7IKn71ATYvz4pS-5lEqrjJbVpQYMXGP-U-_mXqWG_8jThrkuCu6I0hyPYXP2lFILKJvPsFvwkTdykuHdxnoSewvimeaDWrzR8vEOcqxrUdwLiUHsKFE/w400-h268/IMG_5379.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Who did you meet for the first time?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A dude from Kosovo who helped me tremendously in getting into the place. Several nice people in Edinburgh; you know who you are.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your favourite TV programme?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Killing Eve series 1 was well crafted.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your favourite film of this year?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I watched a few big-budget action films that were enjoyable, like the new Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible. The Crimson Rivers was an entertainingly creepy one. Belfast was very well made. Tenet and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were disappointing. The original Mean Girls was a treat.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was the best book you read in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Fiction: either Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir, or The Secret History, by Donna Tartt.</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Non-fiction: Infinitives, by Susi Wurmbrand.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was the best game you played in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I spent quite some time replaying Dragon Age III and Skyrim, though ultimately both replays petered out. As regards new games, I haven’t quite finished Baldur’s Gate 3, but so far it’s great.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">I didn’t make any new discoveries in music this year.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Hair down. (Largely a function of losing or breaking all my hairbands and never remembering to buy new ones.)</span></div><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4wBSO97jIy-EcgGuNDV0qcr5Caa_hdu8mHsobcyGc00aI2idpRi-EHEW7hrKePeKSpkVhJasJ9HYaTpqNdzrOKAuiprPoqbwzBV4-Z8mDHn4Y2XInNtmT1ls07_X-CgWvDKoARwIKUbJRMnLc9Q07m49AVC-9WNXs4KxXYOD9p9FIIU0mVon/s3088/IMG_5107.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="On a golden throne in a random restaurant in Frankfurt." border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4wBSO97jIy-EcgGuNDV0qcr5Caa_hdu8mHsobcyGc00aI2idpRi-EHEW7hrKePeKSpkVhJasJ9HYaTpqNdzrOKAuiprPoqbwzBV4-Z8mDHn4Y2XInNtmT1ls07_X-CgWvDKoARwIKUbJRMnLc9Q07m49AVC-9WNXs4KxXYOD9p9FIIU0mVon/w300-h400/IMG_5107.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What kept you sane?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Having O. and S. around was very grounding.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYhZ0b7y4HjyCsPi-AoJXii1XM3hYCpYHDz4d_HNXuV5Ae-Xvke4Hy8d_SkZh8E2dU1mPoEcSKYV-n0ciexOBQ5E2J4J-0-9uHXBHiz4sS210osGc8X9Qq-sRyeC1CZ7KZIPzCMwNJLvR40XZrJ5QrlEjgTBHfY5-MnzWcrDT04K_58pVJ3fp/s4032/IMG_3953.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Egg painting stations!" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYhZ0b7y4HjyCsPi-AoJXii1XM3hYCpYHDz4d_HNXuV5Ae-Xvke4Hy8d_SkZh8E2dU1mPoEcSKYV-n0ciexOBQ5E2J4J-0-9uHXBHiz4sS210osGc8X9Qq-sRyeC1CZ7KZIPzCMwNJLvR40XZrJ5QrlEjgTBHfY5-MnzWcrDT04K_58pVJ3fp/w400-h300/IMG_3953.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">38 this year. I was in Edinburgh and had a quiet time at home with a piece of red velvet cake.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNKG88i4Hip33jcABxWSfJTL3q-ejXJ-ctPVKhq4UGkI72IfvnahEEHfDmjm5pM_bkTLa4yaJVeZhpBdSJDkShGIwswFRZ6aETft3o7qTIczaJhRzkhVux9x9n25Cs7okOX2LmP83cVx42UTG4sWvHQHoAK-2jnHw2tOAIJxHN982Y6Ymdsfw/s4032/IMG_4043.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Said cake." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNKG88i4Hip33jcABxWSfJTL3q-ejXJ-ctPVKhq4UGkI72IfvnahEEHfDmjm5pM_bkTLa4yaJVeZhpBdSJDkShGIwswFRZ6aETft3o7qTIczaJhRzkhVux9x9n25Cs7okOX2LmP83cVx42UTG4sWvHQHoAK-2jnHw2tOAIJxHN982Y6Ymdsfw/w400-h300/IMG_4043.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">How did you spend Christmas?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Another quiet one with my parents.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtNKDkx2rjUdwp92Z42E9BXPJUm7nX-R8WS6WdNiiLy-qJa0eCaLVzVV6_LBVezt8Ju35ZYwp0X-kV36Q-OmD8Co17xhN5gk9auiFbbG206_4ZPuEiK1M05HWR-a28o3U8dao9vgabGrBWRDslPpeI_A4LWJtLhHOEybFEE1sNX1SRIKmtjqr/s4032/IMG_5372.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Family heirloom." border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtNKDkx2rjUdwp92Z42E9BXPJUm7nX-R8WS6WdNiiLy-qJa0eCaLVzVV6_LBVezt8Ju35ZYwp0X-kV36Q-OmD8Co17xhN5gk9auiFbbG206_4ZPuEiK1M05HWR-a28o3U8dao9vgabGrBWRDslPpeI_A4LWJtLhHOEybFEE1sNX1SRIKmtjqr/w300-h400/IMG_5372.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">There’s not a whole lot, to be honest! A cure for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CADASIL" target="_blank">CADASIL</a> would be nice, or at least some prophylactic options that aren’t just “healthy lifestyle”.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What political issue stirred you the most?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">A mess of unnecessary ethnonationalist wars in various parts of the world.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Who did you miss?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">To spin this around: it was great to catch up with all sorts of people in Edinburgh, and at Michael and Rachel’s wedding celebration. There are family members I should reach out to, though.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Not sure. Possibly not, outside of British politics.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">Was 2023 a good year for you?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">The best year I can remember, in recent times. Probably since I left Cambridge, at least.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What was your favourite moment of the year?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Once again it’s hard to pin it down. Drinking coffee on a train at 2,000 metres in good company?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0BpsQ0GgK0jklqvanSiVyZgeukMFRfXsSLH-ujXyO4JoM4sIPNTRcTssn_QqYUx9vf3xMLFM21VFVANzzMnSxIisiz3mZyuCeFxhA-_yp3qFfpGj1xoejWvi0nzUgxWTrBzeSJ7FN9hrYkJQt98XwCu4nVqe64LuuEGzKlmr6LucyMqCx3xE/s4032/IMG_2660.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="View from the Glacier Express." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0BpsQ0GgK0jklqvanSiVyZgeukMFRfXsSLH-ujXyO4JoM4sIPNTRcTssn_QqYUx9vf3xMLFM21VFVANzzMnSxIisiz3mZyuCeFxhA-_yp3qFfpGj1xoejWvi0nzUgxWTrBzeSJ7FN9hrYkJQt98XwCu4nVqe64LuuEGzKlmr6LucyMqCx3xE/w400-h300/IMG_2660.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rattling across the border into Montenegro through the Piva Gorge in a rusty minibus?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWLaMVHnBlgt__Xs9EP2CknPp9UwqU7Sf1_KX3KWVrmn5U5AamY8qLed9VmVYgvCUwKmt8nnVEhhlJgPbde36JX5gB2-P0V9n-O4-v1sL2pEl25JvDkaI480X-WnitTv6UkKkaipjekjayrI27-X4pjoiJdGuYKjGW7jlkc0eDgbDqIW-tSGS/s4032/IMG_2893.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dirt track high above the Drina, Bosnia." border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWLaMVHnBlgt__Xs9EP2CknPp9UwqU7Sf1_KX3KWVrmn5U5AamY8qLed9VmVYgvCUwKmt8nnVEhhlJgPbde36JX5gB2-P0V9n-O4-v1sL2pEl25JvDkaI480X-WnitTv6UkKkaipjekjayrI27-X4pjoiJdGuYKjGW7jlkc0eDgbDqIW-tSGS/w300-h400/IMG_2893.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8sa4CPcIBtcDG1jmg_Yw0mF8p2oT8Bf_eb8-NHN-hRJFyXmIekhYxzUhvvmXuQ50KFM-CZJ6eh2SZcYnohrqBwNLTwc0wwQvpgx2vnN00UgCPMa3GvjR9qfzzlpQjK3b7RDpdaKigt3U5F7WfqhTNkK8vIZJdMHU_m-WmGUigmmCo3jNBbav/s4032/IMG_2904.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A tunnel in the Piva Gorge." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8sa4CPcIBtcDG1jmg_Yw0mF8p2oT8Bf_eb8-NHN-hRJFyXmIekhYxzUhvvmXuQ50KFM-CZJ6eh2SZcYnohrqBwNLTwc0wwQvpgx2vnN00UgCPMa3GvjR9qfzzlpQjK3b7RDpdaKigt3U5F7WfqhTNkK8vIZJdMHU_m-WmGUigmmCo3jNBbav/w400-h300/IMG_2904.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sipping limoncello in a Venetian palazzo while waiting for the storm to subside?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxToT_TthhtjHjZOpG6cKt2jmqTG8GVzYfxM8JRlZPH4ozFEum8BWBNfwq5u3mgWoKIr75WaMtVVCE' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Autumnal steam train ride after a bracing hike in the Harz with friends?</span></div><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzg2vajBkNSFz54Rq86It6G_hhCw_xTaHyeEKRMmaHhNKHKJM5Cs71zZnfr001O85-2H1feVNwKSic' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Trudging to the northernmost point of mainland Britain in evening light?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4Dbl80v1_OhrSTBR7SKrfzNJBlT9cg8Ebcc5yEUdDRXEK2Il4LvbK08WD902PeP9qDRJ5KO_zDgoyWczA-n9_gXXVaGeotplmfq3xWm5nDnfx96WtDuULPszUn__nf0ZZ8N2vvyB9G_p-oOB9tl9b6qMg_qS04wZrhVljgyYegr8zg0Bq7W7/s4032/IMG_4818.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Light and ocean above the marsh." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4Dbl80v1_OhrSTBR7SKrfzNJBlT9cg8Ebcc5yEUdDRXEK2Il4LvbK08WD902PeP9qDRJ5KO_zDgoyWczA-n9_gXXVaGeotplmfq3xWm5nDnfx96WtDuULPszUn__nf0ZZ8N2vvyB9G_p-oOB9tl9b6qMg_qS04wZrhVljgyYegr8zg0Bq7W7/w400-h300/IMG_4818.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ysgAMeplvKiKU1kXGVYWYO15K5lW_PZUKqtpFTnhXevFqHX-gXbDF3-eZz2ABZanslu8cAW_DWRdpXSMI0l1__2iDuwr5Z8jsr1ujyCkdzuTjNPjSCnBJIkYaRYTVEeu6UMEpFgq649zcivIKGrj2oxuXhobkT1wJ84ewR4vmy_BqGAJ0acg/s4032/IMG_4827.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lighthouse, with Orkney in the distance." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ysgAMeplvKiKU1kXGVYWYO15K5lW_PZUKqtpFTnhXevFqHX-gXbDF3-eZz2ABZanslu8cAW_DWRdpXSMI0l1__2iDuwr5Z8jsr1ujyCkdzuTjNPjSCnBJIkYaRYTVEeu6UMEpFgq649zcivIKGrj2oxuXhobkT1wJ84ewR4vmy_BqGAJ0acg/w400-h300/IMG_4827.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGuKQu-8xezpmjx93B13j-FLoHyDnaUZ21D4aYecFGq8yRz5JyCheJNMuppzzBH4s9A6o_BB_xa8-WvGNByKGQvi0j7HdKVxiekIPhsD6m3kz96AJvabFZFk-TKtxmvPTxenO_M86dYN-7g0sZgg45LSbN4eDOWwp0gMM9pU65LykhVE0icKwJ/s4032/IMG_4829.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sunset over the Atlantic." border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGuKQu-8xezpmjx93B13j-FLoHyDnaUZ21D4aYecFGq8yRz5JyCheJNMuppzzBH4s9A6o_BB_xa8-WvGNByKGQvi0j7HdKVxiekIPhsD6m3kz96AJvabFZFk-TKtxmvPTxenO_M86dYN-7g0sZgg45LSbN4eDOWwp0gMM9pU65LykhVE0icKwJ/w400-h300/IMG_4829.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VKyZikKeuLGvC03tpJvF0P50pddlEUbcLc9yskt7nzKHMHZ-U_hsIFq1kyaZvMWglC3_QINPUZDXoA5QH3r9OIAKBhCro8DjmD8n4hnMwfjOJJAxiocMkLa9vZ1gPF4jOfMoHMw0Dy8K9GcPBt3k2vz5TXYEZ7zXRIGZqdpNi87Owv4YBwkf/s3088/IMG_4821.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Me at Dunnet Head." border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VKyZikKeuLGvC03tpJvF0P50pddlEUbcLc9yskt7nzKHMHZ-U_hsIFq1kyaZvMWglC3_QINPUZDXoA5QH3r9OIAKBhCro8DjmD8n4hnMwfjOJJAxiocMkLa9vZ1gPF4jOfMoHMw0Dy8K9GcPBt3k2vz5TXYEZ7zXRIGZqdpNi87Owv4YBwkf/w400-h300/IMG_4821.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">But I think it’ll have to be giving a reading at my brother’s wedding celebration in the Peak District.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguY7ANxmLs_3WsAQLFEd7VO6wZFtFYYqOXy8inY9ot9Y5GqR25EwsOSS7oaBkCkkmsbp8S-uwQUDvkF7hLUM5IikyYUUx8YO6OhmmpIRF1Kg_rUVFqIdgXA4vWHvpQ0C6PiSgHKnsjOU4mPUo6yXf5aXRwO-uY0QB7Cw3EaQFXqGE1sc1eqayd/s1024/IMG_5380.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Intoning ancient truths." border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1024" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguY7ANxmLs_3WsAQLFEd7VO6wZFtFYYqOXy8inY9ot9Y5GqR25EwsOSS7oaBkCkkmsbp8S-uwQUDvkF7hLUM5IikyYUUx8YO6OhmmpIRF1Kg_rUVFqIdgXA4vWHvpQ0C6PiSgHKnsjOU4mPUo6yXf5aXRwO-uY0QB7Cw3EaQFXqGE1sc1eqayd/w400-h268/IMG_5380.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 18.55px; font-weight: bold;">What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023?</span><br /><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Managing a team is never something I particularly signed up to do, as an academic – but it can be tremendously rewarding.</span></div></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-78503555756138288572023-10-18T11:48:00.002+00:002023-10-18T11:48:55.128+00:00Konstanz Working Cafés #13: Auszeit<p>Where better to find a <a href="https://www.auszeit-kn.de/" target="_blank">nice café</a> than in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradies,_Konstanz" target="_blank">Paradies</a>?</p><p>Advantages:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Guest wifi.</b> Hallelujah!</li><li><b>Good range</b> of stuff, including various coffees, vegan options, etc. etc.</li><li><b>Nice food</b>, ideal if you want to stay there in the middle of the day. Pictured: a quiche with side salad.</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7o_QrlXVPog3OxWxz3zHGMNIRn6SCVG6vSdkeuIB4nvEgfXqaVcfWOfTglUK_iQgAhEebdXMe3sem44_EyP3fDIhv1r7IwkAQxL6pRh23K1-ww0LWfFiqju2m_0qK5ncDXNRgyIyNElnTz1PdfMFjzqYgPCz2Eehz2ZcrAG6wlCzrMiY9O_V/s4032/IMG_5124.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7o_QrlXVPog3OxWxz3zHGMNIRn6SCVG6vSdkeuIB4nvEgfXqaVcfWOfTglUK_iQgAhEebdXMe3sem44_EyP3fDIhv1r7IwkAQxL6pRh23K1-ww0LWfFiqju2m_0qK5ncDXNRgyIyNElnTz1PdfMFjzqYgPCz2Eehz2ZcrAG6wlCzrMiY9O_V/w400-h300/IMG_5124.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Disadvantages:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Out of the way</b>. Not to the same level as <a href="https://troutworthy.blogspot.com/2023/02/konstanz-working-cafes-9-heimathafen.html">Heimathafen</a>, but it’s not central: it’s about a 15-minute walk down dull but affluent residential streets from the city centre. The 9A bus goes past, but, still, unless you have the good fortune to live in Paradies, it’s not convenient.</li><li><b>Busy</b>. I was there at 11:30 on a working Wednesday, hardly peak time, but the place was packed. I ended up sitting outside in distinctly autumnal weather.</li><li><b>Very expensive</b>. Coffee + quiche worked out to over €14. Even city-centre places tend to be cheaper than this. Well, who needs to worry about money in Paradies, I suppose.</li></ul><div>Ambience and coffee fall into the “neither advantage nor disadvantage” category.</div><div><br /></div><div>Price of a regular black coffee: <b>€4.00</b>, the most I’ve seen. In fairness this is reasonably chonky (though not <a href="https://troutworthy.blogspot.com/2022/09/konstanz-working-cafes-1-pano.html">Pano chonky</a>) and a smaller option is available for €3.30, but that’s still a lot of money.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall rating: ☕️☕️☕️ (3/5, actually more like 2.5).</div><div><br /></div><p></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-71949964568963396192023-10-06T12:25:00.000+00:002023-10-06T12:25:40.689+00:00Konstanz Working Cafés #12: Café ArômeA hidden gem this week.<div><br /></div><div>Advantages:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Concealed location</b>. Although it’s central, you have to go through an unprepossessing parfumerie, down into a dungeon, and out the other side in order to find it. This makes it unlikely that it’ll ever be too crowded.</li><li><b>Open on Mondays</b>. Many cafés aren’t.</li><li><b>Great cake</b>. The Google reviews for this place rave about the cake, and boy, they weren’t wrong.</li><li><b>Lovely garden</b>. The café opens out onto a peaceful, pleasant courtyard garden where you can sit. The inside part of the café is also nice, with bookshelves and art.</li></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJVk-FDH1sUSmeXpb3W68I6Qq3Pbcw_xntwquYZk50q2X-Jqb4GzPTNCYpiwryZxp7HDYORRV23quZ05LJqP8J1kAoJB6u_SFWazOdTK7D2yieHBMOxTauUAbq81047gPJNW_t13Hzi7rtf_7cE7rBpSJHSsMm5_cnS9Ab5keXpkhSm9F83xX/s4032/IMG_5081.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJVk-FDH1sUSmeXpb3W68I6Qq3Pbcw_xntwquYZk50q2X-Jqb4GzPTNCYpiwryZxp7HDYORRV23quZ05LJqP8J1kAoJB6u_SFWazOdTK7D2yieHBMOxTauUAbq81047gPJNW_t13Hzi7rtf_7cE7rBpSJHSsMm5_cnS9Ab5keXpkhSm9F83xX/w300-h400/IMG_5081.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Said lovely garden.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Disadvantages:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>No wifi</b>. Par for the course but, still, sigh.</li><li><b>No savoury food</b>. (But you could just have more cake.)</li><li><b>Okay coffee</b>. It’s not bad, but there are better ones around.</li></ul><div>Price of a regular black coffee (here “Café Schümli”): <b>€3.20</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Overall rating: ☕️☕️☕️ (3/5).</div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-12135698693586917912023-09-25T12:49:00.001+00:002023-09-25T12:49:39.329+00:00Konstanz Working Cafés #11: No. 11<p>Not a typo; it seemed appropriate to deal with the famous <a href="https://www.no-elf.de/" target="_blank">No. 11</a> at this point in the series.</p><p>Advantages:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Fantastic coffee</b>. This is pretty much indisputably the most hipster place in town. You can get a delicious filter coffee here with your choice of bean (they usually have a darker one and a fruitier one on offer). Ideal if your taste in coffee is like mine.