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Annika Tjuka

Abteilung für Sprach- und Kulturevolution
Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

Telefon: +49 (0) 341 3550 272
E-Mail: annika_tjuka@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

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About me

My main goal is to explore linguistic diversity, especially the variations of word meanings across languages. I integrate findings from linguistics and psychology in my research and adopt a computational approach. I received my doctorate with highest honors (summa cum laude) from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in March 2024 and I am working as a postdoctoral researcher. A major achievement of my academic career so far is the development of a cross-linguistic database, which contains rich information on word properties across 39 languages (https://norare.clld.org). In addition, I have investigated the relationship between word meanings in the semantic domain of the human body, exploring the intricate interplay between language, culture and cognition. The key results of these investigations are reported in a study on body-object colexifications published in Linguistic Typology and a study on body part vocabularies published in Scientific Reports.

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Degrees
2024Ph.D. in Linguistics at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and International Max Planck Research School for the Science of Human History (IMPRS-SHH)
Dissertation: Language variation in word meanings: Cross-linguistic patterns and causes of colexifications
Reviewers: Johann-Mattis List, Stephen C. Levinson and Asifa Majid
2019Master of Arts in Linguistics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Master's thesis: Body-part metaphors as a window to cognition: A cross-linguistic study of object and landscape terms
Reviewers: Elisabeth Verhoeven and Kilu von Prince
2016Bachelor of Arts in German Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Bachelor's thesis: Emotionalisation through texts
Reviewers: Katharina Spalek and Manfred Krifka
Academic Positions
2023 - PresentPostdoctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Leipzig.
2019 - 2023Doctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Jena.
2019Research Associate at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the FAHMRRR project, funded by ERC.
2017 - 2019Student research assistant at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the MelaTAMP project, funded by DFG.
2016 - 2019Student research assistant at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the FAHMRRR project, funded by ERC.
2018Internship and student research assistant at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig.

Publications

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J.-M. (2024). Universal and cultural factors shape body part vocabularies. Scientific Reports, 14: 10486.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Kim, Y., & Tjuka, A. (2024). Cognitive science from the perspective of linguistic diversity. Cognitive Science, 48: e13418.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A. (2024). Objects as human bodies: cross-linguistic colexifications between words for body parts and objects. Linguistic Typology, 28(3), 879-418.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J.-M. (2022). Linking norms, ratings, and relations of words and concepts across multiple language varieties. Behavior Research Methods, 54, 864-884.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2024

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J.-M. (2024). Universal and cultural factors shape body part vocabularies. Scientific Reports, 14: 10486.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Kim, Y., & Tjuka, A. (2024). Cognitive science from the perspective of linguistic diversity. Cognitive Science, 48: e13418.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Nomura, K., Rella, S., Merritt, H., Baltussen, M., Bird, D., Tjuka, A., & Falk, D. (2024). Tipping points of space debris in low earth orbit. International Journal of the Commons, 18(1), 17-31.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A. (2024). Objects as human bodies: cross-linguistic colexifications between words for body parts and objects. Linguistic Typology, 28(3), 879-418.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., & List, J.-M. (2024). Partial colexifications reveal directional tendencies in object naming. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association, 12(1), 95-112.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., Nguyen, H. T. T., van de Vijver, R., & Spalek, K. (2024). Investigating the variation of intonation contours in Northern Vietnamese tones. Frontiers in Education, 9: 1411660, pp. 1-9.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2023

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J.-M. (2023). Curating and extending data for language comparison in Concepticon and NoRaRe. Open Research Europe, 2: 141.
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Tjuka, A. (2023). Body part extensions with mặt ‘Face’ in Vietnamese. In K. Pattillo, & M. Waśniewska (Eds.), Embodiement in cross-linguistic studies: The 'Face' (pp. 237-255). Leiden: Brill.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2022

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J.-M. (2022). Linking norms, ratings, and relations of words and concepts across multiple language varieties. Behavior Research Methods, 54, 864-884.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2021

Tjuka, A., Nguyen, H. T. T., & Spalek, K. (2021). Correction: Foxes, deer, and hedgehogs: The recall of focus alternatives in Vietnamese. Laboratory Phonology, 12(1): 2.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A. (2021). The representation of foot/leg polysemy in the mind: insights from Vietnamese body part extensions with chân. In Humanities Commons. New York: Modern Language Association.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2020

Tjuka, A. (2020). General patterns and language variation: Word frequencies across English, German, and Chinese. In M. Zock, E. Chersoni, A. Lenci, & E. Santus (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on the Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon (pp. 23-32). Stroudsburg: Association for Computational Linguistics.
Open Access    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., Nguyen, H. T. T., & Spalek, K. (2020). Foxes, deer, and hedgehogs: The recall of focus alternatives in Vietnamese. Laboratory Phonology, 11(1): 16.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., Weißmann, L., & Prince, K. v. (2020). Habitual aspect as a property of text spans. In Human language technologies as a challenge for computer science and linguistics: Proceedings of 9th Language & Technology Conference (pp. 195-199). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Nauka i Innowacje.
BibTeX   Endnote   

2019

Tjuka, A. (2019). Body-part metaphors as a window to cognition: A cross-linguistic study of object and landscape terms. Master Thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Tjuka, A., Weißmann, L., & Prince, K. v. (2019). Tagging modality in Oceanic languages of Melanesia. In Proceedings of the 13th Linguistic Annotation Workshop (pp. 65-70). Florence, Italy: Association for Computational Linguistics.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote