Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition)

Claire Bowern, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Linguistics and of Anthropology

Claire Bowern works on language change— basically archaeology with language. Her research involves understanding how language changes over time and what language can reveal about the past history of human cultures, particularly (but not exclusively) in Australia. She uses a range of computational, statistical, and pencil and paper methods as well as fieldwork. 

Map of Australia, showing the major language groups of each region and how they are related to one another. The map was created using Bayesian phylogenetic methods and is based on the evolution of words across 300 languages. Photo credit: Claire Bowern