We analyse linearised field equations around the Minkowski metric, with its standard flat parallel transport structure, in models of newer GR, which refers to quadratic actions in terms of a nonmetricity tensor. We show that half of the freedom in choosing the model parameters is immediately fixed by asking for reasonable properties of tensors and vectors, defined with respect to spatial rotations, and we accurately describe the much more complicated sector of scalars. In particular, we show that, from the teleparallel viewpoint, the STEGR model with an additional term of a gradient squared of the metric determinant exhibits one and a half new dynamical modes, and not just one new dynamical mode as it was previously claimed.