Bio
Professor Vyvyan Evans, PhD, is an internationally renowned expert on language and digital communication, and a communications technologist and consultant. He received his PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington DC., and has taught at the University of Sussex, Brighton University and Bangor University. He has published 14 books on language, meaning, mind, and digital communication. These include The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats (2017); The Crucible of Language: How Language and Mind Create Meaning (2015); and The Language Myth: Why Language is Not an Instinct (2014). Evans is a much sought-after public speaker, and frequently provides expert opinion on language to the written and broadcast media. His writing has been featured in Aeon, CNN Style, The New York Post, The Guardian, The Conversation, Nautilus Magazine, Newsweek, New Scientist, and Psychology Today, among other publications.
Public Resources
Interviews
Author page at Amazon has full details of all published books
Google Scholar profile provides metrics and citations
Vyvyan Evans: YouTube channel
Blog at Psychology Today
Access Semantics
Since 2005, Evans has been developing a theoretical account of the intersection between the linguistic and conceptual systems, which subserve linguistically-mediated meaning construction. This he investigates in a book-length treatment: How Words Mean, which develops an account of Access Semantics, the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models (also known as LCCM Theory for short). A monograph, Language & Time develops a detailed application of Access Semantics to the domain of time. The Crucible of Language provides an accessible overview of this perspective for a general audience. A chapter-length overview of the theory is available as Chapter 18 of Cognitive Linguistics: A Complete Guide.
Interview in The Chicago Tribune -- November 1st 2017 [PDF version is here]
An interview on Literary Ashland -- October 5th 2017
Interview in GEO magazine (German language)--no. 9 2017
Interview on the history of Emoji, in Refinery29 -- July 17th 2017
Interview on the use of Emoji in education, in TES -- July 14th 2017
Interview on The Emoji Code, in Huck Magazine -- January 16th 2017
Interview published in Dutch magazine 7Days -- May 29th 2015
The Bloody Secret Life of Theories--Vyv Evans in conversation in Beyond Words -- Language Blog, ALTA Translation 2015
Interview published in The Review of Cognitive Linguistics -- 2013
PROFESSIONAL ROLES
2008-2016:
Professor of Linguistics
Bangor University
2006-2008:
Professor of Cognitive Linguistics
University of Brighton
2005-2006:
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
2001-2005:
Lecturer in Linguistics
University of Sussex
2017:
Language and digital communication consultant
1997-2000
Georgetown University, USA
PhD in Linguistics.
EDUCATION
1995-1996
University of Florida, USA
MA in Linguistics
1987-1990
Durham University, UK
BA (Hons.) English and Philosophy