Dr Simon Greenhill
MSc Hons (Auckland), Ph.D (Auckland)
ARC Discovery Fellow
College of Asia & the Pacific
Areas of expertise
- Computational Linguistics 200402
- Linguistics Not Elsewhere Classified 200499
- Phylogeny And Comparative Analysis 060309
- Anthropology Not Elsewhere Classified 160199
Publications
- Hua, X, Greenhill, S, Cardillo, M et al 2019, 'The ecological drivers of variation in global language diversity', Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 2047, pp. -.
- Greenhill, S, Hua, X, Welsh, L et al 2018, 'Population size and the rate of language evolution: A test across indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu Languages', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, no. 576, pp. 1-18pp.
- Kolipakam, V, Jordan, F, Dunn, M et al 2018, 'A bayesian phylogenetic study of the Dravidian language family', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 1-17pp.
- List, J, Greenhill, S, Anderson, C et al 2018, 'CLICS2: An improved database of cross-linguistic colexifications assembling lexical data with the help of cross-linguistic data formats', Linguistic Typology, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 277-306pp.
- Bromham, L, Hua, X, Cardillo, M et al 2018, 'Parasites and politics: Why cross-cultural studies must control for relatedness, proximity and covariation', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 1-22pp.
- Forkel, R, List, J, Greenhill, S et al 2018, 'Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, advancing data sharing and re-use in comparative linguistics', Scientific Data, vol. 5, no. 180205.
- List, J, Walworth, M, Greenhill, S et al 2018, 'Sequence comparison in computational historical linguistics', Journal of Language Evolution, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 130-144pp.
- Morin, O, Winters, J, Muller, T et al 2018, 'What smartphone apps may contribute to language evolution research', Journal of Language Evolution, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 91-93.
- List, J, Greenhill, S & Gray, R 2017, 'The Potential of Automatic Word Comparison for Historical Linguistics', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 12, no. 1, pp. e0170046-e0170046.
- Greenhill, S, Wu, C, Hua, X et al 2017, 'Evolutionary dynamics of language systems', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 114, no. 42, pp. E8822-E8829.
- Kirby, K, Gray, R, Greenhill, S et al 2016, 'D-PLACE: A global database of cultural, linguistic and environmental diversity', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 11, no. 7, pp. -.
- Greenhill, S 2016, 'A combined comparative and phylogenetic analysis of the chapacuran language family', International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 82, no. 3, pp. 255-284.
- Atkinson QD, Coomber T, Passmore S, Greenhill SJ, Kushnick G, 2016. Cultural and environmental predictors of pre-European deforestation on Pacific islands. PLoS ONE, 11(5), e0156340.
- Greenhill, S 2015, 'TransNewGuinea.org: An online database of New Guinea languages', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 10, no. 10, pp. e0141563-e0141563.
- Watts, J, Sheehan, O, Greenhill, S et al 2015, 'Pulotu: Database of Austronesian supernatural beliefs and practices', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 10, no. 9, pp. e0136783-e0136783.
- Watts, J, Sheehan, O, Greenhill, S et al 2015, 'Pulotu: Database of Austronesian supernatural beliefs and practices', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 10, no. 9, pp. e0136783-e0136783.
- Greenhill, S 2015, 'Demographic Correlates of Language Diversity', in Claire Bowern and Bethwyn Evans (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, UK and New York, USA, pp. 557 - 578.
- Bromham, L, Hua, X, Fitzpatrick, T et al 2015, 'Rate of language evolution is affected by population size', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 112, no. 7, pp. 2097-2102.
- Cardillo, M, Bromham, L & Greenhill, S 2015, 'Links between language diversity and species richness can be confounded by spatial autocorrelation', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 282, no. 1809, pp. 20142986-20142986.
- Watts, J, Greenhill, S, Atkinson, Q et al 2015, 'Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity in Austronesia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 282, no. 1804, pp. -.
- Koch, H, Mailhammer, R, Blust, R et al 2014, 'Research priorities in historical-comparative linguistics A view from Asia, Australia and the Pacific', Diachronica, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 267-278.
- Saslis-Lagoudakis, H, Hawkins, J, Greenhill, S et al 2014, 'The evolution of traditional knowledge: environment shapes medicinal plant use in Nepal', Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences, vol. 281, no. 1780, pp. 20132768-20132768.
