🚨 New Paper Alert! I look at new predictors of iconicity to learn more about what KINDS of words are iconic. tl;dr Iconic English words are more familiar, have more meanings, and are more emotional. They are also more specific when abstract (but more on this below). doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

My current position comes to a close at the end of 2026, so I'm searching for my next role. I’m a Research Data Scientist at UCL with 10 years of experience designing and delivering large-scale, quantitative research projects from conception to dissemination. 1/

Excited to share that the 4th and final paper from my PhD is now published in First Language: doi.org/10.1177/0142... Onomatopoeia are embedded in playful, multimodal interactions and often used to enact rather than simply label meaning. Infants' use is predicted by caregiver use in the interaction.

Throwback to Embodied and Situated Language Processing last week at Lancaster University, where I presented our work on multimodal coordination in early word learning interactions. Really enjoyed this conference! Check out the slides here: osf.io/rjdqb/files/...

Had fun presenting our work (@gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, Yan Gu) on multimodal coordination in early word learning w 3–4-year-old children and their caregivers today at Embodied and Situated Language Processing at Lancaster University. (1/4) 👇

#ESLP kicked off this morning with a brilliant session on multimodality in language processing. Opening keynote by Sotaro Kita, followed by Manuela Macedonia and @gregwoodin.bsky.social ESLP2026.SCIENCESCONF.ORG

Pleased that my chapter on iconicity has officially been published in the International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Abstract below. Get in touch if you don't have access! www.sciencedirect.com/science/chap...

Such a privilege to interview Kimi Akita for SKASE about his long career researching #ideophones! Kimi's conducted some of the most fascinating and insightful work in the field, which he continues to lead into exciting new directions. Ideophone enthusiasts, read here! www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL6...

FYI there is currently an issue with the Arabic in the article that I am trying to get updated.

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 4mo ago

How precise are numbers? Our new article in Language and Cognition (with @bodowinter.bsky.social and @lordlorson.bsky.social) finds that round numbers are used more approximately at higher magnitudes. (1/5) 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New paper out. My favorite finding is the distributional semantic comparison of "hundred/thousand/million/billion etc." to indefinite hyperbolic numerals ("gazillion", "umpteen" etc.) ⬇️ And: Did you know that jigsaw puzzles are lying to you? 👀

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 4mo ago

How precise are numbers? Our new article in Language and Cognition (with @bodowinter.bsky.social and @lordlorson.bsky.social) finds that round numbers are used more approximately at higher magnitudes. (1/5) 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

How precise are numbers? Our new article in Language and Cognition (with @bodowinter.bsky.social and @lordlorson.bsky.social) finds that round numbers are used more approximately at higher magnitudes. (1/5) 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

My current position will be coming to a close at the end of 2026, so I’m beginning to explore next steps. I’m a postdoctoral researcher at UCL working at the intersection of language, cognition, and multimodal communication. 1/4 👇

Does verbal coordination between caregivers and their 3-4 yo children help learning new words? New paper from the lab!

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Does verbal coordination help 3–4 year old children learn new words? In our new preprint (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, Yan Gu), we explored 20 predictors of word learning. One combination stood out. 👇 (1/4) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Does verbal coordination help 3–4 year old children learn new words? In our new preprint (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, Yan Gu), we explored 20 predictors of word learning. One combination stood out. 👇 (1/4) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

📣 New paper out in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B in which we investigated whether conversational alignment — the tendency to reuse each other's words, syntactic constructions, topics, sounds and gestures — can be used as a reliable individual trait. It cannot! 🧵 1/4 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Really enjoyed presenting at @asifamajid.bsky.social's lab yesterday at the University of Oxford, where I shared some initial ideas for a project exploring pitch processing in speech prosody and musical melody, microtonal versus discrete-tone music, and gesture. Great to get everyone's feedback!

Does verbal (lexical, semantic) alignment btw caregiver and child support learning in 3-4 years old?

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Excited to present this poster today (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, and Yan Gu) at the 3rd International Workshop on Naturalistic Experimentation of Child Development at Birkbeck, University of London. Check out the poster here: osf.io/876ab

Data and analysis scripts are here: osf.io/9z5qn/overview

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Excited to present this poster today (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, and Yan Gu) at the 3rd International Workshop on Naturalistic Experimentation of Child Development at Birkbeck, University of London. Check out the poster here: osf.io/876ab

This one is for comics lovers and language lovers alike! A fun and inspiring read at the forefront of the multimodal language curve. Even works as intro to linguistics course book as it teaches a lot of core linguistic concepts really well, and in a modality-general manner. I can highly recommend!

Neil Cohn@neilcohn.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Happy Book Day! My graphic novel Speaking in Pictures is finally out in the world! I planned this book for over 20 years and spent 7 years writing and drawing it, so I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I did creating it 🥳 www.visuallanguagelab.com/sip

Really enjoyed chatting to everyone yesterday! Looking forward to another day of interesting talks. Link to poster below. (P.S. the children are 3–4 years old.)

Greg Woodin@gregwoodin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Excited to present this poster today (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, and Yan Gu) at the 3rd International Workshop on Naturalistic Experimentation of Child Development at Birkbeck, University of London. Check out the poster here: osf.io/876ab

Excited to present this poster today (w/ @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social, @gretagandolfi.bsky.social, @fourtassi.bsky.social, and Yan Gu) at the 3rd International Workshop on Naturalistic Experimentation of Child Development at Birkbeck, University of London. Check out the poster here: osf.io/876ab

My first (physically) published book chapter. It's quite a weighty tome! Almost dropped it when the courier delivered it. Read the chapter here: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

So excited to see the Oxford Handbook of Iconicity in Language come out!! Here is my chapter on Experimental approaches to sound symbolism: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

Experimental approaches to sound symbolism

AbstractThis chapter explores the phenomenon of sound symbolism: associations between language sounds and particular perceptual and/or semantic properties.

academic.oup.com

It’s a fantastic chapter. I’ve been giving the preprint to students.

Four years(!) after the chapter was originally written, the official publication is now live (pre-print has been out for some time though): doi.org/10.1093/oxfo... How can plurality be expressed with iconic forms across different modalities of human languaging? #linguistics

Thrilled to announce the 1st Workshop on Computational Developmental Linguistics (CDL) at ACL 2026 🎉 A new venue at the intersection of development linguistics × modern NLP, spearheaded by @fredashi.bsky.social @marstin.bsky.social, and and outstanding team of colleagues! A thread 🧵

New work from the lab! A full multimodal picture of caregivers behaviours supporting learning in the early years answering the question: what do caregivers say and do to support their children’s word learning?

Antonia Jordan-Barros@a-jordanbarros.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New Preprint Alert 🚨 Excited to share our new work: “Caregivers’ multimodal actions scaffold word learning and vocabulary growth in the early years.” with Francesco Cabiddu, @eddonnellan.bsky.social, Yan Gu and @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social. doi.org/10.31234/osf...

This is mandatory reading for all my students since it was uploaded to OSF. So glad it is finally out! \o/

Our paper (w/ @bodowinter.bsky.social and @mperlman.bsky.social) is finally out, officially 🥳. In it, we set ourselves the lofty goal of defining iconicity, focusing on its subjectivity, context-dependence, and gradability. Let us know if you agree with our definition? 🤔 doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...

📆 ‼️ Workshop announcement ‼️ 14th Jan 2026 ⭐ Metaphorical Framings of Emotions in Mental Health ⭐ Organised by myself with Prof. Jeannette Littlemore Please see here for the full schedule and to sign up (in-person places are limited): lnkd.in/dZ57MKwt