</li><li><b>Great location</b>. Central and near the cathedral, with seats outside in good weather.</li><li><b>Nice sweets</b>. Not many places in Konstanz do a pastel de nata. The banana bread is good too.</li><li><b>Good music choices</b>.</li></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieGEmDOvvbe7Ioj2HSH_ngNF13tUNxELwaKlRphMwOeyI-F2Ogq1xR-jCmNvJUWuJMZj4KqB8wO4DWbZ4UO_9RppY_hwMuHV3IKUSFx-fimtD5x4AznXcKGOULEymtM-g01GZpCyfahl7qMXWhLyxnJZkEOIYPfDCGeVXIS4n-JdmD-7H0Iiv/s4032/IMG_5082.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieGEmDOvvbe7Ioj2HSH_ngNF13tUNxELwaKlRphMwOeyI-F2Ogq1xR-jCmNvJUWuJMZj4KqB8wO4DWbZ4UO_9RppY_hwMuHV3IKUSFx-fimtD5x4AznXcKGOULEymtM-g01GZpCyfahl7qMXWhLyxnJZkEOIYPfDCGeVXIS4n-JdmD-7H0Iiv/w400-h300/IMG_5082.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quaint on the outside, hipster on the inside</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Disadvantages:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Small and popular</b>. A lot of the time it just feels wrong to sit here taking up a table with a computer. (And the tables are so tiny that either your coffee or your computer is going to be on your lap.)</li><li><b>Expensive</b>. You pay through the nose for the advantages above.</li><li><b>No savoury food</b>. Not even a crumb.</li><li><b>No wifi</b>. Not only that, but even the 4G signal here is pretty ropey; one of the disadvantages of an old building in a maze of streets.</li></ul><div>Price of a regular black coffee (Americano): <b>€3.80</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, it’s a great place to take visiting hipster friends, but not ideal for working. Rating: ☕️☕️☕️ (3/5).</div><p></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-25853816627417147732023-08-14T20:20:00.000+00:002023-08-14T20:20:05.288+00:00Adam Smith’s sociolinguistic typology?<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Adam Smith was an eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and proto-economist associated with helping to lay the foundations of modern capitalism. His best known theoretical contribution is probably the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand">invisible hand</a>, and he’s lionized by right-wingers everywhere, especially in America – or rather a somewhat <a href="https://www.thestranger.com/books/2022/12/06/78755103/adam-smith-the-worst-influencer">mythologized version</a> of him is. One thing he is definitely not widely known for is his writings on language. But write about language he did! And, in particular, some of his ideas anticipate Peter Trudgill’s theory of sociolinguistic typology by 250 years.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OVfWR80s28mLeS9jT7bRfbM7qLoZIjvXP9IrRAqqbHIBnH9RRQvE0XJnxNW6d7DFwvUjhN2QmJqSEHZfdCIEe0Oo39G5y46y31PrFndvj0KLwfZO0b5vtxxtj2-cdoAb5NFXUN5-jwli1ge6lfavUMR9jyyQzuAka51VYD4alYEcFSVcFdQB/s700/IMG_4722.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OVfWR80s28mLeS9jT7bRfbM7qLoZIjvXP9IrRAqqbHIBnH9RRQvE0XJnxNW6d7DFwvUjhN2QmJqSEHZfdCIEe0Oo39G5y46y31PrFndvj0KLwfZO0b5vtxxtj2-cdoAb5NFXUN5-jwli1ge6lfavUMR9jyyQzuAka51VYD4alYEcFSVcFdQB/w400-h266/IMG_4722.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Left hand side: the invisible hand. Right hand side: depiction of Smith.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">His essay “Considerations concerning the first formation of languages, and the different genius of original and compounded languages”, or “<a href="https://archive.org/details/theorymoralsent04smitgoog/page/436/mode/2up">dissertation on the origin of languages</a>”, is tacked onto the end of the third edition of his much better known <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments">Theory of Moral Sentiments</a>. It starts unpromisingly enough, with some rather loose speculations about the origins of different parts of speech in terms of their abstractness. But the second part of the essay becomes much more interesting.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Smith observes that languages can be divided into types according to whether they have more morphology or less. To put it in somewhat anachronistic terms (though not, I think, inaccurately), in those languages with less morphology, the function of certain morphemes will instead be performed by separate words. So, for instance, in English, French and Italian, what’s expressed by case suffixes in Ancient Greek and Latin is expressed by prepositions, and what’s expressed by synthetic verbal forms is expressed by periphrases involving an auxiliary <i>have</i> or <i>be</i> plus participle (these are Smith’s examples).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This idea foreshadows the morphological typology developed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Bopp">Franz Bopp</a> fifty years later, as has been pointed out before. We can call the English-French-Italian type “analytic”, and the Greek-Latin type “synthetic”. But what hasn’t been commented on, as far as I’m aware, is how Smith relates morphological types to language contact. Here he’s worth quoting in full.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Language would probably have continued upon this footing in all countries, nor would ever have grown more simple in its Declensions and Conjugations, had it not become more complex in its composition, in consequence of the mixture of several Languages with one another, occasioned by the mixture of different nations. As long as any Language was spoke by those only who learned it in their infancy, the intricacy of its declensions and conjugations could occasion no great embarrassment. The far greater part of those who had occasion to speak it, had acquired it at so very early a period of their lives, so insensibly and by such slow degrees, that they were [p468] scarce ever sensible of the difficulty. But when two nations came to be mixed with one another, either by conquest or migration, the case would be very different. Each nation, in order to make itself intelligible to those with whom it was under the necessity of conversing, would be obliged to learn the Language of the other. The greater part of individuals too, learning the new Language, not by art, or by remounting to its rudiments and first principles, but by rote, and by what they commonly heard in conversation, would be extremely perplexed by the intricacy of its declensions and conjugations. They would endeavour, therefore, to supply their ignorance of these, by whatever shift the Language could afford them. Their ignorance of the Declensions they would naturally supply by the use of Prepositions; and a Lombard, who was attempting to speak Latin, and wanted to express that such a person was a Citizen of Rome, or a benefactor to Rome, if he [sic] happened not to be acquainted with the Genitive and Dative Cases of the word <i>Roma</i>, would naturally express himself by prefixing the Prepositions <i>ad</i> and <i>de</i> to the Nominative; and, instead of <i>Roma</i>, would say, <i>ad Roma</i>, and <i>de Roma</i>. <i>Al Roma</i> and <i>di Roma</i>, accordingly, is the manner in which the present Italians, the descendants of the antient Lombards and Romans, express this and all other similar relations. And in this manner Prepositions seem to have been introduced, in the room of the antient Declensions. The same altera-[p469]-tion has, I am informed, been produced upon the Greek Language, since the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. The words are, in a great measure, the same as before; but the Grammar is entirely lost, Prepositions having come in the place of the old Declensions. This change is undoubtedly a simplification of the Language, in point of rudiments and principle. It introduces, instead of a great variety of declensions, one universal declension, which is the same in every word, of whatever gender, number, or termination.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A similar expedient enables men, in the situation above mentioned, to get rid of almost the whole intricacy of their conjugations. […]</span></div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Very similar ideas have been put forward this millennium by Peter Trudgill in his 2011 book <i>Sociolinguistic Typology</i>. There, the argument is that different language contact scenarios have different structural effects on the languages in contact. If the sociohistorical scenario is one of long-term societal multilingualism in which children are growing up as balanced multilinguals, then the languages in question are likely to become more (morphologically) complex by means of transfer of material. If, on the other hand, the scenario is a short-term one characterized by adult language acquisition, then (morphological) simplification of exactly the kind that Smith describes will likely take place. And the driver of simplification is exactly the same for Trudgill as it is for Smith: what Trudgill calls “the lousy language-learning abilities of the human adult”.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The parallel is of course not perfect. Contact-induced (morphological) complexification is a crucial part of Trudgill’s theory, but does not feature in Smith’s. And Trudgill and Smith differ on one very important point: the question of the overall complexity of a language. Smith writes (p470):</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">In general it may be laid down for a maxim, that the more simple any Language is in its composition, the more complex it must be in its declensions and conjugations; and, on the contrary, the more simple it is in its declensions and conjugations, the more complex it must be in its composition.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(By “composition” Smith has in mind certain aspects of syntax: in particular, the use of function words and the rigidity of word order.) In the 1950s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Hockett">Hockett</a> goes on record with a similar claim: “<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(189, 193, 198);">impressionistically it would seem that </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">the total grammatical complexity</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(189, 193, 198);"> of any language, counting both morphology </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(189, 193, 198);">and syntax, is about the same as that of any other”. </span>This is a claim that Trudgill is at pains to disagree with in his book, describin</span>g it as “a propaganda ploy that was vital for combating the ‘some languages/dialects are primitive/inadequate’ view that has been widespread in our society” (2011: 16). On the other hand, the findings presented in Trudgill’s book do not really call the claim into question, since the vast majority of his evidence comes from morphology, and none of it from syntax (though he does cite work that fails to demonstrate a negative correlation between morphological and syntactic complexity).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Still, it’s fun to compare the two proposals, 250 years apart. As a final note: “naturally” is doing a lot o</span>f work <span style="font-family: arial;">in the chunky quote from Smith above! This underscores the need to actually establish how human language acquisition, and the language faculty, works (and ideally why it works that way) in order to have the full historical picture.</span></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-77293844050699987152023-06-19T09:48:00.000+00:002023-06-19T09:48:46.089+00:00Good writers in linguistics<p>Back in 2021, I asked the following question <a href="https://twitter.com/gwalkden/status/1472194235189403648?s=61&t=jRWu1qSgYqore_hslbOC5A" target="_blank">on Twitter</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Linguists and people who read linguists: who do you consider to be good writers in linguistics? That is, independently of the merits (or otherwise) of the content, whose prose is pleasurable to read?</p></blockquote><p>There were a lot of answers given! This post is just a summary. To avoid my own biases creeping in too heavily, I’m providing the answers in two lists.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">List A</h2><p>This is simply a list of people whose names came up more than once in the replies, I’m assuming independently.</p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Adger</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Alexandra Aikhenvald</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Artemis Alexiadou</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Felix Ameka</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Mark Baker</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jonathan Bobaljik</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dwight Bolinger</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Joan Bybee</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Deborah Cameron</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Wallace Chafe</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Bernard Comrie</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Greville Corbett</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Niklas Coupland</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Crystal</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Alexandra D’Arcy</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Amy Rose Deal</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Guy Deutscher</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">R. M. W. Dixon</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Matthew Dryer</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Penny Eckert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Embick</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nicholas Evans</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nelson Flores</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Liliane Haegeman</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Michael Halliday</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Heidi Harley</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Martin Haspelmath</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ray Jackendoff</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Roman Jakobson</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Barbara Johnstone</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">William Labov</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Bob Ladd</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Peter Ladefoged</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">George Lakoff</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Roger Lass</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">John McCarthy</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jim McCloskey</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">John McWhorter</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Marcin Morzycki</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Barbara Partee</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Steven Pinker</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Geoff Pullum</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ian Roberts</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Edward Sapir</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Anna Siewierska</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Deborah Tannen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sally Thomason</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Larry Trask</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Peter Trudgill</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Bodo Winter</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">List B</h2><p>This is everyone else who was mentioned.</p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Elzbieta Adamczyk</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Uju Anya</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Diana Archangeli</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dawn Archer</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Laura Arnold</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jenny Audring</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Kent Bach</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ad Backus</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">April Baker-Bell</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rusty Barrett</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Michael Beißwenger</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Emily Bender</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Émile Benveniste</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Katie Bernstein</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Catherine Best</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jan Blommaert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Frederick Bodmer</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Britain</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Penelope Brown</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Siobhan Brownlie</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lyle Campbell</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Anne Charity Hudley</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Yiya Chen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lisa Cheng</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Andrew Chesterman</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Guglielmo Cinque</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Guy Cook</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ewa Dabrowska</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Katrina Daly Thompson</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Helen De Hoop</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Hendrik De Smet</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ana Deumert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jill de Villiers</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jean-Marc Dewaele</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Gaston Dorren</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sebastian Dubreil</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rod Ellis</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Stephan Elspass</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nick Enfield</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Vyvyan Evans</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Charlie Farrington</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Esther Figueroa</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Charles Fillmore</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">William Foley</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">H. W. Fowler</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Elaine Francis</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Gillian Gallagher</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ginny Gathercole</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Anna Giskes</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lila Gleitman</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Petra Goedegebuure</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Karl-Heinz Göttert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Adele Goldberg</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ernest Gowers</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Gramling</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Robert D. Greenberg</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lenore Grenoble</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Hubert Haider</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Michael Hancher</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jorge Hankamer</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jonathan Harrington</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rebecca Hasselbach</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Stefan Hauser</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jeffrey Heath</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Irene Heim</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Monica Heller</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Martin Hilpert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Charles Hockett</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nicole Holliday</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Larry Horn</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Susan Hunston</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jim Hurford</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nina Hyams</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Larry Hyman</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dell Hymes</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Mark Johnson</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Brian Joseph</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Laura Kalin</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Noah Katznelson</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Geoffrey Khan</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sharese King</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Leonid Kogan</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Claire Kramsch</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Julia Kristeva</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dave Kush</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Utpal Lahiri</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Robin Lakoff</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Howard Lasnik</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Julie Legate</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sterre Leufkens</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Beth Levin</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">David Lightfoot</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Henning Lobin</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Juri Lotman</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Martin Luginbühl</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jack Lynch</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dave Malinowski</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Peter Matthews</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">C. M. I. M. Matthiessen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Tony McEnery</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Norma Mendoza-Denton</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Simon Meier-Vieracker</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Craig Melchert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Marianne Mithun</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Koldo Mitxelena</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Robert Moore</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Akira Murakami</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lynne Murphy</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Terttu Nevalainen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Marco Neves</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Andrew Nevins</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Corrine Occhino</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Nicholas Ostler</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Django Paris</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Joe Pater</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Aneta Pavlenko</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Alison Phipps</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ingrid Piller</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lola Pons Rodríguez</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Philomen Probert</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Vladimir Propp</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Malka Rappaport Hovav</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Paul Reed</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Timo Roettger</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jonathan Rosa</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Deniz Rudin</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ivan Sag</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Gillian Sankoff</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Michelle Sheehan</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Jesse Sheidlower</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Michael Silverstein</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Peggy Speas</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Dan Sperber</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Lauren Squires</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Arran Stibbe</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Sali Tagliamonte</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Christine Tardy</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Anne-Michelle Tessier</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Erik Thomas</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Steve Thorne</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Susanne Tienken</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Adam van Compernolle</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Berthold van Maris</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Marc van Oostendorp</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ariel Vasquez Carranza</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Kai von Fintel</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Rachel Walker</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Henriette Walter</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Chantelle Warner</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Calvert Watkins</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Andreas Willi</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Deirdre Wilson</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Martina Wiltschko</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Tim Wolcott</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Walt Wolfram</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Marina Yaguello</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">George Yule</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Ben Zimmer</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Caveats</h2><div>Any list like this should come with an insane number of caveats! For one thing, the replies are skewed by who happens to be following me on Twitter, and who happened to retweet it. For another, the notion of “good writer” wasn’t defined (and quite possibly can’t be): I don’t personally even believe that it’s wholly possible to disentangle prose style and merits of the content. And, thirdly, famous people are more likely to appear on both lists by virtue of their fame.</div><div><br /></div><div>And finally my own disclaimer: I don’t agree with all of the suggestions. In some cases, I think that they’re a good writer, but a bad person. Or a bad writer, but a good person. Or a good writer and a good person, but a bad linguist… or any combination of the above! But the point of the lists isn’t to represent what I think. Hopefully, instead, it’ll spread good vibes and encourage people to take a look at writing by people they haven’t checked out before.</div><p><br /></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-70360060639433639742023-05-08T22:25:00.002+00:002023-05-08T22:26:02.386+00:00Max Müller, Chomsky, and linguistics as scienceA while ago I posted the following brainteaser on Facebook:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“We do not want to know languages, we want to know language; what language is, how it can form a vehicle or an organ of thought; we want to know its origin, its nature, its laws”. Who wrote this, and when? (No Googling!)</blockquote>
The question elicited a lot of educated guesses. Some associated it with current thinkers in the Chomskyan mould: see for instance Norbert Hornstein's <a href="https://facultyoflanguage.blogspot.com/2015/06/whats-difference-between-linguist-and.html" target="_blank">discussion of linguists vs. languists</a>. The word "organ", meanwhile, is reminiscent of Anderson & Lightfoot's 2002 book <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/de/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/grammar-and-syntax/language-organ-linguistics-cognitive-physiology?format=HB&isbn=9780521809948" target="_blank">The Language Organ</a>. Flagging up these similarities was precisely what I was aiming at in asking the question! The actual author of the quotation was <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/de/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/grammar-and-syntax/language-organ-linguistics-cognitive-physiology?format=HB&isbn=9780521809948" target="_blank">Friedrich Max Müller</a> (1823–1900), in his 1861 lectures.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtNf826JL09WGP6-uB7L_PY-5TjuaUdX9IBOFn6JNjTKwcvVPzh0l9vC6-8y0TkQxB7xy9qso0A-qwgaDwiFNUR2EUC1BpkCRMw-T87oB-CdIkHT1_947Mi_BYbGbGd0Tb8lKrGOuyvDUovdFeiQKAbWxCBBJmmomNf4iH8IIKSeVL9TH8g/s489/Friedrich_Max_Mu%CC%88ller_by_Perine.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="404" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtNf826JL09WGP6-uB7L_PY-5TjuaUdX9IBOFn6JNjTKwcvVPzh0l9vC6-8y0TkQxB7xy9qso0A-qwgaDwiFNUR2EUC1BpkCRMw-T87oB-CdIkHT1_947Mi_BYbGbGd0Tb8lKrGOuyvDUovdFeiQKAbWxCBBJmmomNf4iH8IIKSeVL9TH8g/w330-h400/Friedrich_Max_Mu%CC%88ller_by_Perine.jpeg" width="330" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Engraving of Müller by George Perine, pre-1885</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />
Müller, a German-born academic who spent his career in England, is a fascinating figure. He absolutely dominated the linguistics scene in his time, especially in Britain, yet history has not been kind to him. Hornstein, for instance, was candid about the fact that he <a href="https://facultyoflanguage.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-puzzler.html" target="_blank">didn't know who he was</a>. <i>Cartesian Linguistics</i>, where Chomsky most famously situates his thought in relation to its predecessors, has no mention of Müller, and Chomsky (p.c.) states that Müller's ideas did not influence him. Historically this is perhaps unsurprising: Müller’s ideas mostly died with him. (Exactly why this happened is an interesting question in its own right, and I may return to it in another post some time.)<div><div><br />
Müller died in 1900, and for the most part only historians of ideas have paid attention to his oeuvre since. Lourens van den Bosch's 2002 <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/7631" target="_blank">biography and survey</a>, <i>Friedrich Max Müller: a life devoted to the humanities </i>- henceforth vdB - gives a thorough overview of his life and work. More recently the <i>Publications of the English Goethe Society</i> devoted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ypeg20/85/2-3" target="_blank">an issue</a> to <i>Friedrich Max Müller and the Role of Philology in Victorian Thought</i>. Neither of these sources particularly focuses on the parallels between Müller's ideas and today's linguistic thought, however (vdB has a few comments on this, but he is writing from the perspective of a historian of religion). This blog post is intended to draw some of these parallels to the attention of today's reader. In particular, I think there are at least four points where Müller's thought shows a striking similarity to ideas expressed by Noam Chomsky more recently:<br />
<ol>
<li>Linguistics as science;</li>
<li>The relation between language and thought;</li>
<li>The evolution of language;</li>
<li>(more speculatively on my part) The role of infinity in human exceptionality.</li>
</ol>
<div>
This blog post focuses only on the first point; I'll try to return to the other three points in future posts. </div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>A note on sources: <i>SL</i> stands for <i>Lectures on the Science of Language</i>, published in two volumes between 1861 and 1864, and is the clearest statement of Müller’s linguistic thought.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>Linguistics and natural science</h2>
<div>
Müller took a position opposed to the Scottish school of thought that held that language was a work of human art (vdB p214 mentions Locke, Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart). Müller’s argument against this was the largely unconscious nature of language change: “it is not in the power of men either to produce or prevent it. We might think as well of changing the laws which control the circulation of our blood, or of adding an inch to our height, as of altering the laws of speech” (<i>SL</i>). Darwin, who read Müller and corresponded with him, took a compromise position in <i>Descent of Man</i> (1871), describing language as “an instinct to acquire an art”.<br />
<br />
Although Müller acknowledged the historical approach to language – and in fact spent most of his career focusing on this approach himself – he was also convinced that language could be approached as a physical science, or natural science: “with one foot language stands, no doubt, in the realm of nature, but with the other one in the realm of spirit” (<i>SL</i>). He distinguished philology, the study of languages for the purpose of understanding historical documents, from the science of language (see the brainteaser quote at the start of this post), whose main practical tool was comparative philology.<br />
<br />
In labelling the study of language as a physical science, Müller was reacting against the famous 19th-century geologist Whewell’s distinction between Natural History (the physical sciences) and Human History (historical or moral sciences, the study of the contingent), and in turn, according to vdB, this probably derived from Alexander von Humboldt’s division between <i>Naturwissenschaften</i> and <i>Geisteswissenschaften</i>, a toxic dichotomy that continues to shape German and worldwide academia. It’s anachronistic to think that Müller was arguing that language belonged to the study of physics specifically.<br />
<br />
The idea of linguistics as a physical science was anathema to the Yale linguist William Dwight Whitney, whose posthumous reputation can only be contrasted with Müller’s: while Müller is largely forgotten, Whitney is lionized, despite Whitney’s scholarly oeuvre being (as far as I can make out) substantially less original and more reactionary, and despite the fact that one of the ideas he is commonly credited with popularizing – uniformitarianism – was actually brought into linguistics by Müller and taken over only later by Whitney. The two were enemies for much of their lives, and Whitney devoted substantial energy to throwing shade at Müller, even suggesting that one of his major scholarly achievements, his edition of the <i>Rigveda</i>, was not by him at all, and getting his students to propagate this view (see vdB p486). Whitney even wrote a whole book, called <i>Max Müller and the Science of Language</i>, with no purpose other than muckraking at Müller’s expense. In his overview of the history of the field, Bloomfield’s <i>Introduction to the Study of Language</i> (1914) praises Whitney to the heavens, but makes no mention of Müller, even while arguing strongly that language can be treated scientifically (calling it a “mental science”) – exactly the opposite of Whitney’s view on the issue: Whitney describes the study of language as a “historical or moral science”, precisely on the other side of Whewell's dichotomy (Morpurgo Davies 1999: 208). Alter's (2005) ironically-named book “William Dwight Whitney and the science of language” has a good chapter on the Whitney-Müller clash, if one that also comes down rather heavily in favour of Whitney.</div><div>
<br />
The Müller-Whitney “debate” is reminiscent of the rationalist-empiricist clashes of today, and it hardly needs to be said that Müller’s stance on linguistics as a science is also Chomsky’s (see <i>Aspects</i> chapter 1, <i>Cartesian Linguistics</i>, and Joseph 2002: ch. 2), though the issue is hardly particularly controversial nowadays. Chomsky’s own writings don’t suggest that this was a recognition he had to fight hard for: we’ve seen that Bloomfield treats language scientifically, Saussure was more psychologistic than he is usually credited with being (see Joseph’s biography), and even behaviourist approaches also viewed language (<i>qua</i> behaviour) as a valid subject of scientific enquiry (<i>contra</i> Whitney). Where Müller and Chomsky differed from these linguists was in the nature of the science. That said, one major distinction between Müller and Chomsky is the role of religion in the distinction: “Physical science deals with the works of God, historical science with the works of man” (<i>SL</i>). But thinking of Müller’s God in a fully present-day Christian way is also a mistake – I’ll hopefully come back to this in a later post.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<div>
Why are these similarities found? I'm not really a historian of linguistic ideas, so I can only point to a couple of possibilities. The obvious one is shared influences, of which Wilhelm von Humboldt (one of the heroes of <i>Cartesian Linguistics</i>) is probably crucial, and through him also Herder. There's also the possibility that Müller and Chomsky came across the same ideas independently because they made sense and were a good fit for the evidence; i.e. the ideas are right. (Hey, you can't rule it out!)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>But there are also lots of areas in which Müller's and Chomsky's ideas diverge wildly, of course. Müller never paid much attention to syntax at all, and Chomsky has never paid much attention to diachronic linguistics. For Müller, individual lexical items and their historical development (“roots”) were crucial, while for Chomsky the combinatorial mechanism is. And it's a stretch to call Müller's approach psychologistic in any sense; moreover, other things that Müller proposed, like the Turanian macrofamily, turned out to be bunkum. But in any case, it'd be nice to see these similarities (as well as these differences) getting more attention in future, and hopefully this blog post might provoke thoughts along these lines.</div>
</div></div></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-5823855545099587492023-04-06T12:02:00.008+00:002023-04-06T12:02:58.548+00:00Evidence for a Germanic Easter goddess?<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">A claim you often see round about this time of year is that the word </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">Easter</i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;"> comes from the name for a pre-Christian goddess. The aim of this blog post is to weigh up the evidence for this claim.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVaqBpngNaBYsC9yO0JvZXHcPT-JDRgblAJYB1LaDFvxO4Ygl6joFSuYQYhjlJaOzZF9YnZMyqmxEdi7cEjHjeIZkH6Qf9X64oMWGkeHNPBfCAP_ZZ_yhQDpLbBp6TuDUBW4lwE3mfpGHVZzJhA6V-Lb7dp8WzKedmGpRBn6v7sY3KyR0gQ/s608/Ea%CC%81stre_by_Jacques_Reich.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="414" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVaqBpngNaBYsC9yO0JvZXHcPT-JDRgblAJYB1LaDFvxO4Ygl6joFSuYQYhjlJaOzZF9YnZMyqmxEdi7cEjHjeIZkH6Qf9X64oMWGkeHNPBfCAP_ZZ_yhQDpLbBp6TuDUBW4lwE3mfpGHVZzJhA6V-Lb7dp8WzKedmGpRBn6v7sY3KyR0gQ/w273-h400/Ea%CC%81stre_by_Jacques_Reich.jpeg" width="273" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Depiction of “Eastre”, by Jacques Reich (1909)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The oft-repeated story goes something like this:</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><blockquote><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“The English word Easter corresponds to German <i>Ostern</i>. Both forms derive from the name of the pagan Germanic goddess of spring, <i>Eastre</i>. Her name is probably related to the English word east (German <i>Ost</i>), which connects her to dawn and to the rising of the sun.”</p></blockquote><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This version’s taken from a recent column by Peter Trudgill, “<a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/how-the-pagans-gave-us-easter/" target="_blank">How the pagans gave us Easter</a>”. And it’s dotted about here and there in popular culture. The video game <i>Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla</i>, for instance, has a quest relating to Ostara, a goddess of fertility; this is another version of the same name (more on this later). She also shows up in the American Gods TV series. But how do we know about this purported “pagan Germanic goddess”?</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h1 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bede’s story</span></h1><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It comes down to a single source: Bede’s <i>Reckoning of Time</i> (<i>De Temporum Ratione</i>), written in 725. Here’s what he says:</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><blockquote><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Eosturmonath [April—GW] has a name which is now translated as “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month.” (trans. <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Bede_The_Reckoning_of_Time/yFsw-Vaup6sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank">Wallis 2004: 54</a>) </p></blockquote><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">“They” here refers to “the English people”.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bede, once thought of as a paragon of respectability and objectivity, is now viewed more sceptically by historians: whatever his merits as a scholar, he was not above twisting the facts of the matter in ways that suited him (see e.g. Goffart, <i>Narrators of Barbarian History</i>). Would he invent a goddess? Or perhaps two? Another goddess, Hretha, is also mentioned in this passage just beforehand, in the context of the name of Hrethmonath (March). Like Eostre, she’s only mentioned here, by Bede.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Oxford English Dictionary (s.v. Easter) makes reference in its etymology to the goddess, and to scholars who suppose that Bede invented her. They respond that it “seems unlikely that Bede would have invented a fictitious pagan festival in order to account for a Christian one”. Perhaps; perhaps not. Careful readings of Bede can reveal many motivations that might not have been obvious on the surface, as Goffart has shown. One such might be simple parallelism: if March is named after a goddess, why shouldn’t April be, too? But there’s also a non sequitur in the OED’s reasoning: it’s the goddess that’s in question, not the festival, and we could in principle perfectly well have the latter without the former. In any case, Bede’s story receives no corroboration of any kind from any other sources, so we can either choose to take him at his word, or not.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Jacob Grimm certainly chose to, and more. In his <i>Deutsche Mythologie</i> – first published 1835 – he takes Bede’s story and runs with it, speculating wildly.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">An Old High German lullaby?</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another purported source for this goddess is an <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althochdeutsches_Schlummerlied">Old High German lullaby</a>. This was discovered in 1852 by Georg Zappert, and includes the line <i>Ostârâ stellit chinde / honak egir suozziu </i>“Ostara provides the children with honey and sweet eggs”. It doesn’t explicitly say she’s a goddess, but we’re clearly dealing with an agentive subject of some kind here.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, the text is almost certainly a forgery; see the German Wikipedia entry<i> </i>for discussion and references. One argument for this is the sheer convenience of it: after Grimm in his <i>Deutsche Mythologie</i> in 1835 speculates about the existence of an Easter goddess and bemoans the lack of evidence from beyond Old English, boom! Along comes a text that provides supporting evidence, within twenty years. So we’re back to square one.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">An Old Saxon hymn?</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another source, almost as dodgy, is a supposed Old Saxon hymn. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zUY_AAAAcAAJ/page/n241/mode/2up?q=Horoei">Hocker (1853: 224)</a><span style="color: #dca10d;"> </span>mentions a hymn preserved in the monastery library at Corvey that starts <i>Eostar Eostar, eordhan modor</i> “Eostar, Eostar, mother of earth”. <a href="https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10002287?page=42" target="_blank">Montanus (1854: 28)</a> has a fuller version.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The text is very close to an extract from an Old English text, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æcerbot"><i>Æcerbot</i></a> (“field remedy”) . In the better-known Old English version, the name Erce is found, not Eostar. Montanus describes the Eostar text as Old Saxon, but the very name Eostar makes this dubious: the digraph, presumably representing a diphthong, is not something we’d expect to see in Old Saxon, since the expected outcome of Proto-Germanic *au is a monophthongal long /o/ in this variety.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More problematically, it’s not clear that the Eostar text referenced by Hocker and Montanus was real. More recent compendia of early German texts don’t contain this one, and I’ve been unable to find any source from the twentieth century that doesn’t refer exclusively to Montanus or Hocker. This raises two possibilities. First, like Zappert’s lullaby, the manuscript could have been a contemporary forgery (and for potentially for the same reason: it very conveniently fits Grimm’s narrative). Secondly, the supposed manuscript may never have existed at all: Hocker or Montanus might have simply invented it. It’s not at all easy to trace <a href="https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/txt/wz-6245.pdf ">what happened to manuscripts from Corvey</a>, but until this one physically shows up somewhere, the corroborating value of this particular source is virtually nil.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Votive inscriptions?</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A final potential source is a set of votive inscriptions to the <i>matronae Austriahenae</i>, discovered in 1958. Philip Shaw’s 2011 book <i>Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World</i> considers these to be fairly conclusive evidence in favour of a goddess, but I’m not convinced. First, the <i>matronae</i> are plural, not singular. Secondly, while Shaw goes to some length to argue that <i>Eostr</i>- and <i>Austr</i>- could be cognate – and I agree – what’s the -<i>iahenae</i> doing there?</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Interim summary</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve discussed four sources: Bede’s <i>Reckoning of Time</i>, an Old High German lullaby, an Old Saxon charm/hymn, and some votive inscriptions. Of these, the second probably isn’t real, the third may well also not be, and the fourth doesn’t tell us anything useful. So we’re left with Bede, realistically.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But let’s consider what conclusions we can draw.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Germanic goddess?</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The <a href="http://walkden.space/Walkden_2022_Germanic-review.pdf" target="_blank">cross-disciplinary consensus</a> these days is that the descriptor “Germanic” is really only useful for languages. We can use the term in a sort of awkward metonymic way for “things related to people who speak Germanic languages”, sure, if we want to. In that sense we can speak of “Germanic law” or “Germanic art”, etc. But we have to be careful: by that logic, my iPad is Germanic. If we’re going to use the term responsibly, it should at the very least denote more broadly, for instance something shared or inherited across people who speak Germanic languages.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s consider the evidence for an Easter goddess in that light. Even if we assume <i>all</i> of the sources discussed were real, and provided solid evidence for a singular goddess with a cognate name, we would still not be entitled to conclude that Eostre/Ostara/Eostar/Austr… was a Germanic goddess. This is because all these sources come from people who spoke a single branch of the Germanic languages: West Germanic. Evidence from the other branches is entirely lacking. There are no relevant North Germanic sources for such a goddess, despite a literature on pre-Christian customs that is in general much richer than that of West Germanic: Eostre had ample opportunity to show herself, but she didn’t. (There is evidence for a cognate noun <i>austr</i> meaning “east”, but none at all for any goddess connection.) And as Grimm laments, Gothic – our earliest robustly attested Germanic language – doesn’t even use a cognate term for the festival, instead preferring <i>paska</i>, derived from Hebrew via Greek. So the broadest possible conclusion we could reasonably reach, under those assumptions, is that there was a pan-<i>West</i> Germanic goddess with a name related to Easter.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is in stark contrast to other gods, e.g. Thor, Odin, Frigg etc., who Shaw (2011) terms the “great gods” – these are much better attested. Though even here we have to be careful: as Shaw argues in his 2002 PhD thesis <i>Uses of Wodan</i>, names like Odin did not reliably denote the same individual across different sources, even if formally cognate. Thus, even under the most “charitable” possible interpretation of the sources, and on an extended view of what it means to be “Germanic”, there’s nothing to suggest that Eostre was part of a pan-Germanic pantheon.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></h2><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Acceptance of a goddess Eostre has been variable to say the least. Throughout the nineteenth century there were voices for and against. At the end of the twentieth century, opinion was still divided. At one end of the spectrum, Page (“Anglo-Saxon Paganism”, 1995: 125), describes her as “an etymological fancy on Bede’s part”, and Udolph (<i>Ostern: Geschichte eines Wortes</i>, 1999) dismisses the goddess etymology almost out-of-hand. The Dictionary of Old English also takes this stance. At the other extreme, Green (<i>Language and History</i>, 2000: 351–3) is happy to take Bede’s word as gospel with a philological shrug of the shoulders. And then there’s the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre" target="_blank">Wikipedia page on Eostre</a>, which treats her existence as having been conclusively demonstrated. Sadly, the latter is a horrendous dumpster fire of lousy argumentation, conflations of form and meaning, and ignorance of the basic principles of sound change, at least in its present form. (And in this blog post we’re not even going to talk about the purported association of Eostre with rabbits/hares or with the dawn, which fail to withstand even the most basic scrutiny.)</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Shaw (<i>Pagan Goddesses</i>, 2011: ch: 4) tries to find a middle way. He argues that Eostre was a “local goddess”, venerated in Kent specifically, based mostly on place-name evidence. There’s still quite a lot of creative interpretation here, and in any case my aim with this blog post has not been to convince you that one view is correct. Rather, I aimed to show that the evidence is ropey even by early medieval standards, and how much one’s prior assumptions and understandings can skew one’s interpretation of it in one direction our another.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As for me, well, I’m no Christian, but I won’t be signing up to the cult of Eostre any time soon.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-88640458008120350872023-03-31T17:12:00.002+00:002023-03-31T17:12:28.435+00:00Balkans day 30: Home<p>That good sleep I was counting on was not really forthcoming. The “Wiener Walzer” from Budapest to Zurich was pretty full, and I’d forgotten I was booked into a couchette car rather than a bed. Two of my travel companions didn’t get on until Vienna (just before midnight) and the other one got out at Innsbruck (4:30am), so all in all hardly an uninterrupted night. But all was on time, and I made my way back to Konstanz on the now almost unimaginably luxurious Swiss train. Back at my own place before noon, and O. and S. had a big plate of meat and chips waiting for me.</p><p>I didn’t take any photos on this final part of the journey, so here’s a nice bucolic picture of some cattle that I took earlier.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi982o0xF0mvZRsacXL7rBWfxcuFC2btMo1LGnNsKlnY42NIZWqsFMIAafmxkS6Q7KT6kMD_0zO0vR19My0RdfZjtesh19N496WvPUg_o7AiXI1Viwv4wrN_nKLVCQLzDmTihLvSp3dy7tASXBAAmo6RsFZNRfwTDJax2iX3v-qCJdZg5gSg/s4032/66505C41-4654-4C35-9FD7-DCACB9317C26.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi982o0xF0mvZRsacXL7rBWfxcuFC2btMo1LGnNsKlnY42NIZWqsFMIAafmxkS6Q7KT6kMD_0zO0vR19My0RdfZjtesh19N496WvPUg_o7AiXI1Viwv4wrN_nKLVCQLzDmTihLvSp3dy7tASXBAAmo6RsFZNRfwTDJax2iX3v-qCJdZg5gSg/w400-h300/66505C41-4654-4C35-9FD7-DCACB9317C26.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highland cattle outside Oberdorf</td></tr></tbody></table><p>And here’s part three of the route map.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzqcaLGm8BaRH37rDcwQzeLZRgupunPRvilc6P4HvxlFo7wt92LiEfkonGazyVof8z_EKkM0QKaruU' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>All in all, I’ve set foot in fourteen countries on this trip (Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Hungary) as well as traversing three more (Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia), which isn’t bad for one month. And I’ve tried to get a sense of a whole part of the world that I knew little about. Certainly there are also spots that I would like to return to at some point.</p><p>This is the last instalment. Thanks to everyone who’s followed along on my journey! I borrowed the idea of a travel blog from T., to whom I’m very grateful, as it’s allowed me to make more sense of my experiences and also create a record for myself and others.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-59939881219467464342023-03-30T17:00:00.002+00:002023-03-30T17:00:39.043+00:00Balkans day 29: Pest<p>Adventures east of the river today. I headed out to the Hungarian Railway History Park, on the northeast side of Budapest. Ironically, this place is difficult to get to by public transport – it took me a short metro ride, two trams and a 15-minute walk. The park, when I arrived, was virtually abandoned, giving it quite a haunting aspect. There is also very little in the way of English-language signage, but lots to see if, like me, you just enjoy looking at trains.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSQjkOPebI0xBLFXOyneYNYeC27lKdS2qIP29wAUUtcvVLvBkut2WbhIX0_biPy8gqscaz4-vPky0UbxUv9UfmkPbFeqyWB4CnRWcOD-Qbjq4NW7hfQcYeugR9iGurppbZfwocS0NWJR2fj5GCqDvi0nIx4u51VUTkeHR3J3wss0mU1RJ3A/s4032/D00FB41E-21F6-482E-8CE7-5FA82C8995FA.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSQjkOPebI0xBLFXOyneYNYeC27lKdS2qIP29wAUUtcvVLvBkut2WbhIX0_biPy8gqscaz4-vPky0UbxUv9UfmkPbFeqyWB4CnRWcOD-Qbjq4NW7hfQcYeugR9iGurppbZfwocS0NWJR2fj5GCqDvi0nIx4u51VUTkeHR3J3wss0mU1RJ3A/w400-h300/D00FB41E-21F6-482E-8CE7-5FA82C8995FA.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steam locos</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYJoBIILVjywQfhZ4xNo9wZP1C3fP0iR8LluLyTf1voq8Jg5Ucf89wxNXSLjcV_7Fq8Gp3Xm40IRv-OKchh-vKf0Xv-9E2heYivz-tDAshkweF3kJST_tN6oxCpE3a_LU4TmRFHXh9xWuBJXHhqMJ8KZ95lbWmasgF53YOkd9U4BMkADWvg/s4032/CE2A0F54-63FF-4560-A327-73D802E7B58F.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYJoBIILVjywQfhZ4xNo9wZP1C3fP0iR8LluLyTf1voq8Jg5Ucf89wxNXSLjcV_7Fq8Gp3Xm40IRv-OKchh-vKf0Xv-9E2heYivz-tDAshkweF3kJST_tN6oxCpE3a_LU4TmRFHXh9xWuBJXHhqMJ8KZ95lbWmasgF53YOkd9U4BMkADWvg/w400-h300/CE2A0F54-63FF-4560-A327-73D802E7B58F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The railway park from the footbridge</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Heading back into the city centre, I treated myself to a fish soup and a walk around the outside of the parliament building. 18-year-old me was wowed, considering it to be the best building he’d ever seen, and 37-year-old me is hard-pressed to disagree.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3NjT8G6WqwrdYrtMEDYugr0fdepVa6TxB-aTDNXiAJaEghCCGb2N10zsZNFrAovhuTkcmdHmYShN_PICFeZ2y-kVWY_mvGl9p-uc3AS6OgsGCPxkS-vsA7YmECB6apk-hs30m3cKoJpch_sebeKKn8aIB4fw2FsjbM7IkFTaGfFvSfOINQ/s4032/9123507E-0EA7-4A83-92D5-8E463A3F0B85.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3NjT8G6WqwrdYrtMEDYugr0fdepVa6TxB-aTDNXiAJaEghCCGb2N10zsZNFrAovhuTkcmdHmYShN_PICFeZ2y-kVWY_mvGl9p-uc3AS6OgsGCPxkS-vsA7YmECB6apk-hs30m3cKoJpch_sebeKKn8aIB4fw2FsjbM7IkFTaGfFvSfOINQ/w400-h300/9123507E-0EA7-4A83-92D5-8E463A3F0B85.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parliament building</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78QA8JIxD7kjuihQY1Z1tRuEbM5NO4wSv4o5G93OJnqvsKNNnkCjdUf0Iyo6qMVbfkp6WRd2OfXIZAq-4_c8sIP2qQxlLTr7SV3s7gpGxKK81g-0Po1ETPEaO1hZxIQkouTFHqgEfnw-Uq4whIUO0wrt-Xfd91m7zzG1JT5cGrRZfUMsa5g/s4032/B2F01B30-D5AB-483C-83FF-5E98A04219A3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78QA8JIxD7kjuihQY1Z1tRuEbM5NO4wSv4o5G93OJnqvsKNNnkCjdUf0Iyo6qMVbfkp6WRd2OfXIZAq-4_c8sIP2qQxlLTr7SV3s7gpGxKK81g-0Po1ETPEaO1hZxIQkouTFHqgEfnw-Uq4whIUO0wrt-Xfd91m7zzG1JT5cGrRZfUMsa5g/w300-h400/B2F01B30-D5AB-483C-83FF-5E98A04219A3.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sculpted shoes by the Danube</td></tr></tbody></table><p>My walk finally led me to St Stephen’s Basilica. We’re in Catholic territory now, but this one rivals the Orthodox cathedrals for opulence. You can also go up into the dome for a great view of the city, and I did.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9nNWaHySgcqUDBXPLbBIh3oE8AM8_6_CpYUGtGA_LrArqkzL2Kbaifj3ibnTV3p4BceKyTESmW5Etz3uugY3qi44GWqLLSHIk_JYQXwJ1zIff4JZ1qx-O3Zcaj-j1_EZ1ImRaV-u_6G5SZfmgis_S5Oh2ttsmMBRgeYJCFEwjYRdPnxjIw/s4032/953BA857-6BC4-4924-8065-0A74FCB89B95.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9nNWaHySgcqUDBXPLbBIh3oE8AM8_6_CpYUGtGA_LrArqkzL2Kbaifj3ibnTV3p4BceKyTESmW5Etz3uugY3qi44GWqLLSHIk_JYQXwJ1zIff4JZ1qx-O3Zcaj-j1_EZ1ImRaV-u_6G5SZfmgis_S5Oh2ttsmMBRgeYJCFEwjYRdPnxjIw/w300-h400/953BA857-6BC4-4924-8065-0A74FCB89B95.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chancel of St Stephen’s</td></tr></tbody></table><p>By this point, fatigue was setting in. It’s almost as if I’ve been on the road for a month, not sleeping in the same bed for more than three nights in a row at any point (and that only once). Plus the cherry tree blossoms, while beautiful, have caused the worst outbreak of hayfever I’ve had in years, and that shit tires you out. I’m sitting now looking at the beautiful frontage of Keleti station, waiting for the sixth and final sleeper train of the holiday, which will take me halfway across Europe, back to Zurich. We’re in Schengen, so no 3am passport checks this time. Dosed up as I am on antihistamines and chamomile tea, I might even sleep well!</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-79652502088035019452023-03-29T17:57:00.001+00:002023-03-29T17:57:14.436+00:00Balkans day 28: Buda<p>Romania was only tenuously in the Balkans. Hungary straightforwardly isn’t; but there are only so many ways of getting back from Bucharest to Konstanz by rail, and if one of them involves visiting a stunning city like Budapest then I’ll take it. I first came here nineteen years ago, and was really struck by the place. In that respect not much has changed.</p><p>Budapest is an agglomeration of two earlier towns: Buda, on the west side of the Danube, and Pest, on the east. Today, after arriving at the stunning Budapest-Keleti station in Pest, I made my way straight to Buda. The weather was favouring me for once.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIG-MVnTxIp3Q2LIU2nchiqEyxBBqh8kVpcnV8SCngG5P0zDquOzs0K3rWqWBdVhoYXk4wjxcZGVxmY4qcLeuODfr16TOEztohmVdT7kkv86-O6eZm0kk2K5sneZXFo33epKT6ezrRM4p2yaKUFRuvMrfTb3uty9DJtmyop_tZ0-ccyGbAJg/s4032/78A80426-1B1F-471D-AF4D-0455DFA3F0FB.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIG-MVnTxIp3Q2LIU2nchiqEyxBBqh8kVpcnV8SCngG5P0zDquOzs0K3rWqWBdVhoYXk4wjxcZGVxmY4qcLeuODfr16TOEztohmVdT7kkv86-O6eZm0kk2K5sneZXFo33epKT6ezrRM4p2yaKUFRuvMrfTb3uty9DJtmyop_tZ0-ccyGbAJg/w400-h300/78A80426-1B1F-471D-AF4D-0455DFA3F0FB.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishermen’s Bastion</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVnyFimhMtJ1r5zrGxzQ7i3drh9_tfX3II8HhQqAmYU7VjlI48HEiLaSbEPCe_iQ0xqcaymNmByKJYZac3nDvCsRAHrI8sYap7dtcDlFf4ROM7TPJCPkYEGQK2d26Zsmj1cvs-NeTeesMo2S2kffbj29o71dpsqMGmLxe7nr9eFs-gaYDYA/s4032/3268BC3D-775B-42E3-9CA5-7B8051C66B0F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVnyFimhMtJ1r5zrGxzQ7i3drh9_tfX3II8HhQqAmYU7VjlI48HEiLaSbEPCe_iQ0xqcaymNmByKJYZac3nDvCsRAHrI8sYap7dtcDlFf4ROM7TPJCPkYEGQK2d26Zsmj1cvs-NeTeesMo2S2kffbj29o71dpsqMGmLxe7nr9eFs-gaYDYA/w400-h300/3268BC3D-775B-42E3-9CA5-7B8051C66B0F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the parliament building and the Danube</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Buda rises steeply from the Danube up to the Fishermen’s Bastion on the hill, a tourist hotspot, and with good cause. The views over the rest of the city are fantastic. After enjoying an overpriced coffee up here I went into the grandiose Matthias Church and ogled the ornamentation.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLVa7dry41kdnzwxkhxEKw18LZWAAPiIGMDQuIntJK9Q616DplLxNHqzEJmDX49OkzTOpjFsuk07PkHRVRnkCZFtRZcO9RPb9xh4SOB0zkU7G-bsoldVE-ypRsgcvuAQ0_-uggWdzDnpWzUz9khhVaN7hSSLWMhLY8tjkuRxuC9zuuQl_2Q/s4032/2F9DFDCD-0A09-4616-A681-71A16DCCA023.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLVa7dry41kdnzwxkhxEKw18LZWAAPiIGMDQuIntJK9Q616DplLxNHqzEJmDX49OkzTOpjFsuk07PkHRVRnkCZFtRZcO9RPb9xh4SOB0zkU7G-bsoldVE-ypRsgcvuAQ0_-uggWdzDnpWzUz9khhVaN7hSSLWMhLY8tjkuRxuC9zuuQl_2Q/w400-h300/2F9DFDCD-0A09-4616-A681-71A16DCCA023.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthias Church interior</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNDBapfO6-RLrnBXNa3NrQZocdzfs4pSxQt2nOtSR02UoXUrUwMG73nDQ4br6aiM8LU1iJoZvRMpS5-eVL6QXkVT_z2Ec29pTTOTnwBTaxwdrB-o5aQ7ODy8oRmq-TGyv2_aKXcVM4skHsPWqHCuljooKTymI3bz08eEGdVENRaWC8w3ojA/s4032/87918264-984E-4164-9C6A-34ED3BC4892C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNDBapfO6-RLrnBXNa3NrQZocdzfs4pSxQt2nOtSR02UoXUrUwMG73nDQ4br6aiM8LU1iJoZvRMpS5-eVL6QXkVT_z2Ec29pTTOTnwBTaxwdrB-o5aQ7ODy8oRmq-TGyv2_aKXcVM4skHsPWqHCuljooKTymI3bz08eEGdVENRaWC8w3ojA/w400-h300/87918264-984E-4164-9C6A-34ED3BC4892C.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and stained glass</td></tr></tbody></table><p>There is limited evidence of my other activities in Buda, as photos are prohibited in both places. Before lunch I visited the Hospital of the Rock, an underground former hospital under Red Cross protection that served Budapest citizens and soldiers of both sides during the Second World War; it was also a nuclear bunker in the 1960s. The hospital part is interesting, if a little creepy due to the many wax figures in various positions throughout the tunnels. The bunker part is very sobering, complete with detailed descriptions and maps of what the damage would be if a nuclear strike were to hit your favourite city.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwpQt-h_LkNAqUMH33OYiC1G75JJ_CwppLGWFWrYxfyVqyIp4thW2-dIDPGIWAaAWkXXlQh8VShLzuOwqzQxB_qYDKInc2V3euq2PNnBhL5wB-nNy59qUxBZGHgBSpYEFxEv_yd0mdJRWWUAmPC06zGkgJplzi9K-KvUNbuZHFHjl1dkUXOA/s4032/D1620A06-FE04-4D99-AF7A-F9326CD03968.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwpQt-h_LkNAqUMH33OYiC1G75JJ_CwppLGWFWrYxfyVqyIp4thW2-dIDPGIWAaAWkXXlQh8VShLzuOwqzQxB_qYDKInc2V3euq2PNnBhL5wB-nNy59qUxBZGHgBSpYEFxEv_yd0mdJRWWUAmPC06zGkgJplzi9K-KvUNbuZHFHjl1dkUXOA/w300-h400/D1620A06-FE04-4D99-AF7A-F9326CD03968.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buda Castle and art gallery</td></tr></tbody></table><p>After a wander around the hilltop enjoying the sunlight, and then some lunch, I headed south along the ridge to Buda Castle, which hosts the national art gallery. The building and the space is monumental, with relatively little art actually displayed within. I was easily able to find and admire my favourite nineteenth-century things, and explored the dome cupola before heading back across town for some rest in Pest.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-45988503255690040252023-03-28T16:33:00.005+00:002023-03-28T16:33:40.955+00:00Balkans day 27: RomaniaI’d wanted to start today with a trip to the National Village Museum, but when I set out it was raining heavily, so visiting a mostly-outdoors attraction didn’t seem very clever. Instead I turned to Ceausescu’s mansion. Located in a leafy area on the edge of the city centre, this building was only recently opened to the public.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6ugIVFVzvwlXYxgWcLsAS60PzH1P0qBX08nUSOnQLPCFlmuX_I5iiVnPDauNjApRqX7_mEAKr1fRTkWq-LyD1GfpYFTJnVA7BCIO1EgSTAY3YnXNRR6fWxldCyd4KJ-gn5IIC2c7GxXcxzcMM7oCM5viootLovvU2Cuh2udYodft2P41hw/s4032/1E35434A-B580-47FA-A862-0D9CD55B660D.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6ugIVFVzvwlXYxgWcLsAS60PzH1P0qBX08nUSOnQLPCFlmuX_I5iiVnPDauNjApRqX7_mEAKr1fRTkWq-LyD1GfpYFTJnVA7BCIO1EgSTAY3YnXNRR6fWxldCyd4KJ-gn5IIC2c7GxXcxzcMM7oCM5viootLovvU2Cuh2udYodft2P41hw/w400-h300/1E35434A-B580-47FA-A862-0D9CD55B660D.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peacock mosaic in the swimming pool</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDS2xz1Luqmz5zbMuMXQzRugrH73Au_9dFw-lIrNvxYLO1TA5y2qkh6gJ9zZ1SjYCTJcjGGWehrM8mBUJNjYY6nO4kLUgQ_8wXMdD6W3jqUIMGKhj283_QHCJSWmoBwYyFOJo1nEmaxaU6YaU_b67uOJbZ9FvV6XHb-pGt-mjlkYs0-Z_PUw/s4032/B89536FD-A907-4128-AE03-82BED4456C47.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDS2xz1Luqmz5zbMuMXQzRugrH73Au_9dFw-lIrNvxYLO1TA5y2qkh6gJ9zZ1SjYCTJcjGGWehrM8mBUJNjYY6nO4kLUgQ_8wXMdD6W3jqUIMGKhj283_QHCJSWmoBwYyFOJo1nEmaxaU6YaU_b67uOJbZ9FvV6XHb-pGt-mjlkYs0-Z_PUw/w300-h400/B89536FD-A907-4128-AE03-82BED4456C47.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Infamous golden bathroom</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Spread over two floors, there are some excesses – like the golden bathroom above – but nothing like the scale of the Palace of Parliament. On the whole I thought it was a pretty nice rich person’s house. (Plus I’ve never liked it when people project someone’s moral or ethical failings onto their sense of taste; I’m sure people wouldn’t hesitate to declare Ludwig II of Bavaria’s grandiose construction projects to be sickening if he were a mass-murdering authoritarian like Ceausescu, but as it is they’re mostly considered quaint.) Scattered around the walls are photos of Ceausescu meeting various powerful figures over the years: Mao Zedong, Mobutu and Saddam Hussein, but also more than one US president. The guy liked his peacocks: art featuring peacocks is everywhere, and there are fifteen live peacocks around the grounds, who occasionally disturb the urban monotony with their yowling cries.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I’d finished, it was still raining, but I didn’t want to miss the Village Museum, so I splashed across Herastrau Park to get there, and roamed around taking photos of interesting buildings while dodging school trips. Most of the buildings in the museum were physically transported there from their original locations across Romania – from the Banat to the Black Sea via Transylvania – during the twentieth century.