Kaius Sinnemäki

Kaius Sinnemäki is a Professor of Quantitative and Comparative Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, affiliated with the Department of Languages under the Faculty of Arts. Since 2025, he has directed the strategic profiling action Diversity in Society and Life (DIVSOL), funded by the Research Council of Finland, and previously led the ERC Starting Grant project Linguistic Adaptation (2019-2024).

His research focuses on large-scale comparative linguistics, integrating language typology with sociolinguistics. Key areas include core argument marking, statistical methods in typology, linguistic complexity, language contact, and the interplay between language and religion. He teaches courses spanning language typology, evolution, sociolinguistics, and quantitative methods.

Recent publications address replication in linguistic research, adaptation in contact ecologies, and complexity measures across phonological, morphosyntactic, and syntactic domains. His work often bridges theoretical linguistics with empirical data analysis, utilizing open datasets and computational tools.

Scientific Awards:

• Prize for the Humanities (2021)

He actively supervises academic theses, serves on editorial boards (e.g., Linguistic Typology), and participates in international collaborations, peer reviews, and media engagements on linguistic diversity and secularism.