In the News
Press and media coverage of my research, collected from across my publications.
74 media items across 21 publications.
2025
Enduring constraints on grammar revealed by Bayesian spatiophylogenetic analyses.
A solid base for scaling up: the structure of numeration systems.
Projected speaker numbers and dormancy risks of Canada’s Indigenous languages
2023
Societies of strangers do not speak grammatically simpler languages
Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages
- Media Release
- New language database narrows search for first speakers of Indo-European
- Farmers or ranchers? New analysis points to hybrid origin for Indo-European languages
- New language database narrows search for first speakers of Indo-European
- Origin of Indo-European languages traced back to 8000 years ago
- Origin of Indo-European languages date back to about 8,100 years ago, says study
- Las lenguas indoeuropeas se expandieron por Eurasia en oleadas y desde orígenes diferentes
- Study ‘recalibrates’ whole understanding of Indo-European origins
Kinbank: A global database of kinship terminology
Grambank’s Typological Advances Support Computational Research on Diverse Languages
Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss
2022
Lexibank, a public repository of standardized wordlists with computed phonological and lexical features
2021
Global predictors of language endangerment and the future of linguistic diversity.
- ‘Sprachbegabung hat nichts mit Intelligenz zu tun’: Linguist klärt Mythen zu Mehrsprachigkeit auf
- Drivers of language loss
- Languages: One tongue could be lost per month this century | New Scientist
- 1,500 languages could be lost in the next 100 years, study finds - CBS News
- Calls for funding boost to preserve Indigenous dialects as languages rapidly disappear
- Pro Monat wird mindestens eine Sprache verloren gehen
- ‘More than words’: Australia urged to lift its game in preserving Indigenous languages
Kin Against Kin: Internal Co-selection and the Coherence of Kinship Typologies.
2019
Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure
- Emotion concepts are not same worldwide | The National Tribune
- What is love? It depends on what language you speak, researchers find | The Japan Times
- How words we use shape our feelings | News | The Times
- What is love? It depends which language you speak - Non Perele
- True meanings of words of emotion get lost in translation, study finds | Science | The Guardian
- Emotional Words Such as ‘Love’ Mean Different Things in Different Languages - Scientific American
- On peut traduire les mots mais pas (toujours) les émotions - Sciences et Avenir
- World’s languages describe emotions in very different ways - Los Angeles Times
- ‘Equivalent’ words used to express emotions in different languages vary greatly in their meanings | Daily Mail Online
- Meaning of emotions may vary across different languages, study shows - Evening Express
- Emotions Like Love, Anger, and Anxiety May Differ Between Cultures
- The meaning of emotion: Cultural and biological evolution impact how humans feel feelings
- Come dite voi ‘felicità’? Le emozioni non parlano la stessa lingua - Repubblica.it
Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan
The ecological drivers of variation in global language diversity
Drivers of geographical patterns of North American language diversity
2017
The evolutionary dynamics of language systems
2015
Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity
- ‘Complex societies evolved without belief in all-powerful deity’
- To foster complex societies, tell people a god is watching | Science/AAAS | News
- Belief in supernatural punishment not ‘big gods’ gave rise to complex societies
- Complex societies evolved without belief in all-powerful deity: Nature News & Comment
TransNewGuinea.org: An Online Database of New Guinea Languages
Rate of language evolution is affected by population size
2011
Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals
- Evolution of Language Takes Unexpected Turn | Wired Science | Wired.com
- Linguistics: Culture trumps biology in language development, study argues - latimes.com
- Chomsky was wrong: evolutionary analysis shows languages obey few rules
- Language rules ‘stay in the family’ › News in Science (ABC Science)
- Are languages shaped by culture or cognition? : Nature News
- Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: Chomsky/Greenbergians were wrong
- Universal truths : Nature : Nature Publishing Group