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Topic · Language and Linguistics

Linguistics and language evolution

Linguistics and language evolution is a research topic within Language and Linguistics. Science Explorer counts 29k research works in it since 1950. 10.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers encompasses a wide range of topics related to the linguistic, etymological, and cultural aspects of the Indo-European language family. It includes studies on historical phonology, ancient languages, lexicography, language evolution, and comparative philology, providing insights into the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of the Indo-European peoples.

  • Indo-European
  • Linguistics
  • Etymology
  • Historical Phonology
  • Cultural History
  • Language Evolution
  • Proto-Indo-European
  • Lexicography
  • Ancient Languages
  • Comparative Philology
Research works
29k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Russia
24% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Linguistics and language evolution

Which countries lead Linguistics and language evolution research?

By volume, Russia and the United States publish the most (735 and 471 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russia 735 works
  2. 2 United States 471 works
  3. 3 Germany 352 works
  4. 4 France 338 works
  5. 5 Italy 238 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 233 works
  7. 7 Poland 216 works
  8. 8 Croatia 196 works
  9. 9 Slovenia 177 works
  10. 10 Spain 121 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Russia: 23.9%United States: 15.3%Germany: 11.5%France: 11.0%6 others listed: 38.4%24%largest
Russia735 · 23.9%United States471 · 15.3%Germany352 · 11.5%France338 · 11.0%6 others listed1,181 · 38.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Linguistics and language evolution research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Linguistics and language evolution research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Institut za filozofiju.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 271 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 160 works
  3. 3 Institut za filozofijuCroatia 61 works
  4. 4 University of LjubljanaSlovenia 52 works
  5. 5 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 48 works
  6. 6 University of MariborSlovenia 44 works
  7. 7 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 41 works
  8. 8 Jagiellonian UniversityPoland 38 works
  9. 9 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 37 works
  10. 10 University of HelsinkiFinland 35 works

Who are the leading researchers in Linguistics and language evolution?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Linguistics and language evolution include John C. Morris, Evan E. Eichler and Noam Chomsky.

  1. 1 John C. Morris United States 241k citations
  2. 2 Evan E. Eichler United States 195k citations
  3. 3 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  4. 4 O. Schneider Switzerland 141k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Linguistics and language evolution?

The most cited paper in Linguistics and language evolution is "Impersonal Passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis" (David M. Perlmutter, 1978), with 1,806 citations. Next come "The Phonology of English as an International Language" (1,797) and "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin" (1,116).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Impersonal Passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis David M. Perlmutter · Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society Open access 25 Sep 1978 1,806
2 The Phonology of English as an International Language Judy B. Gilbert, John M. Levis, Jennifer A. Jenkins · TESOL Quarterly 2001 1,797
3 Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin Russell David Gray, Quentin Douglas Atkinson · Nature Nov 2003 1,116
4 Etymological Dictionary of Greek Stuart James · Reference Reviews 26 Oct 2010 1,098
5 Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions Jared M. Diamond, Peter S. Bellwood · Science 25 Apr 2003 1,081
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Linguistics and language evolution research done?

The largest centres of Linguistics and language evolution research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Zagreb (Croatia), Paris (France) and Saint Petersburg (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Postojna, Ljubljana and Kutaisi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 290 works
  2. 2 ZagrebCroatia 107 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 107 works
  4. 4 Saint PetersburgRussia 94 works
  5. 5 BudapestHungary 89 works
  6. 6 LjubljanaSlovenia 79 works
  7. 7 ViennaAustria 69 works
  8. 8 KrakowPoland 50 works
  9. 9 TbilisiGeorgia 49 works
  10. 10 VeniceItaly 48 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PostojnaSI · 34.9 works534×
  2. Ljubljana26.7 works402×
  3. KutaisiGE · 20.0 works106×
  4. Donji gradHR · 38.9 works75×
  5. PessacFR · 44.3 works61×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Linguistics and language evolution than the world average.

See Linguistics and language evolution on the map

Where is the best place to study Linguistics and language evolution?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oslo, University of Helsinki and Ghent University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.64%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OsloGhent UniversityUniversity of HelsinkiLudwig-Maximilians-U…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of OsloNorway 73.524.1%7.5×20 +16.8%
2University of HelsinkiFinland 71.520.8%11.7×35 +8.9%
3Ghent UniversityBelgium 64.821.7%5.5×18 +5.9%
4Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 64.514.9%7.1×26 +55.1%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 64.120.6%6.1×37 -10.1%
6Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 64.09.7%47.5×48 +257.7%
7University of MariborSlovenia 63.914.1%50.9×44 +626.9%
8University of ViennaAustria 61.015.5%11.4×25 +29.2%
9University of ZurichSwitzerland 60.929.2%5.0×15 -27.6%
10Trinity College DublinIreland 59.825.8%5.8×10 +310.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Linguistics and language evolution, country by country

Is Linguistics and language evolution research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Linguistics and language evolution as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Linguistics and language evolution0.019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Linguistics and language evolution over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Linguistics and language evolution9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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