Publications:

• Next generation language phylogenies.

  

  Greenhill SJ. 2025. Next generation language phylogenies. Diachronica.

  The biggest advance in historical linguistics over recent years has been the application of phylogenetic methods. This is no longer a marginal enterprise inflicted by non-linguists on innocent linguistic data, rather there are more than 330 publications tackling a strikingly diverse range of topics.3 This sheer number indicates that phylogenetic methods are tools that historical linguists find useful to answer the questions they care about. However, where do we go from here to make sure our phylogenetic toolkit is best placed to answer the questions we will want to answer in the future?

  Abstract PDF 10.1075/dia.25023.bow

• Lexibank 2: pre-computed features for large-scale lexical data..

  

  Blum F, List JM, Barrientos C, Englisch J, Forkel R, Greenhill SJ & Rzymski C. Preprint. Lexibank 2: pre-computed features for large-scale lexical data.. Open Research Europe.

  Large-scale lexical and grammatical datasets nowadays play an important role in comparative linguistics. However, the lack of standardization remains a challenge exacerbating extension and reuse of published data. We present an updated version of Lexibank, a large-scale lexical dataset, expanding on previous efforts to standardize and unify cross-linguistic data. This new version includes over 3,100 languages and more than one-and-a-half million word forms, substantially broadening the scope and utility of the previous resource. Our dataset has been systematically curated using a dedicated …

  Abstract PDF 10.12688/openreseurope.20216.1

• Projected speaker numbers and dormancy risks of Canada’s Indigenous languages.

  

  Boissonneault M, Tallman A, Gast V & Greenhill SJ. 2025. Projected speaker numbers and dormancy risks of Canada’s Indigenous languages. Royal Society Open Science. 12241091.

  UNESCO launched the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in 2022 to draw attention to the impending loss of nearly half of the world’s linguistic diversity. However, how the speaker numbers and dormancy risks of these languages will evolve remains largely unexplored. Here, we use Canadian census data and probabilistic population projection to estimate changes in speaker numbers and dormancy risks of 27 Indigenous languages. Our model suggests that speaker numbers could, over the period 2001–2101, decline by more than 90% in 16 languages and that dormancy risks could surpass 50% among …

  Abstract PDF 10.1098/rsos.241091

• Methods in Malayo-Polynesian comparative-historical linguistics.

  

  Ross M, & Greenhill SJ. 2024. Methods in Malayo-Polynesian comparative-historical linguistics. In Adelaar A & Schapper A (Eds) The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  This chapter considers methodological issues in the classification and subgrouping of Malayo-Polynesian (MP) languages. It compares applications of the traditional comparative method and newer Bayesian phylogenetics in Austronesian historical linguistics, arguing that they present complementary rather than competitive approaches. The comparison can be used to illuminate contentious points in the MP tree. The chapter discusses the application of methods to MP by alluding to the higher-order phylogeny of Austronesian on which most Austronesianist historical linguists agree.

  Abstract PDF 10.1093/oso/9780198807353.003.0003

Projects:

Languages of Barrier Islands, Sumatra - Description, History and Typology

The Barrier Islands Languages project is a project funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP230102019) titled: “Languages of Barrier Islands, Sumatra: Description, History and Typology”.

This project will run between 2023 and 2027 and investigate under-/undocumented Austronesian languages of the Barrier Islands, including Mentawai, (Simaluaya) Nias, Semeulue and Sikule, as well as neighbouring Northwest Sumatra languages, such as Simalungun Batak. New knowledge will be generated into the languages, cultures and societies of the region and be made freely available to the public.

Research will uncover past migration patterns in Southeast Asia, advance language theory, such as linguistic typology and language change, and support the computational modelling of Austronesian for future language technologies.



Grambank - a database of structural (typological) features of language

Grambank is a database of structural (typological) features of language. It consists of 195 logically independent features (most of them binary) spanning all subdomains of morphosyntax. The Grambank feature questionnaire has been filled in, based on reference grammars, for 2,467 languages. The aim is to eventually reach as many as 3,500 languages. The database can be used to investigate deep language prehistory, the geographical-distribution of features, language universals and the functional interaction of structural features.



Kinbank - Database of Kinship terminology

Kinbank is a database of kinship terminologies to be used for exploring cross-linguistic diversity in kinship organisation. The database includes 1229 languages and a set of 100 core kin types between Grandparents and Grandchildren, and between Parent’s siblings, and Parent’s siblings’ children. A major advantage of Kinbank is the focused language family sampling and sampling based on occurrence in existing anthropological databases (e.g. d-place.org), allowing us to test the relationship between languages and behaviour. This allows the use of phylogenetic methods to reconstruct the states of proto-kinship, account for common ancestry in models of kinship change, and test for correlated evolution between linguistic and behavioural patterns.



Lexibank - a public repository of standardized wordlists with computed phonological and lexical features

The past decades have seen substantial growth in digital data on the world’s languages. At the same time, the demand for cross-linguistic datasets has been increasing, as witnessed by numerous studies devoted to diverse questions on human prehistory, cultural evolution, and human cognition. Unfortunately, most published datasets lack standardization which makes their comparison difficult. Here, we present a new approach to increase the comparability of cross-linguistic lexical data. We have designed workflows for the computer-assisted lifting of datasets to Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, a collection of standards that make these datasets more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). We test the Lexibank workflow on 100 lexical datasets from which we derive an aggregated database of wordlists in unified phonetic transcriptions covering more than 2000 language varieties. We illustrate the benefits of our approach by showing how phonological and lexical features can be automatically inferred, complementing and expanding existing cross-linguistic datasets.



GELATO - GEnes and LAnguages TOgether

The GeLaTo dataset is a worldwide diversity panel of available population genetic samples matched with databases of linguistic, cultural and environmental diversity. Population genetic samples are assigned to existing GlottoCodes, following ethnolinguistic criteria: the data is filtered following the indication of geneticists, linguists, cultural anthropologists and historians. The dataset provides elaborated summary statistics such as genetic diversity within a population, genetic proximity between pairs of populations, sharing of identical motifs, and demographic history reconstructions.



CLICS3 - Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications

The original Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications (CLICS), has established a computer-assisted framework for the interactive representation of cross-linguistic colexification patterns. 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 linguistic paleontology. But CLICS has also been criticized for obvious shortcomings. Building on standardization efforts reflected in the CLDF initiative and novel approaches for fast, efficient, and reliable data aggregation, CLICS² expanded the original CLICS database. CLICS³ - the third installment of CLICS - exploits the framework pioneered in CLICS² to more than double the amount of data aggregated in the database.