Executive Editors
Dan Dediu
Bart de Boer
About the journal
The Journal of Language Evolution is concerned with the question of how language came to be and how it came to be the way it is today.
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Ancient DNA and language evolution
Read the latest special section from the Journal of Language Evolution addressing the need to look into the implications of DNA on language origins and evolution.
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Articles Making an Impact
Read the Journal of Language Evolution articles making waves and having an impact, free to read online until the end of December 2020.
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The Emergence of Sound Systems Review
This special issue, coordinated by Hannah Little, takes a multi-disciplinary approach and reviews the existing scholarship on the evolution of speech and sound systems.
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Language evolution needs its own journal
Editors Dan Dediu and Bard de Boer introduce the Journal of Language Evolution in their editorial:
"Interest in the origins and evolution of language has been around for as long as language has been around. However, only recently has the empirical study of language come of age. We argue that the field has sufficiently advanced that it now needs its own journal—the Journal of Language Evolution."
New frontiers in evolutionary linguistics
“languages weren’t created differently, but became different as their speakers spread out across the world and lost touch over millennia. So the real question is, what caused them to become so different? Are there limits on how different they can become?
In this blog post, based on the Target Article in issue 1 of Journal of Language Evolution, Sean Roberts looks at evidence that suggests the climate affected the development of human language.
Call for papers
Submissions from across the disciplines of language evolution are welcomed for the following article types:
- Research articles (3,000-8,000 words)
- Introductions and How-tos (maximum 5,000 words)
- Short reports (maximum 3,000 words)
- Target Articles and Debates (8,000-10,000 words)
- Reviews (3,000-8,000 words)
- Methodology (5,000 words)
Resources for Authors and Researchers
Interested in submitting your research?
Interested in submitting your research?
Read the Instructions for Authors and learn more about the Journal of Language Evolution submission process and requirements.
Make an impact with your work
Make an impact with your work
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Author resources
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Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) Initiative
Your institution could be eligible to free or deeply discounted online access to Journal of Language Evolution through the Oxford Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) Initiative.
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