This report examines the behavior of a morpheme um in Toba Batak (Malayo-Polynesian) which alternates as a prefix or an infix, and argues that the observed variation is conditioned by constraints on consonant clusters. Thus, Toba Batak shows that segmental factors may crucially influence the linear position of affixes, in contrast with a wealth of cases cited in the prosodic morphology literature in support of claims that the distributional properties of morphemes are often conditioned by prosodic structure. In addition, evidence from several sources on Toba Batak suggest that um in this language has been migrating from infixed to prefixed positions over time, and that taken as a whole, the stages involved in this change are linguistically coherent. This pattern of shift has interesting implications for typology and for theories of language evolution.

This article investigates how China’s national vision of ecological development integrates digital technology through the narrative of “digital ecological civilization.” Employing the framework of sociotechnical imaginaries, it explores how this narrative emerges nationally and is localized in Guizhou, a burgeoning data centre hub. Nationally, “Digital China” and “ecological civilization” converge into “digital ecological civilization,” portraying digital technology as a transformative force for human–nature harmony, distinct from Maoist ideals of dominating nature. In Guizhou, local discourse highlights the province’s “natural” advantages – climate, resources and karst landscape – framing its digital growth as natural and inevitable. Yet, this narrative obscures extensive state interventions, mythicizing technology’s role while sidelining historical complexities and socialist-era legacies. It legitimizes state-led infrastructural investments and projects a unified future vision. The study illuminates how a “techno-eco unity” sociotechnical imaginary shapes China’s developmental path, revealing the intricate interplay of technology, ecology and modernity in crafting an alternative modernization narrative.

Color naming in the world's languages has traditionally been viewed as reflecting either a universal set of focal colors, or linguistic relativity. Recently, a different view has gained support: color naming may be accounted for in terms of the overall shape of perceptual color space. Here, we show that the new shape-based perspective can clarify which languages have color-naming systems that deviate from what universal forces would predict. Specifically, we find that the color-naming systems of two languages that have been held to counterexemplify universals of color naming—Pirahã and Warlpiri—are in fact consistent with the structure of color space. In contrast, two other languages that have not yet been the focus of much attention—Karajá and Waorani—are apparently inconsistent with that structure in a substantial way. We propose that the notion of ‘fit to the shape of color space’ provides a useful and objective means of determining which languages have genuinely unusual color-naming systems.