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Anna Belew

@nabelew.bsky.social
2.8K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts

Linguist (revitalization, documentation, sociolinguistics) but also not a professional account so I’m gonna say cuss words 🤷‍♀️ she/her

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Reposted by Anna Belew
Endangered Languages Project @e-l-p.bsky.social · 20h
Coming up in one week - join us to learn about documenting your language, connect with other folks from Indigenous and minoritized language communities around the world, and grow your own skills in language work! Register (free) at: bit.ly/2026langdoc #langsky #indigisky #linguistics #languages
bit.ly
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: ELP/LDTC Language Documentation Learning Series 2026. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Join us for a free 9-week learning series on language documentation - how to make good records of your language! Each week, we'll learn about a different topic in language documentation. No prior expe...
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Ah, we're back to "the U.S. linguistic security apparatus must revitalize endangered regional language isolates as a layered security measure" well boys let's revitalize all the languages we tried to eradicate so that they can advance our efforts to eradicate OTHER people
smallwarsjournal.com
Centauri, High Valyrian, and Klingon: Why Advanced Encryption Standards Cannot Replace Low-Density Human Dialects
The U.S. linguistic security apparatus must revitalize endangered regional language isolates as a layered security measure.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
What a thrill to get to interview Keoni Mahelona of Te Hiku Media for Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000! www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/epis... Keoni, @alexhanna.bsky.social and I had a wonderful conversation about technosolutionism and colonialism in language technology.
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
FYI for anyone who ever crosses the US border: CBP can now open your phone to look for nudes just cause they’re bored
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
this shit is just pathetic please, summarize this for me
a single message that says “okay awesome!” with Meta AI offering to “✨summarize 1 unread”
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Thinking of sci-fi niches for the human race that aren't "adaptable," which is the coward's choice. I feel like we'd be famous for being good physicists. Splitting the atom before sending a human into space feels like it would be a rare sequence of events.
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Endangered Languages Project @e-l-p.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Registration for the 2026 Language Documentation Learning Series is now open! This free, online 9-week course will cover the basics of language documentation: how to make good records of your language. No prior experience needed - we’ll start from the beginning! bit.ly/2026langdoc
Flyer with background photo of snowy mountains and text: Language
Documentation Learning Series
WEEK 1:
Language Endangerment and Documentation
Anna Belew
Endangered Languages
Project /University of Hawaii at Manoa
Friday, October 9, 2026 2:00 pm Hawaii (UTC-10)
https://bit.ly/2026langdoc

On the right is a photo of Anna Belew, at the bottom are logos of the Endangered Languages Project and Language Documentation Training Center
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
oh thank GOD i can be connected to “qualified conversations” about language revitalization! i have no clue what i would have done if this shitty AI prompt, and the hundreds of others clogging up my inbox, hadn’t sent me this very insightful offer that totally makes sense
email screenshot from “Marissa Whitfield” with subject line “language revitalization advocates needing Endangered Languages”

body text is “Anna,
If I could connect you with 10-12 qualified conversations among language revitalization advocates every month, would that be useful?
Regards, Marissa”
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Reposted by Anna Belew
Global Voices @globalvoices.org · 13/09/2026
The Ryūkyūan People's quest for self-determination and Indigenous status has been thwarted by over 100 years of harsh assimilation policies and a heavy U.S military presence since WWII.
globalvoices.org
In Japan, Ryūkyūan Indigenous claim hindered by U.S. military bases in Okinawa
The Ryūkyūan People's quest for self-determination and Indigenous status has been thwarted by over 100 years of harsh assimilation policies and a heavy U.S military presence since WWII.
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Nikes | AlexLeeDee @alexleedee.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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Friendly Neighborhood Mouse @missmouse.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Friday morning, I was gardening when I checked my phone. A request had gone out for help. For 25+ hours, ICE had been laying siege to a quiet neighborhood in Frederick, MD. Community members were afraid, some didn’t want to leave their homes. ICE vehicles seemed to be lurking on every corner.
ICE vehicle - black Nissan Maxima with plate cover - posted up in a spot that also serves as an elementary school bus stop. Another ICE vehicle, black Dodge Durango, lurking around the community. Two more ICE vehicles - black Dodge Durango and a white SUV, unclear on make, model - on a quiet residential street, being quietly creepy. Note that the white SUV has its plate covered. Yet another ICE vehicle. Black Nissan Pathfinder. They were all over the neighborhood.
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
my favorite one this year was the guy who sent a several hundred page document on how Sanskrit contains all divine mathematics dating back to the birth of the universe, and attached were two reviewer blurbs about how brilliant and paradigm-changing it was …the reviewers were Grok and Meta AI
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
‘Polyakov cut the engine and set his GoPro to record. “So, the goal,” he said, “Introduce this Palaeolithic tribe to modernity… Let’s land on this bitch.”’ ‘[Protections are an] agenda “to keep certain groups stuck in the past”’. The footsoldiers of empire never refresh their narratives do they
theguardian.com
‘This is colonialism for clicks’: the influencers attempting to meet and film the world’s most isolated tribes
A new breed of adventurer is chasing internet fame by targeting uncontacted peoples. Critics say they are risking the wellbeing of these remote communities – and their own lives
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
did any other UHM linguistics people double take at this
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Endangered Languages Project @e-l-p.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Happy Music Monday, a series to spotlight music in Indigenous languages around the world! This week we're tuning in to Meghalaya, India, where breakout star Reble has been bringing her language, Khasi, into the top tiers of hip-hop talent:
youtu.be
Terror - Reble (prod by Tre Ess) | Shillong
YouTube video by Reble
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Alex @purplechrain.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
On the subject of Dolly’s union/working class solidarity, her 9 to 5 LP included Woody Guthrie’s ´Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)’, a protest song about the racist mistreatment & media coverage of exploited Mexican farm workers who died when the plane deporting them crashed in 1948.
youtu.be
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
YouTube video by Dolly Parton - Topic
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Finally getting around to A Woman of the Iron People, after the rare experience of an employee at PDX’s superb SFF bookshop Parallel Worlds listening to four or five of my faves and recommending the same author’s Ring of Swords (liked!) I love asking knowledgeable humans for advice
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 23/08/2026
I guess it's kind of hard to view the dismissal of one grublike phrenologist as a major hit to free speech after major American universities have in the past year banned the use of words and eliminated entire departments in the hopes of pleasing the senile president
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I know Forever War is allegedly one of the greatest SF novels of all time and I’m TRYING but uh if military actions are like the most boring thing I can imagine reading about, is there any reason for me to keep slogging through this? is it going anywhere other than maneuver reports? this is PAINFUL
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
huh that’s so weird, why would AI be hated by the side of the political spectrum which is more likely to value the wellbeing and survival of all over the profits and power of the few 🤔
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Endangered Languages Project @e-l-p.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
How can communities teach and strengthen their languages online, even when their speakers are scattered due to war or disasters? In this month's Stories from the Heart, Jacques Muisha Muhabura shared about his work in Goma, DRC, to teach and promote the Kihunde language through social media:
youtube.com
Stories from the Heart: Jacques Muisha Muhabura (Kihunde, DR Congo)
YouTube video by Endangered Languages Project
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
grabbed a copy at @powells.bsky.social and the cashier said “I got so excited and curious when this came in because I’m trying to learn my family’s language” so I gave them an @e-l-p.bsky.social button and we both had a pleasant transaction 😌
Copy of How to Kill a Language by Sophia Smith Galer
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Matt Cameron @mattcameron.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The purity of the rage I have been carrying as I watch Samuel Alito's decision to uphold Donald Trump's signature on Stephen Miller's plan to have Pam Bondi and Marco Rubio end Temporary Protected Status for Haiti as I watch the terror spread is the closest thing science will find to cold fusion
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Matt Cameron @mattcameron.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Sunday: I spoke to a packed church south of Boston looking to me for answers and could provide next to none Monday: half a dozen unexpectedly detained Haitian clients Tuesday: could only bear witness to the anguish of a detention Wednesday: a scream over the phone that still haunts me now
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Litbowl @litbowl.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
From The Essential W.S. Merwin: bookshop.org/a/862/9781556595134 #poem #booksky #writing
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
remember when cool NY Times linguist John McWhorter said “y’all” was “too ethnic” for anyone serious to use
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Will Perkins @williamhperkins.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This completely unhinged WB promo for Deep Space Nine – an ill conceived attempt to make the most cerebral of Star Trek shows look “cool” – has got a screaming rock dude wailing over a shot of Captain Sisko watching his wife blow up:
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Go check out @geraldroche.bsky.social's review of @sophiasgaler.bsky.social's "How to Kill a Language" for a surgical dissection of the history of language oppression denialism, clear and informed reminders of its political nature, and a buncha links to good research (incl. by @chirila.bsky.social):
theconversation.com
Languages are disappearing, and the problem is political
Language loss is often a reluctant choice made to escape violence, not a willing choice made to gain benefits.
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 31/07/2026
"WE THE FUCKING JUDGE SON" New York, I love you. I love you so fucking much. Via wali_talks on IG
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maybe: annie rauwerda @annierau.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
starting a collection of quotes like this
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
My brilliant colleagues at @e-l-p.bsky.social put so much knowledge, time, and care into responding to something no one should ever have to respond to. If you were deeply disgusted and troubled by @newyorker.com’s decision to publish this smug anti-Indigenous garbage, please read this.
endangeredlanguages.com
A Response to “Sometimes It’s O.K. to Let a Language Die” | Endangered Languages Project
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Dani Garavelli @danigaravelli.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
It's July 25, the anniversary of the fall of fascism in Italy, so, in town squares everywhere, people are gathering to eat "anti-fascist pasta", a tradition started by a family who fed their village to celebrate on the day. It's a lovely communal affair with partisan songs. The food was delicious!
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
For anyone who’s ever seen one of my talks and heard me say “we’re currently in the worst time for language loss in all known human history”: I’m legitimately excited that there’s now research concretely indicating that is wrong, and I can take it out of my slides 😌
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Claire @chirila.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I have a new paper out in Science today with colleagues Damian Blasi, Marcus Hamilton, and Russell Gray. www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
science.org
The rise and fall of language diversity through the Holocene
Characterizing the factors that have shaped linguistic diversity is fundamental for understanding human history, culture, and cognition. In this study, we combined statistical and social computational...
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Sami Schalk @drsamischalk.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Police murdered a Black man in the street in Madison WI today. Shot point blank in the head while on the ground, tased, and surrounded by four cops. It looks like an execution. Multiple videos circulating online. Things are about to get very bad here.
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Bridge Chase @bchasemadethis.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
No one does it better than @nabelew.bsky.social. Excellent thread breaking down terrible arguments re: language reclamation. While this article is by no means 'journalism' I will once again beg publications to review our guide for writing about language 'endangerment': tinyurl.com/languagejour... 🗞️
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
i see everyone is still being very normal over on X, the Everything App
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
dude annoyed me so much I forgot to note a recent study showing language & culture investments produce a net economic BENEFIT in British Columbia so even if you want to be a bloodless quant about it, funding language revitalization is good for GDP fpcc.ca/stories/fpcc...
fpcc.ca
FPCC Announces Economic Impact - First Peoples Cultural Council
FPCC announces the Conference Board of Canada's report on the significant economic impact its projects have on GDP and job creation.
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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
they’re hunting tourists
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 21/07/2026
Leaders of the movement say they will continue campaigning but will not stage another march through New Delhi.
aljazeera.com
India's ‘cockroach' protest movement halts marches after police violence
Leaders of the movement say they will continue campaigning but will not stage another march through New Delhi.
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The arguments against language reclamation haven't changed much in the nearly 20 years I've been working in this field: "It costs too much." "People are choosing to abandon their languages, so let them." "They have no practical use." "It's just sentimental nostalgia." Fuck All That, a thread:
newyorker.com
Sometimes It’s O.K. to Let a Language Die
When cultural preservation comes at the expense of speakers’ decisions, sometimes it's O.K. to let a language die.
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
“suicidal empathy” as one of the ubiquitous buzzwords used by the rightwing bot net is one of the craziest DARVOs they’ve come up with killing everyone by brutally enforcing systems devoid of empathy and calling it suicide: an all-time crown jewel of self-exculpatory destroyer discourse
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Linda Holmes @lindaholmes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
It’s so important to remind people that we can do good smart things that help and don’t hurt.
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Khanh Pham for Oregon @khanhphamfororegon.com · 19/07/2026
It's unacceptable that the campaign to defund PCEF has spent the last few weeks brazenly lying to the public to collect signatures. It suggests backers know the public wouldn't otherwise support their effort to steal PCEF money for more cops. loom.ly/46IZ97c
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
"Are we creating a kind of being that matters morally? Are AI systems conscious, in some way? And, if they aren’t now, might they become so soon?" Are we creating an excuse to look away from things that actually matter morally? What should we call these systems to get governments to pay attention?
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Anna Belew @nabelew.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Today at 3pm Pacific! Tarryn is awesome, this will be a great talk. bit.ly/stories-from...
bit.ly
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Stories from the Heart: Community Language Projects from Ready to Revitalize. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the mee...
Join us to hear real-life stories of language revitalization around the world! Each month from April 2026 through March 2027, different Ready to Revitalize alumni around the world will be sharing ab...
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 13/07/2026
If ICE can simply execute anyone at any time, none of us have any basic rights.
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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
just an evil fuck
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 10/07/2026
There's every reason to think that extending personhood to AI will produce the same outcome as "rights for corporations," which is the *opposite* of the outcome of "Rights for Nature." Rights for nature come at the expense of corporations. 27/
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