Bio
Professor Vyvyan Evans, PhD, is an internationally renowned expert on language and digital communication, and an author and researcher. He received his PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington DC., in the USA and taught for many years in the UK at the University of Sussex, Brighton University and Bangor University. He has written numerous books on language, meaning, mind, and digital communication, and the impact of technology on language and mind. His popular science books 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). Prof. Evans frequently provides expert opinion on language to the written and broadcast media. His popular 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
Published Interviews
-
Author page at Amazon has full details of all published books
-
Google Scholar profile provides metrics and citations
-
Blog at Psychology Today
-
Author page at Goodreads
Access Semantics
Evans is the architect of Access Semantics (also known as LCCM Theory): 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 provides a technical overview of Access Semantics, the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models (aka LCCM Theory). A technical book, Language & Time develops a detailed application of Access Semantics to the domain of time. The Crucible of Language provides a pop-sci 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. All the technical articles and book chapters on the theory are available for download here.
Mixed Emojis. Interview in Kinfolk Magazine -- September 2021 [PDF version here]
Interview in The Chicago Tribune -- November 1st 2017 [PDF version here]
An interview on Literary Ashland -- October 5th 2017 [PDF version here]
Interview in GEO magazine (German language)--no. 9 August 2017 [PDF version here]
Interview on the history of Emoji, in Refinery29 -- July 17th 2017 [PDF version here]
Interview on the use of Emoji in education, in TES -- July 14th 2017 [PDF version here]
Interview on The Emoji Code, in Huck Magazine -- January 16th 2017 [PDF version here]
Interview published in Dutch magazine 7Days (Dutch language)-- May 29th 2015
The Bloody Secret Life of Theories--Vyv Evans in conversation in Beyond Words -- Language Blog, ALTA Translation 2015 [PDF version here]
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
2001-2006:
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
University of Sussex
2017-present:
Language and digital communication author & researcher
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