Post #2170515
2026-05-07 05:18 UTC
It's not often that #linguistics gets a scandal reported on in the international press and, honestly, I find this one quite funny! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/french-professor-florent-montaclair-accused-award-prize.
Why not treat yourself to a gold medal and then award it to yourself? (but I don't recommend making up qualifications to get a pay rise).
As a teenager, I experienced the opposite: my school awarded cups for all sorts of achievements on a regular basis. You got a certificate and the cup which you had to get engraved with your name and then it went in a display cabinet with the list of awardees for all to marvel at. My mum pointed out that this was a waste of money and so, after a couple of awards, I stopped picking them up to get them engraved.
Replies (3)
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@ancientsounds@mastodonapp.uk 2026-05-07 17:54
@ElenLeFoll@fediscience.org I think it's a great idea! Like the Fields medal for maths - made up by the field itself. There aren't enough high honours in linguistics. Time for a proper international academic committee to take it over, though.
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@jakob@pxi.social 2026-05-07 05:31
@ElenLeFoll@fediscience.org I cannot side with the prosecution on this one. The legitimacy is about on par with an opaque institution commodifying hegemonial nonsense like cheap flatpack furniture.
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@tschfflr@fediscience.org 2026-05-07 05:54
@ElenLeFoll@fediscience.org #linguistics is called „a discipline particularly little known“ 😢