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Benedict King

benedict_king.JPG

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

Telefon: +49 (0) 341 3550 267
E-Mail: benedict_king@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

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About me

Figure.png
Three phases in the accumulation of basic vocabulary lexical items in the Gorontalo-Mongondow languages of Northern Sulawesi. These languages likely migrated to Sulawesi from the Philippines and acquired lexical items from neighbouring languages by diffusion. This produces conflicting signal in the data, manifested as alternative phylogenetic positions (bottom panels)

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, and a member of the Comparative Oceanic Linguistics (CoOL) team. My main research focus is the construction phylogenetic trees of language relationships using Bayesian methods. From these trees I hope to learn about the origins of language families, how languages spread and the dynamics of language evolution. Through this research I have also become involved in improving tree-building methodology. I come from a background in Evolutionary Biology and Palaeontology.

Curriculum Vitae

2018 – 2020Postdoctoral Research Associate, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The Netherlands
2014 – 2018PhD Evolutionary Biology, Flinders University, Australia
2010 – 2013BA Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK

Publications

2025

Gretzinger, J., Biermann, F., Mager, H., King, B., Zlámalová, D., Traverso, L., Gnecchi Ruscone, G. A., Peltola, S., Salmela, E., Neumann, G. U., Radzeviciute, R., Ingrová, P., Liwoch, R., Wronka, I., Jurić, R., Hyrchała, A., Niezabitowska-Wiśniewska, B., Bartecki, B., Borowska, B., Dzieńkowski, T., Wołoszyn, M., Wojenka, M., Wilczyński, J., Kot, M., Müller, E., Orschiedt, J., Zariņa, G., Onkamo, P., Daim, F., Muhl, A., Schwarz, R., Majer, M., McCormick, M., Květina, J., Vida, T., Geary, P. J., Macháček, J., Šlaus, M., Meller, H., Pohl, W. *., Hofmanová, Z. *., & Krause, J. *. (2025). Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs. Nature, 646(8084), 384-393.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

King, B., Rangelov, T., & Walworth, M. (2025). Phylogenetic ancestral state reconstruction of bilabial trills in the languages of Malekula Island (Vanuatu), and the historical evolution of rare sound changes. Journal of Language Evolution, 10(1).
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2024

Clement, A. M., Cloutier, R., Lee, M. S. Y., King, B., Vanhaesebroucke, O., Bradshaw, C. J. A., Dutel, H., Trinajstic, K., & Long, J. A. (2024). A Late Devonian coelacanth reconfigures actinistian phylogeny, disparity, and evolutionary dynamics. Nature Communications, 15(1): 7529.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

King, B., Greenhill, S. J., Reid, L. A., Ross, M., Walworth, M., & Gray, R. D. (2024). Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Philippine languages supports a rapid migration of Malayo-Polynesian languages. Scientific Reports, 14(1): 14967.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2023

Heggarty, P., Anderson, C., Scarborough, M., King, B., Bouckaert, R., Jocz, L., Kümmel, M. J., Jügel, T., Irslinger, B., Pooth, R., Liljegren, H., Strand, R. F., Haig, G., Macák, M., Kim, R. I., Anonby, E., Pronk, T., Belyaev, O., Dewey-Findell, T. K., Boutilier, M., Freiberg, C., Tegethoff, R., Serangeli, M., Liosis, N., Stroński, K., Schulte, K., Gupta, G. K., Haak, W., Krause, J., Atkinson, Q. D., Greenhill, S. J., Kühnert, D., & Gray, R. D. (2023). Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages. Science, 381(6656): eabg0818.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Choo, B., Holland, T., Clement, A. M., King, B., Challands, T., Young, G., & Long, J. A. (2023). A new stem-tetrapod fish from the Middle–Late Devonian of central Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 43(3): e2285000.
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King, B., Rangelov, T., & Walworth, M. (2023). Phylogenetic ancestral state reconstruction of bilabial trills in the languages of Malekula Island (Vanuatu), and the historical evolution of rare sound changes. Talk presented at Sixth Edinburgh Symposium on Historical Phonology. Edinburgh. 2023-12-04 - 2023-12-04.
BibTeX   Endnote   

2021

King, B., Marone, F., & Rücklin, M. (2021). Tooth development in the Early Devonian sarcopterygian Powichthys and the evolution of the crown osteichthyan dentition. Palaeontology, 64(5), 645-659.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

King, B., Reid, L., Walworth, M., Greenhill, S., & Gray, R. D. (2021). Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Philippine languages supports rapid initial Austronesian expansion followed by northward back-migration. Talk presented at 15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Palacky University. online. 2021-06-28 - 2021-07-01.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Rücklin, M., King, B., Cunningham, J. A., Johanson, Z., Marone, F., & Donoghue, P. C. J. (2021). Acanthodian dental development and the origin of gnathostome dentitions. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5, 919-926.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote