Geoffrey Sampson

Geoffrey Sampson: Home Page

Hello! Summarizing myself in a few words, I am:

• an Englishman
• born in 1944
• a university don
• a politically-active British subject
• writer on many topics, ranging from
  
  — the nature–nurture debate, through
  — the world’s writing systems, and
  — the statistical problem of frequency estimation, to
  — a textbook on law for computing students, and
  — translations of ancient Chinese poetry

Site Contents

This page gives access to other pages on:

• my life
• my career
• my intellectual contributions
• the biggest thing I ever played a (very small) part in
• my writings:
  
  — my books
  — recent and forthcoming publications
  — index to my full publication list
  — an interview on the past and future of linguistics
  — “Swimming against the current”: a video “keynote talk” about literacy acquisition and training


• downloadable research resources produced by our team (and allies)
• some questions I am often asked about language and languages:
  
  — when and where did English begin?
  — what was the earliest ancestor of English like? (“Say something in Proto-Indo-European!”)
  — should I worry that my child is late starting to talk?


• where was Odysseus’ home?
• “Minds in Uniform” – if you would like to read just one piece of my published writing, dear visitor, I respectfully suggest that you choose this one
• … or, if you see Noam Chomsky as someone who has made serious intellectual contributions, this piece might cure your illusion
• did Georg Cantor believe he was God’s amanuensis?
• why Guy Deutscher is wrong about Gladstone and Greek colour-blindness
• remarks on the death of learned journals
• why I am a Christian
• sad times in the Church of England
• why are metropolitan élites politically irresponsible?
• how the British Government classed me as a dissident
• my logo

Clicking on my name at top or bottom of my other pages will return you to this home page.

中文姓名

散 復 生

── 這雙姓名是我最初中文老師取的。 周文王有「四友」, 一位是散宜生。① 　第 21 世紀姓散的, 或許只有我 !

①『惟文王, 尙克修 和我有夏, 亦惟 有若 … 散 宜 生 … 無能往來, 兹迪 彝教, 文王蔑德 降于國人。』 尙書 5.16 (君奭), 12–13。

Erdős Number

5

E-Mail Address

— Please note: this public e-mail address has strong spam filters in place. For instance, any messages must be personal to me alone. Messages to multiple addressees, or with any other spamlike features, will be discarded before I see them, without notification to the sender. Gmail users: since Nov 2022, the Gmail system has accepted e-mails only from domains which incorporate certain new security arrangements. This may well be a wise protective measure, but unfortunately the technical complexities involved are too great for me to deal with; so, if you write to me from a gmail.com address, I regret that I shall not be able to reply.

Geoffrey Sampson

last changed 6 Jul 2023