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcoxlx7DwnMXk2cpsvotadnQeipDnv-BBTABOkWvdBmx5JEwhwh2QLqcLNgQq8vqXjgARG6bhz3pBWQWarYm8cG9F5SNFelPvRLp0_QupOIRYgB-WHP_yYnjJggR9YExx8W3ZZoShYLSibEk01Eyv3pHHmATRzBVSBiBL1aoHnHSIk5emyA/s4032/AD95E484-C375-4573-8290-F7FE05EA1271.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcoxlx7DwnMXk2cpsvotadnQeipDnv-BBTABOkWvdBmx5JEwhwh2QLqcLNgQq8vqXjgARG6bhz3pBWQWarYm8cG9F5SNFelPvRLp0_QupOIRYgB-WHP_yYnjJggR9YExx8W3ZZoShYLSibEk01Eyv3pHHmATRzBVSBiBL1aoHnHSIk5emyA/w300-h400/AD95E484-C375-4573-8290-F7FE05EA1271.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute house</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcFVkKWuLYuv-Ji2-XaTHePSMTk9Rois-qgZre_KkN6AMTJZwkVUg9iIAC_QTgjZyfeeBlaorVbLFoNEUxxb4_5-NFGLEQgFu1sbgLG9yepqF99vucE_umosmFp2upeND1zId2LTRUa_Sw4u8ZOKlaZqVeqBb6-5mbwPzW8p_aOsRLTtJzA/s4032/D7325E28-182F-435A-8071-59E251B1CEC4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcFVkKWuLYuv-Ji2-XaTHePSMTk9Rois-qgZre_KkN6AMTJZwkVUg9iIAC_QTgjZyfeeBlaorVbLFoNEUxxb4_5-NFGLEQgFu1sbgLG9yepqF99vucE_umosmFp2upeND1zId2LTRUa_Sw4u8ZOKlaZqVeqBb6-5mbwPzW8p_aOsRLTtJzA/w300-h400/D7325E28-182F-435A-8071-59E251B1CEC4.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painted shutters</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHlxVXINncdm7FRhV83mQRy8H9i4gS_WaUzg0zNANcZMsQPBL8sfajplpEb5gRczOX8-jaT3EP0rBAp8QKdTEUjyDuW5PYIb_r22nlLWYEbhJv9cT74SCgjU6vcH4qFjNVNZYTpdCwyJN9hOF5glZuxwJoiAQlwkJkQ1iHIqaKzMFzczuGQ/s4032/EE09340F-60F7-4B4E-94A1-9CEF38284018.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHlxVXINncdm7FRhV83mQRy8H9i4gS_WaUzg0zNANcZMsQPBL8sfajplpEb5gRczOX8-jaT3EP0rBAp8QKdTEUjyDuW5PYIb_r22nlLWYEbhJv9cT74SCgjU6vcH4qFjNVNZYTpdCwyJN9hOF5glZuxwJoiAQlwkJkQ1iHIqaKzMFzczuGQ/w400-h300/EE09340F-60F7-4B4E-94A1-9CEF38284018.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>By this point I was wet and hungry, so I got a late lunch – a coclinta, a type of pie from the Maramures region – and then settled in a coffee shop to charge my iPad. This Romanian sleeper I’m on may be the nicest sleeper yet – it’s very spacious, with a comfy pre-made bed and a power socket. As I write this we’re beginning to ascend into the Transylvanian mountains, and I’m watching the sun set outside my window. Onwards through the night!</div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-59550749954494931252023-03-27T14:55:00.000+00:002023-03-27T14:55:31.563+00:00Balkans day 26: Bucharest<p>Switching back into solo ambling plus coffee mode today. My first stop was the fantabulous eyesore that is Bucharest’s Palace of Parliament. Designed at Ceausescu’s bidding in the mid-1980s, it’s the world’s heaviest building.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9PTDKAVoBhW-ukOzUl_9Tg5v9B7uTnpUy7GInGFSSkB0tCfnj0q44Mmh1IIdcjkVeD-_RCz9GkD8PphgBQqVSrc0aIkxKzHYYeYRTlm3P-_quMp0KrXPWG8ZllrlsfK8rZrg6X6ptrR45JvkaSXyYHHtkHnEj5NFg242DexYUVSGiTsajw/s4032/DE2A1A7F-645F-4316-8B67-6F66747E4027.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9PTDKAVoBhW-ukOzUl_9Tg5v9B7uTnpUy7GInGFSSkB0tCfnj0q44Mmh1IIdcjkVeD-_RCz9GkD8PphgBQqVSrc0aIkxKzHYYeYRTlm3P-_quMp0KrXPWG8ZllrlsfK8rZrg6X6ptrR45JvkaSXyYHHtkHnEj5NFg242DexYUVSGiTsajw/w400-h300/DE2A1A7F-645F-4316-8B67-6F66747E4027.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side of the Palace with blossoming cherry trees</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I signed up for a tour, and after going through airport-like security we were shepherded around the building by a guide who rattled off facts and figures like a machinegun. I asked if it was true that the building was sinking into the ground, and she dismissed this as baseless. Everyone seemed rather on edge, and later we were told why: the president of Romania was visiting, and walked right past our tour.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkci0Lnbc-X96a2zNc7TiqjdoVTZrTreZw1lGJbExY-KkcThbrEAELlPWdr7qhAzSeIX48oBerrLyrxVSdnOf6-t6K0PiHkYFre9DUDtDUmUoNEQLYLvKnfvoZ48R4gf6NjKWZIccCe0GYlTokMFy_xEUq5djYBRbAvpYqnd_r8ANbnGtkg/s4032/55F8EC10-5F91-4283-83C5-A1676CD86C4C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkci0Lnbc-X96a2zNc7TiqjdoVTZrTreZw1lGJbExY-KkcThbrEAELlPWdr7qhAzSeIX48oBerrLyrxVSdnOf6-t6K0PiHkYFre9DUDtDUmUoNEQLYLvKnfvoZ48R4gf6NjKWZIccCe0GYlTokMFy_xEUq5djYBRbAvpYqnd_r8ANbnGtkg/w400-h300/55F8EC10-5F91-4283-83C5-A1676CD86C4C.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Performance hall with 5-tonne crystal chandelier</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbNOa-n_K4oXuOr6-wnjJjmtgo6u-VAGH6tIW5BUiBE5AFtmPt9sIvzNZfVpwD-LhJyMVrKpLmgpvv8ZSlFJH22Y7saHnH89W7Cw0kJmRQP-RVdjow6Peez0XLeNBVpqZt6e0qpczmBZpoGFBEZrpJmPCd16Dk1G3z-RyA63AuauZ6Oq_3Vg/s4032/6D729EB1-6969-4FF2-973F-4515B4D9E60C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbNOa-n_K4oXuOr6-wnjJjmtgo6u-VAGH6tIW5BUiBE5AFtmPt9sIvzNZfVpwD-LhJyMVrKpLmgpvv8ZSlFJH22Y7saHnH89W7Cw0kJmRQP-RVdjow6Peez0XLeNBVpqZt6e0qpczmBZpoGFBEZrpJmPCd16Dk1G3z-RyA63AuauZ6Oq_3Vg/w400-h300/6D729EB1-6969-4FF2-973F-4515B4D9E60C.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State room</td></tr></tbody></table><p>From the Palace I walked into town and had a tasty lunch in the courtyard of the Hanu’ lui Manuc restaurant (thanks to A. for the tip). This is right in the middle of the most lovely part of the city, and I wandered around taking photos of cool buildings for some time.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vug942-VIw2Ya1_eXFSqOCz72ObqUaa1luDhCt1HlJTeU1NO6ZoJlqSoYbjOPy2-qsblFmw9H5WL8U4R_L8s_R3RUm20xbtUt9NZQJtWxLgaetZeZYMMgwsu1mIJvdhaw-St73chWaTH_wEsydR80Wq8o9yEK4ceEpcBlTPa5KiJ5EJs8w/s4032/B64C52FA-5BA7-442B-823B-D0652D633EF2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vug942-VIw2Ya1_eXFSqOCz72ObqUaa1luDhCt1HlJTeU1NO6ZoJlqSoYbjOPy2-qsblFmw9H5WL8U4R_L8s_R3RUm20xbtUt9NZQJtWxLgaetZeZYMMgwsu1mIJvdhaw-St73chWaTH_wEsydR80Wq8o9yEK4ceEpcBlTPa5KiJ5EJs8w/w400-h300/B64C52FA-5BA7-442B-823B-D0652D633EF2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stavropoleos church</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilGApxQk9K03pGU5xWb-T3cBkYQp5t0KM_V3YqW_1uWYbUfhsH_9YgnhfXQTfR11e0_pMw8601Zw0oJN_LGLol_V49xaqaiQWXzqRUMds6M3sMtsWSf6P3QGW0pYs_c7u--AkpkbyIP4r3AkGrIpWRGk8KqbaaBaRKyMeJvfcBWQKlAcgFFQ/s4032/F07CD246-3581-4C7D-B03E-87D6CD74BAF5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilGApxQk9K03pGU5xWb-T3cBkYQp5t0KM_V3YqW_1uWYbUfhsH_9YgnhfXQTfR11e0_pMw8601Zw0oJN_LGLol_V49xaqaiQWXzqRUMds6M3sMtsWSf6P3QGW0pYs_c7u--AkpkbyIP4r3AkGrIpWRGk8KqbaaBaRKyMeJvfcBWQKlAcgFFQ/w400-h300/F07CD246-3581-4C7D-B03E-87D6CD74BAF5.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old university library with statue of Carol I</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EYJiHjKbDhkekgoQfX1M8ebDmmdoBhuUrLs67O9PNjPWia0OY4HjrwRCsA7kCpkh7IJRcja3OBGJcpOi50r0gu8XwzcNo-l8QtVF_avAMs9LNrObwssoVLjjybGzrxy3y2UE2ZphwNeEID_GeiKh46ueCfDvDInNhNzvxljyWg068yvUKg/s4032/972DB146-64E8-4563-BD1F-4AF063C4E1D1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EYJiHjKbDhkekgoQfX1M8ebDmmdoBhuUrLs67O9PNjPWia0OY4HjrwRCsA7kCpkh7IJRcja3OBGJcpOi50r0gu8XwzcNo-l8QtVF_avAMs9LNrObwssoVLjjybGzrxy3y2UE2ZphwNeEID_GeiKh46ueCfDvDInNhNzvxljyWg068yvUKg/w400-h300/972DB146-64E8-4563-BD1F-4AF063C4E1D1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Romanian Athenaeum with Eminescu statue</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Strangely, I learned on some Wikipedia-ing that the Romanian monarchy from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards were from “my” neck of the woods – they were Hohenzollerns, and Carol I and his son were born in Sigmaringen, near Konstanz. This only reinforces my suspicion that Germany’s most successful export product ever is royalty.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-28433340882574490882023-03-26T18:12:00.002+00:002023-03-26T18:12:40.970+00:00Balkans day 25: Into RomaniaTime, today, to leave Sofia and head north. Romania as a state isn’t straightforwardly in the Balkans: the usual definition is what’s south of the Danube and Sava, and that’s only a tiny proportion of the country, which I’m not visiting this time. But I’ve never been to the capital, Bucharest, so will spend a couple of days there before heading back home.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16DjIwnNkCNPgyoKuUwvNpdLrwbScqsCHgei08TP_NEh2EauGbsOPDMBUPqIEcOo5WkcraXJT0Lt0SF-F8MOSp2KrAInuKq6hIO06iLIWuHRNQ8z2VgkUnzRDD6I_u47se_3HG08cqAjjFNYhQmxATaKrRiBWfkvQOPe5U7LKuLaz9Q3DqQ/s4032/2D496145-2599-40B4-9554-3CF9A3B6BF5F.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16DjIwnNkCNPgyoKuUwvNpdLrwbScqsCHgei08TP_NEh2EauGbsOPDMBUPqIEcOo5WkcraXJT0Lt0SF-F8MOSp2KrAInuKq6hIO06iLIWuHRNQ8z2VgkUnzRDD6I_u47se_3HG08cqAjjFNYhQmxATaKrRiBWfkvQOPe5U7LKuLaz9Q3DqQ/w400-h300/2D496145-2599-40B4-9554-3CF9A3B6BF5F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Countryside doing a good impression of the default XP desktop</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>That meant that today was a transit day. Another very early start, possibly the last of this trip, made more painful by Daylight Savings Time doing its thing. All told, it’s a ten-hour train trip from Sofia to Bucharest, split across two trains. The first is a grubby Bulgarian compartment train, which starts by winding north along the Iskar valley through the Balkan Mountains.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27Ih1cEFlX2WDHVg-rJxkQyk2o2pS0BZR0dLIZuOdsOY_3OZ3YjXIR3Tj8kk7NSM3F6v-7Ohx6GoZOpMF9Y7lwIfEMQB8PeioVNRjCYwIaQdtlTdjkSjYoFGZy2jIgAC30LsHhMhXLBr2RPdmlER_pmhgIDxvPGLbxtJsGKz8grcbHDK7yw/s4032/08C840DC-CDDB-4779-A46D-8AEA449A92A4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27Ih1cEFlX2WDHVg-rJxkQyk2o2pS0BZR0dLIZuOdsOY_3OZ3YjXIR3Tj8kk7NSM3F6v-7Ohx6GoZOpMF9Y7lwIfEMQB8PeioVNRjCYwIaQdtlTdjkSjYoFGZy2jIgAC30LsHhMhXLBr2RPdmlER_pmhgIDxvPGLbxtJsGKz8grcbHDK7yw/w400-h300/08C840DC-CDDB-4779-A46D-8AEA449A92A4.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye Sofia</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl45MS_M2iXKsbHpgpAqvIETtN1q1zh1irI-DoXsS8wBGAoxADcSgET3ZfMmXgbqht1zkD2njDrbZI-MF4Qu3XWa8bSSeHYa7_DSOyYjMNBGT7BzwDi86Kb0IGvKrXuxyI_GXM_pXG0AEQ0MWjzogISDf2MYORQBHNhd4fidLHfSUTfbuhdA/s4032/248F1BEF-266F-41C6-BDBF-2419BC2E31BC.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl45MS_M2iXKsbHpgpAqvIETtN1q1zh1irI-DoXsS8wBGAoxADcSgET3ZfMmXgbqht1zkD2njDrbZI-MF4Qu3XWa8bSSeHYa7_DSOyYjMNBGT7BzwDi86Kb0IGvKrXuxyI_GXM_pXG0AEQ0MWjzogISDf2MYORQBHNhd4fidLHfSUTfbuhdA/w400-h300/248F1BEF-266F-41C6-BDBF-2419BC2E31BC.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crags north of Svoge</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I share my compartment with two loud and smelly Bulgarian men who spend the journey watching videos on their phones with the sound on, laughing uproariously and scratching their crotches. Once through the mountains, the train bears right and crosses some peaceful countryside, dotted with a few villages. At Gorna Oryahovitsa the train splits, with my part turning north again towards Ruse, on the Danube. Gorna Oryahovitsa is within spitting distance of Veliko Tarnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria, but I don’t have any time to spare, as there’s only one Sofia-Bucharest itinerary per day, unfortunately. Similarly I’ve heard that Ruse is a nice town but I barely have time to spend my last few Bulgarian lev on supplies before hopping onto a Romanian DMU bound for Bucharest.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzqAm72iSN2_N7Jmqb4HDUUoiYNrim0XuGQgpCVY3GgkIfLuQEYzmiyjCX6rlULXlZSgzLCHGXMTQaneci60mFW9RjxWhV5ASA335nxls4gLSJMrlGMNBOhQydUtQhWl1ELWLgErvn2fK-IRKvG10EPv4ZLK3lxqtKxbSJ8QuHVPQrhr3fw/s4032/3964F9C1-3A46-4DDE-91F8-E762B17F3682.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzqAm72iSN2_N7Jmqb4HDUUoiYNrim0XuGQgpCVY3GgkIfLuQEYzmiyjCX6rlULXlZSgzLCHGXMTQaneci60mFW9RjxWhV5ASA335nxls4gLSJMrlGMNBOhQydUtQhWl1ELWLgErvn2fK-IRKvG10EPv4ZLK3lxqtKxbSJ8QuHVPQrhr3fw/w300-h400/3964F9C1-3A46-4DDE-91F8-E762B17F3682.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruse’s grand station frontage</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ooF863Dn1bHAW3RfNROiC01aBVAwHix_d51el81LdatPqSj8eGr1_ZQe_eI0FJhx9CFY5JAshrJCDecZz6XHubvz6o_qWI9TIDqtZfCiBvk-bWF36iG3vFem8xlxy18QNtilrSGf1Te1Eo5uEXtp9uc22DvfeCUw4IL5MutXrxMnLfDiBA/s4032/918A38C5-9D54-40EA-8D45-B0EF1F9A4DFD.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ooF863Dn1bHAW3RfNROiC01aBVAwHix_d51el81LdatPqSj8eGr1_ZQe_eI0FJhx9CFY5JAshrJCDecZz6XHubvz6o_qWI9TIDqtZfCiBvk-bWF36iG3vFem8xlxy18QNtilrSGf1Te1Eo5uEXtp9uc22DvfeCUw4IL5MutXrxMnLfDiBA/w400-h300/918A38C5-9D54-40EA-8D45-B0EF1F9A4DFD.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Danube inlet north of Ruse</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>The train crosses the Danube on Europe’s longest steel bridge (2.5km) before stopping at Giurgiu for a passport check. Beyond here is nothing but empty fields for miles and miles, which the train slithers through at a snail’s pace, initially northwest, then swerving right onto the main line at Videse. Eventually we reach Bucharest’s bustling Gara de Nord, where this instalment draws to a close.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><br /></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-21903791636499254632023-03-25T17:20:00.002+00:002023-03-25T17:20:34.483+00:00Balkans day 24: Dragalevtsi<p>My last day in Sofia today – and a more peaceful adventure. We crossed the city by metro towards the mountain in the south, Vitosha, that looms over Sofia like a snow-clad giant. From there we got the bus into the foothills, and climbed by way of steep woodland trails to the Dragalevtsi monastery.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigY8UDbjcHlc8LKy3Nb6nuI0ktsDpeDhzpjahCj_mTg5zeEXSSmWZqTkD8kKJy4soZU7oW7i1YdVY9F7_MIzDWJJqlA3YZ_ZR9nsURFXyFpORqwQ8FhQS_ExwUAr_pieuVWHW9qL1-wycSVqwBaAQMzabbEJ0nZbVG-I9IH3v3YVdyX0hOQg/s4032/EC75CED5-A6FB-4DE4-9AE8-5CEBA761A8CA.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigY8UDbjcHlc8LKy3Nb6nuI0ktsDpeDhzpjahCj_mTg5zeEXSSmWZqTkD8kKJy4soZU7oW7i1YdVY9F7_MIzDWJJqlA3YZ_ZR9nsURFXyFpORqwQ8FhQS_ExwUAr_pieuVWHW9qL1-wycSVqwBaAQMzabbEJ0nZbVG-I9IH3v3YVdyX0hOQg/w400-h300/EC75CED5-A6FB-4DE4-9AE8-5CEBA761A8CA.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stream in the woods near Dragalevtsi</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It’s not a long trek to the monastery, but it’s a tremendously tranquil place. Some visitors were lighting candles by the church; others were content to sit and enjoy the quiet and the various cats that roam the place. On the church’s exterior are fifteenth-century frescoes, including one of my namesake saint.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza3HgOFLeci7a8ky8mMMJ8DSjtGfhtYYkUHXrSDQ9Fc549WEQcIP9Vpw7kUA4cR3oxMQSbT3NI_OHhKOGlqMKfPi4JKbc-n6U5_B9Pw6zINJScmT0alUYroDULvLF1dTAEqatXNlsVzaaqUKpJUfu5PzCbrxAv6O_s_t0Q0gAd0aX6nrhXw/s4032/46047300-F8E7-40F8-BE51-102BA60432D0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza3HgOFLeci7a8ky8mMMJ8DSjtGfhtYYkUHXrSDQ9Fc549WEQcIP9Vpw7kUA4cR3oxMQSbT3NI_OHhKOGlqMKfPi4JKbc-n6U5_B9Pw6zINJScmT0alUYroDULvLF1dTAEqatXNlsVzaaqUKpJUfu5PzCbrxAv6O_s_t0Q0gAd0aX6nrhXw/w400-h300/46047300-F8E7-40F8-BE51-102BA60432D0.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frescoes</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtD7ZoCO7XKjbBIdscT9MlDerfHpMROTNmWIaOt7pl7CkH_eL9e_-MJUzQkhCMpR5TsKDTzbLqPcU-cJS2TToWRWjr7MnZoapJS2NuB2SwqtvnuwMVnPrPs6RdHIKw-1qvF5C3ckXMTRpm6epYF3tiLJfNaJB44LTZ7tMJBD9mWf80d2Szg/s4032/2C37747F-B9F6-4C19-9A33-43ED52238BA9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtD7ZoCO7XKjbBIdscT9MlDerfHpMROTNmWIaOt7pl7CkH_eL9e_-MJUzQkhCMpR5TsKDTzbLqPcU-cJS2TToWRWjr7MnZoapJS2NuB2SwqtvnuwMVnPrPs6RdHIKw-1qvF5C3ckXMTRpm6epYF3tiLJfNaJB44LTZ7tMJBD9mWf80d2Szg/w400-h300/2C37747F-B9F6-4C19-9A33-43ED52238BA9.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleepy cat</td></tr></tbody></table><p>On our way back down the hill we stopped to enjoy an authentically Bulgarian meal at a lovely restaurant, together with this lemonade, which I’m told is also authentically Bulgarian, though in a different way.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjICxHd1Z8Uvk2rIULSZVVBSSsPS6ZHdFsF5PIX9_aULcXeqrUz1aT8fvH1_avCSuE4DL7WU5F4Q390vLdAgyB48cHuSkuX05I2EqFk0Mnq_RhMAOjqx4hqCYTm0KLeMNjsqeklDW9GyGAUCo-p8RTmmr3pYXEk9ACUxV36zt6yTm2NdjhKXw/s4032/C4D9ADD9-257D-4676-98BA-1CC17A656FA6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjICxHd1Z8Uvk2rIULSZVVBSSsPS6ZHdFsF5PIX9_aULcXeqrUz1aT8fvH1_avCSuE4DL7WU5F4Q390vLdAgyB48cHuSkuX05I2EqFk0Mnq_RhMAOjqx4hqCYTm0KLeMNjsqeklDW9GyGAUCo-p8RTmmr3pYXEk9ACUxV36zt6yTm2NdjhKXw/w300-h400/C4D9ADD9-257D-4676-98BA-1CC17A656FA6.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very yellow lemonade</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since there was still some daylight left, we headed across town to Boyana in the hope of seeing its tiny but exceptionally well-preserved church. The opening hours and the bus timetable were both on our side but, alas, the place was overrun by tour bus visitors with prebooked tickets, so we weren’t able to get in.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiIH3ye87hdaHviNmabA2uNRB7zAOewenVWtEi2NEe42GYiy8lGx17SUPQq18Ia_1awUGD4TjyP4c48-NLL5L8dvra19ueymyNbQCxQa6kkfQJ261iKeL7PULQRsoMcwXJ8dPZlCBoSaNRG3JBDacELd4osqgxCjfHW76hiMaKPhdp3KIlA/s4032/296DAC28-DE32-42EA-B757-64E9740A6C32.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiIH3ye87hdaHviNmabA2uNRB7zAOewenVWtEi2NEe42GYiy8lGx17SUPQq18Ia_1awUGD4TjyP4c48-NLL5L8dvra19ueymyNbQCxQa6kkfQJ261iKeL7PULQRsoMcwXJ8dPZlCBoSaNRG3JBDacELd4osqgxCjfHW76hiMaKPhdp3KIlA/w400-h300/296DAC28-DE32-42EA-B757-64E9740A6C32.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boyana church exterior</td></tr></tbody></table><p>After exploring the setting of the church for a little while, we hopped on another bus, which, after a winding tour of some of the city’s suburbs, took us back to the metro and home. Join me next time for another instalment of “George tries and fails to get into places of worship”!</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-3722910488526104082023-03-24T18:38:00.001+00:002023-03-24T18:38:19.076+00:00Balkans day 23: Return to SofiaEspecially after a hectic day like yesterday, it felt good to be escaping the bustling metropolis that is Istanbul and return to Sofia, which comes across as cosy by comparison. This time I knew the drill, and was able to get a bit of sleep both before and after the border formalities, which in this direction take place at an even more punishing 2-3am. In Sofia it is warm, and the trees are starting to blossom.<div><br /></div><div>In the afternoon, inspired by my failure to go to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, B. took me to see Sofia’s own Saint Sophia Church. It’s not a hulking monstrosity like its Istanbul counterpart, but a modest, cool brick building that has weathered many changes over the centuries since a church was first constructed here in the fourth century.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa5nZKDDOd1jT-JyCFv_ZHFO58aY8x_pB1gtA5rn0dzaSCxNG6-maRrEvvE1QiBvYZzX28abEsdFXKTdUS2QBqIKogw-1oM-GxL3uOwh1_gSTkwwDBJKJEJ_V3M90SI_ATYXW9fos0QKuoPyFqTKplbtfTDFqrQQ4HulkuTBoyDXLjizwQA/s4032/68B8109C-8570-4B4B-AB71-F956AB067B78.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa5nZKDDOd1jT-JyCFv_ZHFO58aY8x_pB1gtA5rn0dzaSCxNG6-maRrEvvE1QiBvYZzX28abEsdFXKTdUS2QBqIKogw-1oM-GxL3uOwh1_gSTkwwDBJKJEJ_V3M90SI_ATYXW9fos0QKuoPyFqTKplbtfTDFqrQQ4HulkuTBoyDXLjizwQA/w400-h300/68B8109C-8570-4B4B-AB71-F956AB067B78.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, not this one! This is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2il6E4cht09rW4xFfGkNaIE1dnP2pL2-fcsWLE6_gBxoctaezadfHQ4XJr27qhzUahonKwIIPDvfriJI5SP1xvFBRgYPKXu1EVRGQT8T5KINIv15bpemrptmI1dsvV2joT-LwFs3sXuIxPk3Xx8nBCS7_e1TkGnYBKTigjfQPRG7pKfeF1w/s4032/FA0E50BB-D6CF-41B6-BAC2-865FD7D32499.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2il6E4cht09rW4xFfGkNaIE1dnP2pL2-fcsWLE6_gBxoctaezadfHQ4XJr27qhzUahonKwIIPDvfriJI5SP1xvFBRgYPKXu1EVRGQT8T5KINIv15bpemrptmI1dsvV2joT-LwFs3sXuIxPk3Xx8nBCS7_e1TkGnYBKTigjfQPRG7pKfeF1w/w300-h400/FA0E50BB-D6CF-41B6-BAC2-865FD7D32499.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nave of Saint Sophia church</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>Under the church is an ancient crypt containing several layers of tombs and mosaic floors.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fSDA7YsNHq9nAf8qlmMJ3t9n9XfQErep_cO0b8B6LFZ8N-ZuyT3GXw-__-zM2eFBtLazF-nf9yKASK8mAfqLSzoESP7LusP7MEeys2x5xspimx3A39duE0X1XhRA42daDMYFB6baPkXZsNGQ33VaxZs2zazBTCA8Qqg7btFa72GFcZbSsw/s4032/57916EB0-9DA2-4E66-89A0-D67FF84D2E06.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fSDA7YsNHq9nAf8qlmMJ3t9n9XfQErep_cO0b8B6LFZ8N-ZuyT3GXw-__-zM2eFBtLazF-nf9yKASK8mAfqLSzoESP7LusP7MEeys2x5xspimx3A39duE0X1XhRA42daDMYFB6baPkXZsNGQ33VaxZs2zazBTCA8Qqg7btFa72GFcZbSsw/w300-h400/57916EB0-9DA2-4E66-89A0-D67FF84D2E06.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4th-century tomb with early Christian floral design</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7gMoTvVGEuxRuqcB3gO0aoZ-djP21i8OW_WJRSctPXOPJFJ0clUmQB7RrY9IJ15ZM099TFyTcYl7V8cg5SqXhySExqxZ7tQmcRONwBO7plgMUAEKrvHpT5EFdb33YSYOyzRph0qpOCyskNTxe2ZGH0bJBwQGWDq-BvnXZDWMiyEos83yRQ/s4032/B247EE6C-0268-4D31-9C44-4C5FAE8DD22A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7gMoTvVGEuxRuqcB3gO0aoZ-djP21i8OW_WJRSctPXOPJFJ0clUmQB7RrY9IJ15ZM099TFyTcYl7V8cg5SqXhySExqxZ7tQmcRONwBO7plgMUAEKrvHpT5EFdb33YSYOyzRph0qpOCyskNTxe2ZGH0bJBwQGWDq-BvnXZDWMiyEos83yRQ/w400-h300/B247EE6C-0268-4D31-9C44-4C5FAE8DD22A.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reconstructed mosaic floor</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-70062863932981010872023-03-23T18:09:00.000+00:002023-03-23T18:09:05.397+00:00Balkans day 22: Istanbul<p>Having rested and recharged overnight, today was a day of zooming round Istanbul like a maniac. First stop was the Theodosius Cistern, a huge underground space that plays host to a series of lightshows illustrating the city’s history.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKSUGUnx-BS72pgmFtLtkK_Knf1Z8mRikBu9EZhaxQ1_0lUT7-IJO7Mjt_AtFBqpUnKVdEGW2oEkSPZ4RsLOLuCuOXoas-jS6Kfoam6vovZo64gDe8lxP55Wr1zFTKIWnHhvy-P6yT_EIzshEUlnXwxILyKw-pSzQnkKIPpEvG32DBrv7Ug/s4032/62F47B70-3688-4F43-9D11-E90E2DA515EC.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKSUGUnx-BS72pgmFtLtkK_Knf1Z8mRikBu9EZhaxQ1_0lUT7-IJO7Mjt_AtFBqpUnKVdEGW2oEkSPZ4RsLOLuCuOXoas-jS6Kfoam6vovZo64gDe8lxP55Wr1zFTKIWnHhvy-P6yT_EIzshEUlnXwxILyKw-pSzQnkKIPpEvG32DBrv7Ug/w400-h300/62F47B70-3688-4F43-9D11-E90E2DA515EC.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theodosius Cistern</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Within easy walking distance of here is the enormous, mazelike, and intimidating central bazaar. I let myself be carried by the crowds in, around, and back out again while absorbing as much of the atmosphere as I could take.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsQDoV6FkdLnuQlHOWyzOuzlFD25CC_YY4nN8vTfpobKHY59ervjMAR89R8-oFDf9oMrB8U7mlRdYPTbknRZMILTpChgxnt8FUYwkV9uajvN531vIa7NDNEwCZ8KP_YPLnpOq0cp561cGpIWhtjLun0ZYf0ITMd89IEiRJZ_5VR8qhbHccw/s4032/2E4E179F-8BCB-4C32-8E04-64DB53D1D8D6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsQDoV6FkdLnuQlHOWyzOuzlFD25CC_YY4nN8vTfpobKHY59ervjMAR89R8-oFDf9oMrB8U7mlRdYPTbknRZMILTpChgxnt8FUYwkV9uajvN531vIa7NDNEwCZ8KP_YPLnpOq0cp561cGpIWhtjLun0ZYf0ITMd89IEiRJZ_5VR8qhbHccw/w400-h300/2E4E179F-8BCB-4C32-8E04-64DB53D1D8D6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Central Bazaar</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Then it was onto a tram, across the Golden Horn, and up the hill to take in views from the Galata Tower.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAurwK3ZASJUGew4SRSz11eHyAb7TC_7SGHUzOYuHrwaoAPwhtSw-rlQ3PB7L4GV7RI_HkmvADw1Q4SPIgRgIIM9-SuYbnWl7N6_qbwJNYhyWyliL3oSiOAto1FfRgrMY_Cfl5qSJatr_2UxdvK-nywKghYUxobzDac3h3w9TBSjI6aIvGkw/s4032/20B488D5-3E08-4D06-9073-7C769400F424.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAurwK3ZASJUGew4SRSz11eHyAb7TC_7SGHUzOYuHrwaoAPwhtSw-rlQ3PB7L4GV7RI_HkmvADw1Q4SPIgRgIIM9-SuYbnWl7N6_qbwJNYhyWyliL3oSiOAto1FfRgrMY_Cfl5qSJatr_2UxdvK-nywKghYUxobzDac3h3w9TBSjI6aIvGkw/w400-h300/20B488D5-3E08-4D06-9073-7C769400F424.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">City rooftops</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Back down the hill, past the fishermen on the bridge, and through old Sirkeci station, I hopped on another Marmaray, this time under the Bosphorus itself to the Asian side of the city, for a coffee and a stroll along the waterfront.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HfrwtPLvOgPFzCfZ7kqaur0SP4IV_-HUv6wszTV7b5meHirUO8vCC3tKcxELUHGGsyc0v9sD-Pgt-_-aqFisZIcf0yf1zhCdplBhSy4omTtz4xcySsiPFerBiQHoMVI-sm1zX-LsDWU0vvtr37whs36zC_zDPDg3aDo7vHujOZr16Q_iqA/s4032/FFF4F6EE-6311-4A1B-914D-494145B522E6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HfrwtPLvOgPFzCfZ7kqaur0SP4IV_-HUv6wszTV7b5meHirUO8vCC3tKcxELUHGGsyc0v9sD-Pgt-_-aqFisZIcf0yf1zhCdplBhSy4omTtz4xcySsiPFerBiQHoMVI-sm1zX-LsDWU0vvtr37whs36zC_zDPDg3aDo7vHujOZr16Q_iqA/w400-h300/FFF4F6EE-6311-4A1B-914D-494145B522E6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maiden’s Tower, ship, and Topkapi Palace in Europe</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Finally – since the Blue Mosque was denied to me, and my attempt to visit the Hagia Sophia failed – I made my way through a bustling commercial district to the Süleymaniye Mosque, commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by Sinan, the architect who probably did more to shape Constantinople/Istanbul than anyone else. It also features Suleiman’s tomb in the mosque grounds.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXenYZOdfM8TS0wKBmxys2oATfSxCbLpqX9taTv5X_9SQzmKPpGzE-zibEw2EuJSQReOFTAXLslHgCLWdxr9jSYJa59aO7OX5h28O8tEN6iILH2ciI100wFCL9qzOGxDJEwc-aCKKbO13c6XUlYVLvsz7bxRdJTdzLg3hs5b20zd1Ukh4-Q/s4032/295F0A57-6084-4C24-AB1B-7870ED67DC3F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXenYZOdfM8TS0wKBmxys2oATfSxCbLpqX9taTv5X_9SQzmKPpGzE-zibEw2EuJSQReOFTAXLslHgCLWdxr9jSYJa59aO7OX5h28O8tEN6iILH2ciI100wFCL9qzOGxDJEwc-aCKKbO13c6XUlYVLvsz7bxRdJTdzLg3hs5b20zd1Ukh4-Q/w400-h300/295F0A57-6084-4C24-AB1B-7870ED67DC3F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dome of Süleymaniye Mosque</td></tr></tbody></table><p>After all that, it’s now time to leave Istanbul. I’ve never been to a city where the price differentials are so steep: today’s lunch cost literally a tenth of the previous day’s lunch, despite being very similar. There’s some serious tourist-gouging going on here. I’m also not a fan of the many dudes who hang around on the street and ask you where you’re from, presumably trying to make some sort of money out of you. Relatedly, it’s weird how about two thirds of the people you see out and about<span> are men, often hanging around in hypermasculine-looking groups, even in the sort of service jobs I’m more used to seeing staffed by women. But the city as a whole has left an impression. Istanbul – and Turkey in general – deserves much more time than I’ve been able to give it on this visit. (It’s the first time I’ve “properly” visited the country; previously I’d only changed planes here.)</span></p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-43621517429498220982023-03-22T17:55:00.002+00:002023-03-22T17:55:46.070+00:00Balkans day 21: Constantinople<p>I wasn’t sure I’d make it this far, but Istanbul is an excellent fit for a tour of the Balkans. The city isn’t straightforwardly part of the Balkan peninsula (at most, <i>some</i> of it is), but during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century essentially all of the Balkans was ruled from here, under its previous name, Constantinople. Since today’s ventures are mostly around historical sights, using the older name seems appropriate for this post.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXQqypX_PGohGwHiCvT41diqEwZTpkshFROdrEtwkguEgovw08sPMlfgXv7VJPYQKZ5a5ATYgJcLo0LvGa-LDc28My8HyaJ3XOFrpB1-0KL7CiTNHpoivqH23ikUSlIZm2I48IPDJ_r4hgt0ipzN2__xiFl2HgIHglrKq4yCqRcmk0oWvcg/s4032/E961568D-5421-40A7-B8E7-A386FB316EEC.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXQqypX_PGohGwHiCvT41diqEwZTpkshFROdrEtwkguEgovw08sPMlfgXv7VJPYQKZ5a5ATYgJcLo0LvGa-LDc28My8HyaJ3XOFrpB1-0KL7CiTNHpoivqH23ikUSlIZm2I48IPDJ_r4hgt0ipzN2__xiFl2HgIHglrKq4yCqRcmk0oWvcg/w400-h300/E961568D-5421-40A7-B8E7-A386FB316EEC.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hagia Sophia and its queue</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another of the glorious survivors of the good old days of inter-Balkan rail connections is the sleeper from Sofia to Istanbul. This train is very nice: my compartment even had a mini fridge! What’s not so nice is that there’s a passport check just before midnight, and another, more serious one shortly after, at Kapikule in Turkey, where everyone has to troop off the train and show their passports and faces to the two unhurried border guards and their cameras, then have their bags X-rayed. By the time the train gets going again it’s 2am local time. This effectively means that one’s chances at a solid night’s sleep are scuppered; at best, you can hope for two 4-hour blocks of sleep.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4Vz4NR90dXP3TAMzTTiqxm14InTmovml8IRnYgiP_TynhUucRT3xep_RTjj_sCw5QdKTCUru3jKCFiaqzBb8i3ZUih6Et2dnCyGi3pqiqv3NiosoA7MB2eIPIJVSk2QquwwWxR52OVqjFuIvb7tlbm1xldijBPbF8PDmQEaqEjFr6rDh9A/s4032/CB9F7E9D-3F7F-45E1-92E6-C1A20A579FFB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4Vz4NR90dXP3TAMzTTiqxm14InTmovml8IRnYgiP_TynhUucRT3xep_RTjj_sCw5QdKTCUru3jKCFiaqzBb8i3ZUih6Et2dnCyGi3pqiqv3NiosoA7MB2eIPIJVSk2QquwwWxR52OVqjFuIvb7tlbm1xldijBPbF8PDmQEaqEjFr6rDh9A/w400-h300/CB9F7E9D-3F7F-45E1-92E6-C1A20A579FFB.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The train before its departure from Sofia</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Arriving in the outskirts of Istanbul, you then have to take a suburban train to get into the centre. It was rush hour, and everyone was heading for the same stop as me – deep under the city centre – but for different reasons. I rose from the depths, got breakfast in town, and began to wander.</p><p>The Blue Mosque was closed for renovation, and the Hagia Sophia rather overrun; I only have 36 hours here, so spending six of them in a queue didn’t seem appealing. Instead I visited Topkapi Palace, from where the sultans had once ruled the Balkans and more. The only place I’ve ever been that’s comparable in scope and setup is the Forbidden City in Beijing. (It’s worth adding that, while not as big as the Chinese capital, Istanbul still dwarfs anywhere else I’ve visited on this trip, with a population of nearly 16 million.)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mxAkdQiuRUrmR0EFxZTIKb0Xomgpi-GJsfWroyXd5NSz030DmUhxDD8FA8OaDzbB7oYc61LNTCelPafaGiFhPuR5szQ7T4Z-lkR8jUQGU9FuCetXll985fN5shwPb8WWD-uskh7vUC7xHGgvYUd0-NILnE_ugvuoGmVF3I5fj259tErCyQ/s4032/2EBFCA66-BB9B-4767-B1F1-93F3A6466CDE.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mxAkdQiuRUrmR0EFxZTIKb0Xomgpi-GJsfWroyXd5NSz030DmUhxDD8FA8OaDzbB7oYc61LNTCelPafaGiFhPuR5szQ7T4Z-lkR8jUQGU9FuCetXll985fN5shwPb8WWD-uskh7vUC7xHGgvYUd0-NILnE_ugvuoGmVF3I5fj259tErCyQ/w400-h300/2EBFCA66-BB9B-4767-B1F1-93F3A6466CDE.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Palace grounds</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ObHhkG3GA8CpV-ehpwOFNEku8hsvx47GmhJPttTGSoby6nkggT4lbt43-hcm_c4lBEH71qijT17GSViowko-EAMxS8g-M51-3nTEAomjDCgDHEayvyMntQE_woh7SkvecWTLRJ3eJDP3wyBMDnapTYbBdDtFiEN4AEsfF05v8uBM_wGRzg/s4032/A445746D-0306-4CE7-A114-C7855F8EE774.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ObHhkG3GA8CpV-ehpwOFNEku8hsvx47GmhJPttTGSoby6nkggT4lbt43-hcm_c4lBEH71qijT17GSViowko-EAMxS8g-M51-3nTEAomjDCgDHEayvyMntQE_woh7SkvecWTLRJ3eJDP3wyBMDnapTYbBdDtFiEN4AEsfF05v8uBM_wGRzg/w400-h300/A445746D-0306-4CE7-A114-C7855F8EE774.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Bosphorus and the Asian side</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZwo0d72w09NX1LrGN284Sdy9VHXfQl1ub9SFA4jm-ysz4A2xl8i0T721a5XG5qMKqxzemN6UAiPQiuPSBVN3FEuppR994-aenZe-MHuSgyZYFrtUsxZBpF8SfpYMkWHYLFJik20DyJ8yxwuYCG7BlkAV8gfq2jJJjhFCwqWXUb-aa-FLEg/s4032/B78FD246-FBE1-4443-B15B-29DE58081479.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZwo0d72w09NX1LrGN284Sdy9VHXfQl1ub9SFA4jm-ysz4A2xl8i0T721a5XG5qMKqxzemN6UAiPQiuPSBVN3FEuppR994-aenZe-MHuSgyZYFrtUsxZBpF8SfpYMkWHYLFJik20DyJ8yxwuYCG7BlkAV8gfq2jJJjhFCwqWXUb-aa-FLEg/w300-h400/B78FD246-FBE1-4443-B15B-29DE58081479.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sultan’s room</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Tomorrow I aim to visit a few more parts of the city. For now I’ll try to get in to Hagia Sofia before it closes. Wish me luck!</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-5526842177072692912023-03-21T16:53:00.000+00:002023-03-21T16:53:46.329+00:00Balkans day 20: Rest day<p>I didn’t do anything interesting today. Sorry-not-sorry to my loyal readers. But here’s a picture of a “Balkan” cake bar and the itinerary for the second part of my trip in video form. Tomorrow, a new country!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOHCicZKxSaQYC2wa2R5AltYerh2D7r_S473MNzA_MEFCxNeEYQcHH8sHEhGPycDB6qzrULH0PcW_hAnkeljm-pVNJPhuOdODvWwDxsRN7pW2J_BR9FAjd8ScY2ay3DpM3CZQO8OzoQs5mMxQjd6ME7NNEYKxQnacngwGcJlv7fJwV2qpWA/s4032/5190C89F-42EB-4FC8-88FC-A971F51D806E.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOHCicZKxSaQYC2wa2R5AltYerh2D7r_S473MNzA_MEFCxNeEYQcHH8sHEhGPycDB6qzrULH0PcW_hAnkeljm-pVNJPhuOdODvWwDxsRN7pW2J_BR9FAjd8ScY2ay3DpM3CZQO8OzoQs5mMxQjd6ME7NNEYKxQnacngwGcJlv7fJwV2qpWA/w400-h300/5190C89F-42EB-4FC8-88FC-A971F51D806E.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balkan cake bar, with kakao.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy_yolMxF00aNm3eqCOU8nL12z36UwXNzRXhBbdzE2zvb8r6Wva_4HZUdE6JMXySHxLWmqvkXFrVgI' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>Spot the city with the misattributed, er, continent.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-72492044764551710112023-03-20T21:48:00.002+00:002023-03-20T21:48:44.511+00:00Balkans day 19: Sredets<p>I made a mistake in my post yesterday! It’s not the <i>Serd</i>- in Serdica that’s cognate with heart – it’s the <i>Sred</i>- in Sredets, which is another historical name (this time medieval) for Sofia. So today is/was Sredets day.</p><p>B. was kind enough to give me a tour of Sofia University today. Sofia is a glorious riot of architectures, from Roman ruins to fourth-century churches to Austro-Hungarian interpretations of Byzantine architecture to Art Nouveau to massive Communist oblongs to “glass-fronted shite”. The university itself is also a mashup of different styles, but the old central building – which still houses the humanities – is elegant as well as imposing, and its interior is a delight.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YcNF_bUD-jcOj-Pn8IrLHXlpzSkTtbP4c8ubu2eVYCyxADct3AgwY24r_VL1W3aGHd4Ia6v907ZcB-kxZ-qphUwSa64Z5kHzxYv-8K8nFoL0cAJ5VGk587Iw-n_7t2q6Ev9VfgD5RM5KJMN0ZYtu5jPxpO6B413z7m2i-mhW3D-6Yf-6pQ/s4032/0B0A3312-C245-4538-8544-63DC1FFD23C6.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YcNF_bUD-jcOj-Pn8IrLHXlpzSkTtbP4c8ubu2eVYCyxADct3AgwY24r_VL1W3aGHd4Ia6v907ZcB-kxZ-qphUwSa64Z5kHzxYv-8K8nFoL0cAJ5VGk587Iw-n_7t2q6Ev9VfgD5RM5KJMN0ZYtu5jPxpO6B413z7m2i-mhW3D-6Yf-6pQ/w400-h300/0B0A3312-C245-4538-8544-63DC1FFD23C6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Card indexes in the central library</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UX8HMKBXY015IrNQPALeKstSnW89QUWLPijvtGjcei14biF9HbooLQjkwOXf-yIWt2-ut8vkfD21TaoeqPTANcpbt1NClEF-Dj7fX_K_pbkEC1OYxMv1_WBvan4uTrHJb7fyiT65Elxfwr73AwSalPbMQzr-43yCd5g-0gL5EqrIFCL-2g/s4032/8E26EF0A-6F76-4910-BCF7-E8EB26DA25B4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UX8HMKBXY015IrNQPALeKstSnW89QUWLPijvtGjcei14biF9HbooLQjkwOXf-yIWt2-ut8vkfD21TaoeqPTANcpbt1NClEF-Dj7fX_K_pbkEC1OYxMv1_WBvan4uTrHJb7fyiT65Elxfwr73AwSalPbMQzr-43yCd5g-0gL5EqrIFCL-2g/w300-h400/8E26EF0A-6F76-4910-BCF7-E8EB26DA25B4.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Kliment watches over the books</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4IRnuCwyptYVb5_RmdEWQvD1Bf7nHAiZG7hYOnbQXuMzezIKbvOONOgTCMeqNBdCMDKrVdrRhp8tiv7ovRiCfb3fX0wZciy-JwOMeVNW4R4yJfTKg0zZadQscvBC6YQd3nMiG3Jvk2stGByXUvYRJiNPMVw72QRkWLcTuAkAiJIJSlZXqg/s4032/D24C1A5E-62E8-4361-B728-B06499E45024.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4IRnuCwyptYVb5_RmdEWQvD1Bf7nHAiZG7hYOnbQXuMzezIKbvOONOgTCMeqNBdCMDKrVdrRhp8tiv7ovRiCfb3fX0wZciy-JwOMeVNW4R4yJfTKg0zZadQscvBC6YQd3nMiG3Jvk2stGByXUvYRJiNPMVw72QRkWLcTuAkAiJIJSlZXqg/w400-h300/D24C1A5E-62E8-4361-B728-B06499E45024.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The English resource centre</td></tr></tbody></table><p>One enjoyably nerdy moment was visiting the former study of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Danchev">Andrey Danchev</a>, a prominent Anglicist. This room is hidden away under the English resource centre: one only has to open a tiny locked door, hasten down a narrow spiral staircase, along a short, book-filled corridor, and round a corner. The collection is largely as it was when Danchev died in 1996, and is incredibly impressive, especially given that he was working behind the Iron Curtain for most of his life.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XTjT9FzxVt-YBllyVTHAtjCUBYRbwtOLaYjb9Ro2RBN4K0EComaQ1swR8DT4rPU1lhkneajdsO0G6vJaotNLz6Drm2zaCe4UPC0QDeqGZFevAAwRo0qSuIjZyMFTBsXPIIZqsZaQMBdGphlxWsTKQfK1TugphZcXCsg2ky1JlF1IPFvq3Q/s4032/BE64711F-C2A8-4C84-9F03-26405B95A7E1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XTjT9FzxVt-YBllyVTHAtjCUBYRbwtOLaYjb9Ro2RBN4K0EComaQ1swR8DT4rPU1lhkneajdsO0G6vJaotNLz6Drm2zaCe4UPC0QDeqGZFevAAwRo0qSuIjZyMFTBsXPIIZqsZaQMBdGphlxWsTKQfK1TugphZcXCsg2ky1JlF1IPFvq3Q/w300-h400/BE64711F-C2A8-4C84-9F03-26405B95A7E1.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the Danchev collection and the man</td></tr></tbody></table><p>We also saw a palaeontological highlight of Sofia’s collections: a deinotherium skeleton!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnnqqYjVbNB9lMIqrY2G3fg7bA6mR4ae9OFvAUcVyXAlqW3p_1MWbTAQ655ziRj1PV1BhEUjlO3kzfyB84gU1yk2ZD27uBfglh1XofmJCMIOdPSVs6lvZY5wXEbUINjiRBanYTbaZYsSIUs8mVHCp3wCvqbNR2bTGZ-X8P1PZVR91_G2sBA/s4032/F3F0B28E-D2B5-4B23-B00E-184F5A1D911D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnnqqYjVbNB9lMIqrY2G3fg7bA6mR4ae9OFvAUcVyXAlqW3p_1MWbTAQ655ziRj1PV1BhEUjlO3kzfyB84gU1yk2ZD27uBfglh1XofmJCMIOdPSVs6lvZY5wXEbUINjiRBanYTbaZYsSIUs8mVHCp3wCvqbNR2bTGZ-X8P1PZVR91_G2sBA/w400-h300/F3F0B28E-D2B5-4B23-B00E-184F5A1D911D.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It’s a big one</td></tr></tbody></table><p>And it would be remiss of me not to mention the highlight of the day: the mighty Perlovska river, equal in its majesty and epic scale to the very Rhine itself.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuHaUOo-R3-c-j6kzh-2VZHIi8_MbwkO79gAJjiER0-ver2vh8rWZNkyvpMtcuopv4aKOyzxTvcqy59InXVq9wOhG_MePBGq-MSkB1aJPTMc1aaL7KW5V_k3rUAfz56jDuv4eVeUCuUcprqSmCwcvn18JlosSbFBxMpS4nJPT1LTcKmqHjQ/s4032/E8ECA851-EB1E-4385-99D6-C342885E0900.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuHaUOo-R3-c-j6kzh-2VZHIi8_MbwkO79gAJjiER0-ver2vh8rWZNkyvpMtcuopv4aKOyzxTvcqy59InXVq9wOhG_MePBGq-MSkB1aJPTMc1aaL7KW5V_k3rUAfz56jDuv4eVeUCuUcprqSmCwcvn18JlosSbFBxMpS4nJPT1LTcKmqHjQ/w300-h400/E8ECA851-EB1E-4385-99D6-C342885E0900.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Perlovska river</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Well, almost.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-82125051514228016522023-03-19T18:09:00.002+00:002023-03-19T18:09:24.533+00:00Balkans day 18: Serdica<p>Sofia, or Serdica as it was called in ancient times, is – along with Belgrade – the only truly big city I’ve visited on this trip. My modus operandi here so far is roughly the same as it’s been everywhere else: wander around, see nice buildings, go to museums, drink nice drinks, eat nice food. The difference here is that my ramblings are not purely stochastic this time: I have a guide. My erudite host, B., is showing me around the city.</p><p>In the evening we explore the city centre. In the morning we return and almost retrace our steps, this time looking into some buildings along the way that were closed the night before.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqJex-EZhbWlA4gmnuB9CNvugyLYY0-UtRcFbGIh-WCS9ubGzY8ytlVndAnOiZrWHrF1O5viz4JGytVCkt8cnRx5gOBIJJDl_jNMz4Y9Yc9W9A1ruH_m0nTDGgvk7XYRKF55ief7FenuVK3CGVwqYaIBLcT2l0pdqYXmcjcNSInnm_-1Clw/s4032/05437414-E846-47EE-A164-0060CB9C122B.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqJex-EZhbWlA4gmnuB9CNvugyLYY0-UtRcFbGIh-WCS9ubGzY8ytlVndAnOiZrWHrF1O5viz4JGytVCkt8cnRx5gOBIJJDl_jNMz4Y9Yc9W9A1ruH_m0nTDGgvk7XYRKF55ief7FenuVK3CGVwqYaIBLcT2l0pdqYXmcjcNSInnm_-1Clw/w400-h300/05437414-E846-47EE-A164-0060CB9C122B.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sveta Nedelya church in evening light</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGYbWYFlvgSMaBwO0wChlTKT1qlVXe2ZIWuctxYTkeEm4sEI1_jigaUKjNww5hqxY-DpV0hIdmTjjADomLoMR9VhRGa-O-5ZiAAASdqUIPlFYheYfpaiUOB54SW21UlU6SmOWAXRlP0AW8gGpynaS995KNE2Zp3MZ1Kk3FMcSkUwdnMS-0w/s4032/B36C1AE1-3980-413E-9DCE-06A28E388864.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGYbWYFlvgSMaBwO0wChlTKT1qlVXe2ZIWuctxYTkeEm4sEI1_jigaUKjNww5hqxY-DpV0hIdmTjjADomLoMR9VhRGa-O-5ZiAAASdqUIPlFYheYfpaiUOB54SW21UlU6SmOWAXRlP0AW8gGpynaS995KNE2Zp3MZ1Kk3FMcSkUwdnMS-0w/w400-h300/B36C1AE1-3980-413E-9DCE-06A28E388864.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University main entrance hall at night</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEietm0G1gsT45su-jwZsD95A-gozZaffTxaSY88U5EtY4timmC2pXbF4WjegmAbk70JeZZzHyfJJSXCAVYJY4e2Plj2Ilr7Oycd5ikq6XN1r2mVjEITTZEI3Jy0-lpcrS7zE8oIZoBFAz-oBGv-oMWr6EMv-hh8gH2rn5oDSTkM_LH2Tz93sQ/s4032/FD551B0B-F719-42DA-8337-30C8190193A1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEietm0G1gsT45su-jwZsD95A-gozZaffTxaSY88U5EtY4timmC2pXbF4WjegmAbk70JeZZzHyfJJSXCAVYJY4e2Plj2Ilr7Oycd5ikq6XN1r2mVjEITTZEI3Jy0-lpcrS7zE8oIZoBFAz-oBGv-oMWr6EMv-hh8gH2rn5oDSTkM_LH2Tz93sQ/w400-h300/FD551B0B-F719-42DA-8337-30C8190193A1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">National Palace of Culture at night</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOjCEDb8sQb_xCQL8PioAWh3qih-byme2MSbx4ofdciEw7dA6Ez1hBpdzHWibeH8Askt9Fj8wpI1smPD-zC2nZqrdGVHT8Yrkfr8MGFcNnCgqDituMfOeOsaituB1Royl2IzkWaY9tVM15irP0pZhiLb_0qirz1v_23pZ3q0dvynMrVQTew/s4032/C1E5E8EB-CF6D-4357-B59E-6EC19B56125F.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOjCEDb8sQb_xCQL8PioAWh3qih-byme2MSbx4ofdciEw7dA6Ez1hBpdzHWibeH8Askt9Fj8wpI1smPD-zC2nZqrdGVHT8Yrkfr8MGFcNnCgqDituMfOeOsaituB1Royl2IzkWaY9tVM15irP0pZhiLb_0qirz1v_23pZ3q0dvynMrVQTew/w400-h300/C1E5E8EB-CF6D-4357-B59E-6EC19B56125F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Synagogue during the day</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sByvVls4FBTQEESdJ17RfknlFfg2jawb7GCaneeGGMhOcXZbdbdUtONpN6kselS8l1Oi48kux1PK6Dcir61ylWckXmpPy5CUa5mF_u_gYJLL-vbSkFcgPGW4FxBg9n3BjMjp-UJ3ecDLKtZ9GthO13cenU-9WOkNe9w_mcL14YdIg62UuQ/s4032/5B0E571B-0458-4C18-AE49-7AE3E2CC23C4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sByvVls4FBTQEESdJ17RfknlFfg2jawb7GCaneeGGMhOcXZbdbdUtONpN6kselS8l1Oi48kux1PK6Dcir61ylWckXmpPy5CUa5mF_u_gYJLL-vbSkFcgPGW4FxBg9n3BjMjp-UJ3ecDLKtZ9GthO13cenU-9WOkNe9w_mcL14YdIg62UuQ/w300-h400/5B0E571B-0458-4C18-AE49-7AE3E2CC23C4.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Presidential guards on duty</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Among other things, I learned that Serdica was almost picked as capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great (himself born in Niš), though was passed over in favour of Byzantium, later Constantinople. And the first part of the name Serdica is cognate with Greek <i>kard</i>-, Latin <i>cord</i>- and English <i>heart</i>. In the afternoon I visited the archaeological museum to get my fix of old physical objects. There’s still much to see, and I look forward to spending a bit longer here than I have in other places in the Balkans.</div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-3531159407821989602023-03-18T20:24:00.001+00:002023-03-18T20:24:29.253+00:00Balkans day 17: Into Bulgaria<p>Short update today. A coach took me across the border from Thessaloniki into Bulgaria at Kulata – mostly an uneventful journey, with mountains looming large in the borderlands. I was dropped off at Sandanski, but didn’t see anything of the town; a twenty-minute walk from the petrol station where I arrived to the railway station took me through a rough-and-ready industrial area. The train was punctual from start to finish, though, and even had at-seat power sockets.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerL2U5fhLIIIPi1NOmrBnrTdyaBoyzxRnkFjG0ApYGlUkYgrTCNrkmAPRXesnRDzAvI-E27U0ARUO2QZcxqhdoKW-cJ4WYQCx4iJ7bagBSuGkHJnK8t4rDZUa7dXPwp3rl1VXquQ-GFS6Cca6QdWQVqj2OogkDZNIgZGQyWEJItwi4RneSg/s4032/9313C74C-187D-415B-81CC-A9393A742631.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerL2U5fhLIIIPi1NOmrBnrTdyaBoyzxRnkFjG0ApYGlUkYgrTCNrkmAPRXesnRDzAvI-E27U0ARUO2QZcxqhdoKW-cJ4WYQCx4iJ7bagBSuGkHJnK8t4rDZUa7dXPwp3rl1VXquQ-GFS6Cca6QdWQVqj2OogkDZNIgZGQyWEJItwi4RneSg/w400-h300/9313C74C-187D-415B-81CC-A9393A742631.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The train arrives at Sandanski</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4YUJndSLXHzTvSBj-wUZBBr66uTE5rv9SHAO_GqJTytWSmgr0SBg8GkcD_R_tICV6Ct_fqOXPZFeJ3yVmNoVFMF5kAKG03fijBK-jo4I00IrXBqoB5I_7M4w_CQFKDGXWmfPRXlfpXfHWctOllbeOC8L0g2vrB60Vm1BB7J0v5-r1hUBGg/s4032/C54DF525-4025-4AEC-AA6F-04870EC2622F.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4YUJndSLXHzTvSBj-wUZBBr66uTE5rv9SHAO_GqJTytWSmgr0SBg8GkcD_R_tICV6Ct_fqOXPZFeJ3yVmNoVFMF5kAKG03fijBK-jo4I00IrXBqoB5I_7M4w_CQFKDGXWmfPRXlfpXfHWctOllbeOC8L0g2vrB60Vm1BB7J0v5-r1hUBGg/w400-h300/C54DF525-4025-4AEC-AA6F-04870EC2622F.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Platform cats</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiO69BNSZ1INweQsGjG-_UW4EW9NKatI91WzXSQ5rtB_LJuh2vPiA-9g-WcFmCo_AcYYWgQTW9rAkISI7_-K5SP1KsYUIgsNhznDHyaqIVPf413UXW_5RbdzV6jj208kBWDFE_IpKju9CM51UXojfwPkZbOSKXzAjBG2gMWF09lbrjMbPrLA/s4032/4BF1B3FD-660D-4E82-BB6E-18E6027A3E70.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiO69BNSZ1INweQsGjG-_UW4EW9NKatI91WzXSQ5rtB_LJuh2vPiA-9g-WcFmCo_AcYYWgQTW9rAkISI7_-K5SP1KsYUIgsNhznDHyaqIVPf413UXW_5RbdzV6jj208kBWDFE_IpKju9CM51UXojfwPkZbOSKXzAjBG2gMWF09lbrjMbPrLA/w400-h300/4BF1B3FD-660D-4E82-BB6E-18E6027A3E70.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terrain south of Blagoevgrad</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The landscape, as we head north along the Struma valley, reminds me of the North Pennines; not exactly what you’d call mountains, but definitely big and imposing as hills go. Occasionally snow-capped mountains do rear their heads in the distance. I’m already getting the impression of a big and diverse country, though not, I’m told, one with a large population: Wikipedia says under 7 million, of whom over a million live in the Sofia urban area.</p><p>Speaking of Sofia, in mid-afternoon I arrive there, and a new chapter begins.</p>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9410491.post-6138217055268043082023-03-17T18:25:00.004+00:002023-03-17T18:25:57.354+00:00Balkans day 16: Salonika<p>Thessaloniki – or Salonika as it was often referred to in twentieth-century literature, the title I’ve used for this blog post for the sake of Balkan thematic consistency – is a city with a hell of a history. Founded by a contemporary of Alexander the Great (and the husband of his half-sister) circa 315 BC, co-capital of the Byzantine Empire for a time, and the only majority-Jewish city in the world during the sixteenth century, there is history on every street corner. Quite literally: you’ll be walking along past apartment blocks along a main road and suddenly come to a fenced-off hole in the ground where some Archaeology (TM) is taking place.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQlQXyZ-gbf7YNS90Wy5ITVVIPqvDDdYdIMB9XZfydnJekEENvuOZjyDaCsu9UyjVvprau9FdsuAVa7v-lsSb-kY6nZngNgiAX98La_paOTX4SZKyEbzP5BAfmvdOMQtYNfqXYPTIaGwOwvNhwRN1SerbaVRy1fkJ0E5nt4jyaUAYSgvNPg/s4032/D6B05034-618D-4339-89A3-92FDB39BA118.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQlQXyZ-gbf7YNS90Wy5ITVVIPqvDDdYdIMB9XZfydnJekEENvuOZjyDaCsu9UyjVvprau9FdsuAVa7v-lsSb-kY6nZngNgiAX98La_paOTX4SZKyEbzP5BAfmvdOMQtYNfqXYPTIaGwOwvNhwRN1SerbaVRy1fkJ0E5nt4jyaUAYSgvNPg/w400-h300/D6B05034-618D-4339-89A3-92FDB39BA118.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea view from the top of the White Tower</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTkLw69Yy4FOqhaAZGy4HMOt4H9P6RbilJzpyjael1TSdMLHSR8__oubR9fhMMvMYjEFjUDtvTZ4dRWufrSxLohXfkPKXTtC3CzApB4X5VtB_a5dTvFhtptLK3ILFZgGnsA0lwnyEaY_fz1FNxyVLME6hSt_DeEp7W0DrLvUy_4qAhMPjcA/s4032/77E41093-FA35-4F14-A761-2B2D91E17333.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTkLw69Yy4FOqhaAZGy4HMOt4H9P6RbilJzpyjael1TSdMLHSR8__oubR9fhMMvMYjEFjUDtvTZ4dRWufrSxLohXfkPKXTtC3CzApB4X5VtB_a5dTvFhtptLK3ILFZgGnsA0lwnyEaY_fz1FNxyVLME6hSt_DeEp7W0DrLvUy_4qAhMPjcA/w300-h400/77E41093-FA35-4F14-A761-2B2D91E17333.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random dig site</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I got up scandalously late today (What? I’m on holiday, after all. Don’t judge me!), perhaps because I crossed a time zone boundary into Greece yesterday, which I assume caused me to be jetlagged. A beautiful Mediterranean day today, with no sign of yesterday’s rain. First stop was the Church of Saint Demetrios, an impressive building dedicated to the patron saint of the city.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jnE6OQ1jt7wrodB9F0Sru1RnXSNOqmlDkv44VMhxaSgs2dZWVV1Jae95QoywOIPNMv7TdjcTIx_Hs6tUr882y8l_5ejnYDaDBFNkCkNy2IK0F86gAdkFqbghAZC2edOmOLZwcvqL2rLRwEdA8CE9fFRRpVFiaEvxlGQWUk6qPSGVEqnzWA/s4032/852A5778-9FC0-4EAA-9B6D-78A9A538D546.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jnE6OQ1jt7wrodB9F0Sru1RnXSNOqmlDkv44VMhxaSgs2dZWVV1Jae95QoywOIPNMv7TdjcTIx_Hs6tUr882y8l_5ejnYDaDBFNkCkNy2IK0F86gAdkFqbghAZC2edOmOLZwcvqL2rLRwEdA8CE9fFRRpVFiaEvxlGQWUk6qPSGVEqnzWA/w300-h400/852A5778-9FC0-4EAA-9B6D-78A9A538D546.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chancel of Saint Demetrios</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjADc5a_Zw5T6LpWB8OQ0XaOTSpKjwaXAurcKRwD_h3JjLO_smk6wXm1Frw6c18ffMRjnldFTB9qYQO1PZiGbJL3VTghaqa-cAuAcJyCW_78hKroGUIclw8alXCPUjog78HJjVVRcQy3ZXrwlthK5H2XhyaoplrE6yFE1oiHD9-WIINmchjgg/s4032/E01B6A67-4DA7-4BDD-90D6-04FA8F6E51F2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjADc5a_Zw5T6LpWB8OQ0XaOTSpKjwaXAurcKRwD_h3JjLO_smk6wXm1Frw6c18ffMRjnldFTB9qYQO1PZiGbJL3VTghaqa-cAuAcJyCW_78hKroGUIclw8alXCPUjog78HJjVVRcQy3ZXrwlthK5H2XhyaoplrE6yFE1oiHD9-WIINmchjgg/w300-h400/E01B6A67-4DA7-4BDD-90D6-04FA8F6E51F2.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ciborium with saint’s remains</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Then it was off to the White Tower, and to a nearby restaurant with moussaka – need to get my Greek food fix in today, as I’m moving on tomorrow. Taking my time over the moussaka meant that I missed the archaeological museum, which closes at 15:30, so I went on a wander around some more nice parts of town.</p><p>I also made this video of the trajectory of the first (western) part of my trip, which I hope you enjoy!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw-YAteB3bL9LhlYKBcx7TLSp1U7v6THvQGu2y6R07lWkbkLQqK7-Y2BVop6twqAX2uXQVXtniyDXo' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761144542929061874noreply@blogger.com1