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Claire Bowern

Claire Bowern

· Professor & Coordinator (NAIS Certificate)

Yale University · Department of Linguistics

Active 1999–2026

h-index42
Citations7.1k
Papers22261 last 5y
Funding$1.5M

Academic metrics are sourced from OpenAlex and public funding records; values may differ from Google Scholar.

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About

Professor Claire Bowern is a faculty member at Yale University with a focus on linguistics. Her research encompasses language documentation, linguistic fieldwork, and the study of language evolution and cultural evolution. She has advised numerous students and postdoctoral researchers, contributing to the academic community through mentorship and scholarly publications. Her work is recognized for its depth in understanding language morphosyntax and the documentation of diverse languages.

Research topics

  • Computer Science
  • Linguistics
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
  • Speech recognition
  • Programming language
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Sociology
  • Biology
  • Machine Learning

Selected publications

  • Phylogenetic signal in phonotactics

    Diachronica · 2020 · 153 citations

    Abstract Phylogenetic methods have broad potential in linguistics beyond tree inference. Here, we show how a phylogenetic approach opens the possibility of gaining historical insights from entirely new kinds of linguistic data – in this instance, statistical phonotactics. We extract phonotactic data from 112 Pama-Nyungan vocabularies and apply tests for phylogenetic signal, quantifying the degree to which the data reflect phylogenetic history. We test three datasets: (1) binary variables recordi…

    DOI

  • Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss

    Science Advances · 2023 · 119 citations

    While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages,…

    PublisherOA PDFDOI

  • Where have all the sound changes gone? Phonological stability and mechanisms of sound change

    Linguistics Vanguard · 2022 · 88 citations

    1st authorCorresponding

    Abstract When do the mechanisms of regular sound change fail to apply? What types of languages and situations exhibit and promote phonological stability? I consider these questions using data from the languages of Aboriginal Australia, where there has been debate on this question. I show that the standard explanations are inadequate, and possible solutions have not yet been empirically investigated. Given how many of these languages are already either no longer spoken or severely under threat, i…

    DOI

  • (Don't) Try this at Home! The Effects of Recording Devices and Software on Phonetic Analysis

    Language · 2021 · 34 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding

    Because of restrictions on in-person research due to COVID-19, researchers are now relying on remotely recorded data to a much greater extent than in the past. Given the change in methodology, it is important to know how remote recording might affect acoustic measurements, either because of different recording devices used by participants and consultants or because of the software used to make recordings. This study investigates audio signal fidelity across different inperson recording equipment…

    PublisherOA PDFDOI

  • (Don't) try this at home! The effects of recording devices and software on phonetic analysis: Supplementary material

    Language · 2021 · 11 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding
    PublisherDOI

Recent grants

Frequent coauthors

  • Russell D. Gray

    University of Auckland

    51 shared

  • Simon J. Greenhill

    University of Auckland

    48 shared

  • Michael C. Gavin

    Colorado State University

    46 shared

  • Damián E. Blasí

    45 shared

  • Kathryn R. Kirby

    42 shared

  • Hannah J. Haynie

    Kent State University

    32 shared

  • Fiona M. Jordan

    31 shared

  • Jakob Lesage

    29 shared

Labs

Education

  • Ph.D., Linguistics

    Harvard University

    2004

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