Emerita Professor Anna Wierzbicka from ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics has been named a ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar™ for her exceptional performance and prolific publication record in the field of linguistics and, more broadly, in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her excellent academic career has positioned her within the top 0.05% percentile of scholars worldwide. 

Highly ranked researchers are the most productive authors, whose work are of profound impact and of utmost quality. This distinction recognises a lifetime of achievements, emphasised by a high volume of publications and citations—all underpinned by an exceptional h-index. 

“For more than fifty years, my life’s work has been devoted to one big idea: the search for ‘the alphabet of human thoughts’, and for the basic conceptual language shared by all people, across languages and cultures. I believe this goal has now been largely achieved in a collaborative effort with colleagues—in what is known as the NSM research community,” says Anna. 

“I think the ranking reflects the interdisciplinary relevance of these findings and the interest from scholars in many fields, not only in linguistics. Over the last two or three decades we have been increasingly focussing on putting the discovery of the simple and universal human concepts to practical use, in cross-cultural communication and in mutual understanding (e.g. in medicine, in public health messages, in environmental studies etc.)

“I am happy and thankful that both the discovery of ‘the alphabet of human thoughts’ and its practical relevance are increasingly attracting attention of scholars in several disciplines, as the h-index indicates.” 

The School extends our warmest congratulations to Professor Wierzbicka for this prestigious recognition that not only highlights her landmark contributions to the field during the past five years, but a life of commitment and relentless dedication to linguistics as a path to human understanding.