- Gray, R, Greenhill, S & Atkinson, Q 2013, 'Phylogenetic models of language change: Three new questions', in Peter J. Richerson and Morten H. Christiansen (ed.), Cultural Evolution: Society, Technology, Language, and Religion, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and London, pp. 285-300.
- Ross, R, Greenhill, S & Atkinson, Q 2013, 'Population structure and cultural geography of a folktale in Europe', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 280, no. 1756.
- Nagaraja, K, Sidwell, P & Greenhill, S 2013, 'A Lexicostatistical Study of the Khasian Languages: Khasi, Pnar, Lyngngam, and War', Mon-Khmer Studies: a journal of Southeast Asian Languages and cultures, vol. 42, pp. 1-11.
- Bulbulia, J, Greenhill, S & Gray, R 2013, 'First Shots Fired for the Phylogenetic Revolution in Religious Studies: A Commentary on David Sloan Wilson', Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History, vol. 4, pp. 128-133.
- Dunn, M, Greenhill, S, Levinson, S et al 2011, 'Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals', Nature, vol. 473, no. 7345, pp. 79-82.
- Levinson, S, Greenhill, S, Gray, R et al 2011, 'Universal typological dependencies should be detectable in the history of language families', Linguistic Typology, vol. 15, pp. 509-534.
- Greenhill, S 2011, 'Levenshtein distances fail to identify language relationships accurately', Computational Linguistics, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 689-698.
- Greenhill, S & Clark, R 2011, 'POLLEX-online: The Polynesian lexicon project online', Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 551-559.
- Gray, R, Atkinson, Q & Greenhill, S 2011, 'Language evolution and human history: What a difference a date makes', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, vol. 366, no. 1567, pp. 1090-1100.
- Currie, T, Greenhill, S & Mace, R 2010, 'Is horizontal transmission really a problem for phylogenetic comparative methods? A simulation study using continuous cultural traits', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, vol. 365, no. 1559, pp. 3903-3912.
- Greenhill, S, Atkinson, Q, Meade, A et al 2010, 'The shape and tempo of language evolution', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 277, no. 1693, pp. 2443-2450.
- Greenhill, S, Drummond, A & Gray, R 2010, 'How accurate and robust are the phylogenetic estimates of Austronesian language relationships?', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 1-6.
- Gray, R, Bryant, D & Greenhill, S 2010, 'On the shape and fabric of human history', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, vol. 365, no. 1559, pp. 3923-3933.
- Currie, T, Greenhill, S, Gray, R et al 2010, 'Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific', Nature, vol. 467, no. 7317, pp. 801-804.
- Jordan, F, Gray, R, Greenhill, S et al 2009, 'Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societies', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 276, no. 1664, pp. 1957-1964.
- Greenhill, S, Currie, T & Gray, R 2009, 'Does horizontal transmission invalidate cultural phylogenies?', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 276, no. 1665, pp. 2299-2306.
- Gray, R, Drummond, A & Greenhill, S 2009, 'Language phylogenies reveal expansion pulses and pauses in Pacific settlement', Science, vol. 323, no. 5913, pp. 479-483.
- Greenhill, S & Gray, R 2009, 'Austronesian language phylogenies: myths and misconceptions about Bayesian computational methods', in Alexander Adelaar and Andrew Pawley (ed.), Austronesian Historical Linguistics and Culture History: A festschrift for Robert Blust, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra Australia, pp. 375-398.
- Greenhill, S & Gray, R 2009, 'Darwin, language, and two great Pacific voyages', New Zealand Science Review, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 97-101.
- Atkinson, Q, Meade, A, Venditti, C et al 2008, 'Languages evolve in punctuational bursts', Science, vol. 319, no. 5863, p. 588.
- Greenhill, S, Blust, R & Gray, R 2008, 'The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From bioinformatics to lexomics', Evolutionary Bioinformatics, vol. 2008, no. 4, pp. 271-283.
- Bouckaert, R, Lemey, P, Dunn, M et al 2012, 'Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family', Science, vol. 337, no. 6097, pp. 957-960.
- Greenhill, S & Gray, R 2012, 'Basic vocabulary and Bayesian phylolinguistics Issues of understanding and representation', Diachronica, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 523-537.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Funding for Research Assistant (Primary Investigator)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (Secondary Investigator)
- Discovering Trans-New Guinea: Revealing the prehistory of New Guinea (Primary Investigator)
