Most Popular Pages—Today

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1. Merchandise (11 visits)

Speculative Grammarian Merchandise. Introduction. In order to lend a hand to our good friends and steadfast supporters over at the Linguist List during their 2006 fund drive, we prepared a small selection of limited edition SpecGram merchandise, including T-shirts, stickers and magnets. Originally these items were only available as prizes awarded as part of the Linguist List fund drive. In 2012, several of the SpecGram editors suffered from a rare form of collective frontal lobe damage, which made it seem like a good idea to put together a SpecGram book. The result in 2013 was The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics. In 2014, Editor Mikael Thompson entered a deep fugue ... [ more ]


2. Archives (11 visits)

SpecGram Archives. A word from our Senior Archivist, Holger Delbrück: While bringing aging media to the web and hence the world is truly a labor of love, SpecGram tries the passion of even the most ardent admirer. Needless to say, we’ve fallen behind schedule. At every turn, the authors found in the pages of this hallowed journal stretch credibility with their gratuitous font mongering—first it was the IPA, then a few non-standard transcription systems, then Greek, and not just the alphabet, but the entire diacritical mess, and now I’ve got some god-forsaken Old Church Slavonic glyph sitting on my desk that no one can even name, and which would give the Unicode Consortium ... [ more ]


3. Cryptolinguistic Puzzle Γ—Mary Shapiro (10 visits)

Cryptolinguistic Puzzle Γ. Mary Shapiro, Truman State University. Like other cryptic crosswords, the clues in this puzzle are not straightforward. Unlike most, however, this one focuses mainly on languages and linguistics. For instance, the clue for Zapotec might be “Oto-Manguean variety alters pez coat” (anagram of pez coat), or “Indigenous Mexican language to destroy overtime prior to European Commission” (ZAP + O.T. + E.C.), or “a nice top, a zany blouse conceals retro Oaxacan language” (niCE TOP, A Zany), or many other combinations of puns, anagrams, or typographic quirks. Punctuation in clues is often misleading. Each clue contains both a ... [ more ]


4. Ministry of Propaganda (10 visits)

The SpecGram Ministry of Propaganda. Welcome to the SpecGram Ministry of Propaganda. The SpecGram Archive Elves™ have undertaken a project to digitize and share a sheaf of early 20th century SpecGram propaganda posters, which were used during the Great Linguistic War and the Second Linguistic War to encourage linguists everywhere to keep a stiff upper lip and a sense of humor during those trying times. We provide the digitized posters here for you to enjoy, retrospect on, and share. Select a poster to see a higher quality image, and for links to share on social media, to email friends, and to view or download the highest quality version of the image. ... Read SpecGram Every Month! ... [ more ]


5. Vol CLXV, No 4 (10 visits)

SPECULATIVE GRAMMARIAN, Volume CLXV, Number 4; October 2012, MANAGING EDITOR Trey Jones SENIOR EDITOR Keith Slater EDITOR EMERITUS Tim Pulju Speculative Grammarian, Vol CLXV, No 4 CONSULTING EDITORS David J. Peterson Bill Spruiell, ASSOCIATE EDITORS Madalena Cruz-Ferreira Daniela Müller Mikael Thompson, EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES Cem Bozsahin Florian Breit Jonathan Downie Adam Graham Tel Monks Mary Pearce Callum Robson Mary Shapiro Sheri Wells-Jensen, COMPTROLLER GENERAL Joey Whitford Stop Voicing Now! ... [ more ]


6. Vol CXCIV, No 2 (5 visits)

Speculative Grammarian Volume CXCIV, Number 2 Editor-in-Chief: Trey Jones; Executive Editors: Keith Slater, Mikael Thompson; Senior Editors: Jonathan Downie, Deak Kirkham; Contributing Editors: Pete Bleackley, Vincent Fish; Associate Editors: Luca Dinu, Yuval Wigderson, Daniel Swanson; Editorial Associates: Emily Davis, Nina Sloan; Comptroller General: Joey Whitford; We Put the [ˌsuʷpɚˈsɪliʲəs] in [ˌsuʷpɚˈsɪliʲəst]; October 2024, ... [ more ]


7. Vol CXLVIII, No 2 (5 visits)

Speculative Grammarian. Volume CXLVIII, Number 2. January 1998. Speculative Grammarian, Vol CXLVIII, No 2 EDITOR, Tim Pulju ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Trey Jones, Aya Katz, Sérgio Meira, Don Reindl, Mikael Thompson, EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE, John Newell, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. ... [ more ]


8. About Us (5 visits)

Speculative Grammarian and SpecGram.com. Our Story. The august journal Speculative Grammarian has a long, rich, and varied history, weaving an intricate and subtle tapestry from disparate strands of linguistics, philology, history, politics, science, technology, botany, pharmacokinetics, computer science, the mathematics of humor, basket weaving, archery, glass blowing, roller coaster design, and bowling, among numerous other, less obvious fields. SpecGram, as it is known to devotees and sworn enemies alike, has for centuries sought to bring together the greatest yet least understood minds of the time, embedding itself firmly in the cultural and psychological matrix of the global society while ... [ more ] Podcast!


9. Collateral Descendant of Lingua Pranca—New Advances in Morpheme Detoxification—D.O.G.M.A. (4 visits)

ADVERTISEMENT New Advances in Morpheme Detoxification. Directorate Opposing Glottological Morpheme Abuse1. As reported by the Council On Morpheme Abuse as early as 1978, the use and abuse of morphemes constitutes a serious threat to our society. Over the years, the general public has become more aware of morphemes, and their use has become common even in elementary schools. Most children nowadays know about some kinds of morphemes, usually by their “street” names, such “affixes” and “suffixes”. Those who study morphemes scientifically call them by their formal names: “free” “bound” “derivational” and “inflectional” some ... [ more ]


10. JLSSCNC—Progress in South American Protolinguistics—Robert Norris (4 visits)

Progress in South American Protolinguistics. Recent work in South American Proto-World language reconstruction has placed the well-attested Proto-Sino-Franco-Indonesian (*PSFI) superfamily (Pulju 1990) [See also Pulju 1989—eds.] in a larger historical context which includes Kiowan, a North American Indian language which has not, until now, been definitively affiliated with any language family (Watkins 1984). This paper gives evidence for a Proto-Sino-Kiowan (*PSK) superfamily, which interacted with Proto-Franco-Indonesian (*PFI) to form the well known *PSFI group. At this point it seems that the larger Proto-*PSFI-Kiowan (*P*PK) metasuperfamily, the Holy Grail of South ... [ more ] Book!


11. The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics (4 visits)

The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics . For decades, Speculative Grammarian has been the premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics—and now it is available in book form—both physical and electronic! We wish we were kidding,1 but no, seriously, we’ve published a large3 collection of SpecGram articles, along with just enough new material to force obsessive collectors and fans to buy it, regardless of the cost.4 From the Introduction: The past twenty-five years have witnessed many changes in linguistics, with major developments in linguistic theory, significant expansion ... [ more ]


12. Vol CLXXVII, No 4 (4 visits)

Speculative Grammarian Volume CLXXVII, Number 4 ... Trey Jones, Editor-in-Chief; Keith Slater, Executive Editor; Associate Editors: Pete Bleackley, Madalena Cruz-Ferreira, Jonathan Downie, Bill Spruiell, Mikael Thompson, Sheri Wells-Jensen; Assistant Editors: Virginia Bouchard, Mark Mandel, Yuval Wigderson; Editorial Associates: Kenny Baclawski, Adam Baker, Florian Breit, Bethany Carlson, Robin Day, Carin Marais, David Marino, Tel Monks, Laura Ryals, Mary Shapiro, Adham Smart, Kien-Wei Tseng, Don Unger; Joey Whitford, Comptroller General; Low-Hanging Fruit Tastes Just as Sweet; December 2016 ... [ more ]


13. The SpecGram Quiz to End All Quizzes (4 visits)

The SpecGram Quiz to End All Quizzes. ... Everyone makes Internet quizzes—even your three richest widowed aunts use their mite, if not their might, to bedazzle the gullible and amass those sweet, sweet clicks. So stand aside, ladies, SpecGram is on the make move! There’s a new quiz powerhouse in town, and since we don’t believe in planned obsolescence, you’ll never need nor want another!, Just answer these 17 handy-dandy mutually orthogonal questions to get the answers to all (or at least the 7 most important) of your burning questions. ... [ more ]


14. Vol CXCV, No 2 (4 visits)

Speculative Grammarian Volume CXCV, Number 2 Penultimate Issue Editor-in-Chief: Trey Jones; Executive Editors: Keith Slater, Mikael Thompson; Senior Editors: Jonathan Downie, Deak Kirkham, Vincent Fish; Contributing Editors: Pete Bleackley, Luca Dinu; Associate Editors: Yuval Wigderson, Daniel Swanson; Editorial Associates: Kenny Baclawski, Emily Davis, Gabriel Lanyi, Mark Mandel, Tel Monks; Comptroller General: Joey Whitford; All the Noise That’s Fit to Print; November 2025, ... [ more ]


15. Vol CLI, No 4 (4 visits)

SPECULATIVE GRAMMARIAN, Special Shades of Grey Issue, Volume CLI, Number 4; October 2006, Speculative Grammarian, Vol CLI, No 4, “I used to think, now I just read Speculative Grammarian.” —Noarn Chornsky, SPECIAL GUEST EDITOR Terry Langendoen, MANAGING EDITOR, Trey Jones, SENIOR EDITOR, Keith Slater, EDITOR EMERITUS, Tim Pulju, ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Clif Armstrong, Adam Baker, Daniel Currie Hall, Martin Hilpert, Damon Lord, Steven Lulich, Kean Kaufmann, Sheila McCann, Ken Miner, David J. Peterson, Bill Spruiell, Mikael Thompson, Jim Unger, Rita Watson, Joey Whitford, ... [ more ]


16. Cartoon Theories of Linguistics—Part E—Phonetics vs. Phonology—Hilário Parenchyma, C.Phil. (4 visits)

Cartoon Theories of Linguistics, Part E—Phonetics vs. Phonology. Hilário Parenchyma, C.Phil. Unintentional University of Lghtnbrgstn. We will skip the introduction, as we have been there, done that. Once more into the breach! For this installment in our series on Cartoon Theories of Linguistics, we will turn our attention to Phonetics and Phonology and the difference between the two: Phonetics:, ... Phonology:, ... Thanks to Professor Phlogiston, of the Unintentional University of Lghtnbrgstn, for the opportunity of a lifetime, as a student, to, on this occasion, share with so many of my fellow linguisticians my views, as illustrated above, concerning matters, which are of such immeasurable import ... [ more ] Merch! Book!


17. Vol CXCI, No 3 (4 visits)

Speculative Grammarian Volume CXCI, Number 3 Editor-in-Chief: Trey Jones; Executive Editor, Keith Slater, Senior Editors, Mikael Thompson, Jonathan Downie; Contributing Editors: Pete Bleackley, Deak Kirkham; Associate Editors: Vincent Fish, Mark Mandel; Assistant Editors: Emily Davis, Luca Dinu, Yuval Wigderson, Editorial Associate, Reed Steiner; Comptroller General: Joey Whitford; Palatalizing the Glottal Stop Since 1205; December 2021 ... [ more ]


18. The /bɪɡɪnɪŋ/ of the /ɛnd/—A Letter from the Editor-in-Chief (4 visits)

The /bɪɡɪnɪŋ/ of the /ɛnd/, A Letter from the Editor-in-Chief. Automagically Transcribed℠ by the, LingTechCo Dictaphonemizer 3.1™. T.J.: (yelling) Mr. Ó McBar van der Fitzez del Abבןsøn­ович­όπουλ­escu ǃ Mr. Ó McBar van der Fitzez del Abבןsøn­ович­όπουλ­escu ǃ I can’t figure out how to get this new-fangled Dictaphonemizer to turn on. I already wrangled a one-month extension and I still don’t have anything for my editorial, which ... [ more ]


19. Vol CXLVIII, No 4 (4 visits)

Speculative Grammarian. Volume CXLVIII, Number 4. March 1998. Speculative Grammarian, Vol CXLVIII, No 4 EDITOR, Tim Pulju ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Aya Katz, John Newell, Keith Slater, EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES, Dave Fleck, Victor T. Jones III, Donald Francis Reindl, Sérgio Meira de Santa Cruz Oliveira, I don't reckon you will find anything on Judge Irwin, ... [ more ]


20. Why Linguistic Theories Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson—Reviewed by Morris Swadesh III (3 visits)

Why Linguistic Theories Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. Reviewed by Morris Swadesh III. Continuing to extend the ideas of their blockbuster success Why Nations Fail and its ever-growing line of applications to subjects of decreasing international significance, including Why Political Parties Fail, Why Universities Fail, Why Major Motion Pictures Fail, Why Debut Novels Fail, and most recently Why Peach Pies Fail, Acemoglu and Robinson turn their analytical attentions to the study of language in their newest offering Why Linguistic Theories Fail. The stakes could not be lower, and frankly, the analysis is correspondingly disappointing. The central tenet of the parent analysis, ... [ more ]


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Last updated Jan. 8, 2026.