Projects:

Publications:

• Greenhill, SJ. 2018. Treemaker: A Python library for creating a Newick formatted tree from a set of classification strings. Journal of Open Source Software, 3(31), 1040.
  Abstract PDF doi: 10.21105/joss.01040 Code Website

  treemaker is a Python library to convert a text-based classification schema into a Newick file for use in phylogenetic and bioinformatic programs. Research in linguistics or cultural evolution often produces or uses tree taxonomies or classifications. However, these are usually not in a format readily available for use in programs that can understand and manipulate trees.

• Bromham L, Hua X, Cardillo M, Schneemann H & Greenhill SJ. 2018. Parasites and politics: why cross-cultural studies must control for relatedness, proximity and covariation. Royal Society Open Science, 5, 191100.
  Abstract PDF doi: 10.1098/rsos.181100

  A growing number of studies seek to identify predictors of broad-scale patterns in human cultural diversity, but three sources of non-independence in human cultural variables can bias the results of cross-cultural studies. First, related cultures tend to have many traits in common, regardless of whether those traits are functionally linked. Second, societies in geographical proximity will share …

• List J-M, Greenhill SJ, Anderson C, Mayer T, Tresoldi T & Forkel R. 2018. CLICS2: An Improved Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications Assembling Lexical Data with Help of Cross-Linguistic Data Formats. Linguistic Typology, 22: 277-306.
  Abstract PDF doi: 10.1515/lingty-2018-0010 Website

  The Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications (CLICS), has established a computer-assisted framework for the interactive representation of cross-linguistic colexification patterns. In its current form, it has proven to be a useful tool for various kinds of investigation into cross-linguistic semantic associations, ranging from studies on semantic change, patterns of conceptualization, and …

• List J-M, Forkel R, Greenhill SJ, Tresoldi T & Walworth M. 2018. Sequence Comparison in Computational Historical Linguistics: Phonetic Alignments and Cognate Detection with LingPy 2.6. Journal of Language Evolution, 3(2): 130-144.
  Abstract PDF doi: 10.1093/jole/lzy006

  With increasing amounts of digitally available data from all over the world, manual annotation of cognates in multilingual word lists becomes more and more time-consuming in historical linguistics. Using available software packages to pre-process the data prior to manual analysis can drastically speed up the process of cognate detection. Furthermore, it allows us to get a quick overview on data …

• Moravec JC, Atkinson QD, Bowern C, Greenhill SJ, Jordan D, Ross RM, Gray RD, Marsland S & Cox MP. 2018. Post-Marital Residence Patterns Show Lineage-Specific Evolution. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(6): 594-601.
  Abstract PDF doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.002

  Where a newly-married couple lives, termed post marital residence, varies cross-culturally and changes over time. While many factors have been proposed as drivers of this change, among them general features of human societies like warfare, migration and gendered division of subsistence labour, little is known about whether changes in residence patterns exhibit global regularities. Here, we study …

• Morin O, Winters J, Müller T, Morisseau T, Etter C & Greenhill SJ. 2018. What smartphone apps may contribute to language evolution research. Journal of Language Evolution, 3(2): 91-93.
  Abstract Get Paper doi: 110.1093/jole/lzy005

  Unlike a standard online experiment, a gaming app lets participants interact freely with a vast number of partners, as many times as they wish. The gain is not merely one of statistical power. Cultural evolutionists can use gaming apps to allow large numbers of participants to communicate synchronously; to build realistic transmission chains that avoid the losses of information that occurs in …