--- title: "Michael Hahn · Saarland University — author profile and papers" description: "Michael Hahn, Saarland University: 5 papers on Elamur Research (2020–2026), h-index 14 — affiliations, topics, co-authors and who cites…" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [authors](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/) / Michael Hahn # Michael Hahn Michael Hahn has 5 papers in our library, in 2020–2026, most of them on [Language models & pretraining](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/language-models/), [Idioms & multiword expressions](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/multiword-expressions/); often with [Richard Futrell](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/richard-futrell/), [Christopher D. Manning](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/christopher-d-manning/), [Clara Meister](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/clara-meister/). 5 papers in our library · 2020–2026 [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/A5007794565) · [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4828-4834) · [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q103833602) · [**h-index 14**](https://openalex.org/authors/A5007794565) · [64 works](https://openalex.org/works?filter=author.id:A5007794565) · [718 citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=author.id:A5007794565&sort=cited_by_count:desc) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 [📄 5 works in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/#papers) · [🔗 Cited 94 times in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/cited-by/) · [3 more in our library without a page yet](#also) · [⭐ Paper Stars ranking: #6600](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/paper-stars/page/66/#star-6600) The profile is the library's match of the name; two people with one name are not always told apart. Elsewhere: [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=search_authors&mauthors=Michael+Hahn) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?q=Michael+Hahn) · [dblp](https://dblp.org/search?q=Michael+Hahn) · [ACL Anthology](https://aclanthology.org/search/?q=Michael+Hahn) ## Affiliations [🎓**Saarland University** Saarbrücken · Germany 2021–2026 · 48 papersEmployment since 2022 · Professor (tenure track)*current*](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/saarland-university/) · [🎓**Stanford University** Stanford · United States 2016–2023 · 24 papersEducation 2016–2022 · PhD, Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/stanford-university/) · [🎓**University of Tübingen** Tübingen · Germany 2010–2016 · 9 papersEducation 2010–2013 · B.A., Computational LinguisticsEducation 2011–2014 · B,Sc., MathematicsEducation 2014–2015 · M.Sc., Mathematics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-tubingen/) · [🎓**University of Edinburgh** Edinburgh · United Kingdom 2016–2019 · 2 papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-edinburgh/) From the bylines of their papers (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14), ORCID and Wikidata; institutions on papers are matched by machine. 6 more institutions on single bylines are not listed. ## Fields, topics and concepts Of its works in our library, with the number of works on each. 📚 Shelves 10 The field of science this work belongs to (OpenAlex fields).[Arts and Humanities · 5 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/) · [Computer Science · 4 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/) · [Language and Linguistics · 5 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/language-and-linguistics/) · [Artificial Intelligence · 4 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/artificial-intelligence/) · [Computational Theory and Mathematics · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/computational-theory-and-mathematics/) · [Psychology · 2 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/psychology/) · [Developmental and Educational Psychology · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/psychology/developmental-and-educational-psychology/) · [Cultural Studies · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/social-sciences/cultural-studies/) · [Experimental and Cognitive Psychology · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/psychology/experimental-and-cognitive-psychology/) · [Social Sciences · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/social-sciences/) 🧭 Topics 2 Research subjects and languages the work is about.[Idioms & multiword expressions · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/multiword-expressions/) · [Language models & pretraining · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/language-models/) ## Works by year ### 2020s [**2026** 2 papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/year/2026/) · [**2023** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/year/2023/) · [**2021** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/year/2021/) · [**2020** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/year/2020/) ## Papers The most cited first (OpenAlex and our library). 1. **[RNNs can generate bounded hierarchical languages with optimal memory](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hewitt-2020-rnns-can-generate-bounded-hierarchical/)** *(2020 · 65 citations)* RNN language models capture natural-language syntax well in practice, but the theory behind this has been thin. 2. **[Sensitivity as a Complexity Measure for Sequence Classification Tasks](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hahn-2021-sensitivity-as-complexity-measure-sequence/)** *(2021 · 26 citations)* Why can bag-of-words models handle some NLP classification tasks, while others yielded only to large pretrained networks? Hahn, Jurafsky and Futrell answer this by adapting sensitivity, a concept from the analysis of Boolean functions, to natural-language inputs. 3. **[A Cross-Linguistic Pressure for Uniform Information Density in Word Order](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/clark-2023-cross-linguistic-pressure-uniform-information/)** *(2023 · 24 citations)* Languages differ in word order but share statistical tendencies, which are often explained by functional pressures such as dependency length minimization. 4. **[Tug-of-war between idioms' figurative and literal interpretations in LLMs](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/oh-2026-tug-war-between-idioms-figurative/)** *(2026 · 1 citation)* The paper asks how autoregressive transformers handle idioms, which can be read both figuratively (e.g., "to die") and literally (e.g., physically kicking a bucket). 5. **[Systematicity between Forms and Meanings across Languages Supports Efficient Communication](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/osmelak-2026-systematicity-between-forms-meanings-across/)** *(2026)* Research on efficient communication shows that lexicons balance simplicity against accuracy. Its standard formalization, the Information Bottleneck (IB) model, treats word forms as unanalysable symbols. As a result, IB can only detect syncretism (one form shared by several meanings), not partial, systematic overlap… ## All works 8 works of theirs in our library, the most cited first; 5 with a page here, the others link their original until we summarise them. 1. **[Modeling Human Reading with Neural Attention ↗](https://aclanthology.org/D16-1009/) Proceedings of the 2016 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing · no summary yet**Michael Hahn, Frank Keller*2016 · 75 citations* 2. **[RNNs can generate bounded hierarchical languages with optimal memory](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hewitt-2020-rnns-can-generate-bounded-hierarchical/) [Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/emnlp/)**John Hewitt, Michael Hahn, Surya Ganguli, et al.*2020 · 65 citations* 3. **[An information-theoretic explanation of adjective ordering preferences ↗](https://openalex.org/W2941160255) eScholarship (California Digital Library) · no summary yet**Michael Hahn et al.*2018 · 43 citations* 4. **[Sensitivity as a Complexity Measure for Sequence Classification Tasks](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hahn-2021-sensitivity-as-complexity-measure-sequence/) [Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/tacl/)**Michael Hahn, Dan Jurafsky, Richard Futrell*2021 · 26 citations* 5. **[A Cross-Linguistic Pressure for Uniform Information Density in Word Order](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/clark-2023-cross-linguistic-pressure-uniform-information/) [Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/tacl/)**Thomas Hikaru Clark, Clara Meister, Tiago Pimentel, et al.*2023 · 24 citations* 6. **[Tug-of-war between idioms' figurative and literal interpretations in LLMs](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/oh-2026-tug-war-between-idioms-figurative/) [Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/eacl/)**Soyoung Oh, Xinting Huang, Mathis Pink, et al.*2026 · 1 citation* 7. **[Born a Transformer — Always a Transformer? On the Effect of Pretraining on Architectural Abilities ↗](https://doi.org/10.52202/085713-3191) neural information processing systems · no summary yet**Mayank Jobanputra et al.*2025 · 1 citation* 8. **[Systematicity between Forms and Meanings across Languages Supports Efficient Communication](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/osmelak-2026-systematicity-between-forms-meanings-across/) [Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/acl/)**Doreen Osmelak, Yang Xu, Michael Hahn, et al.*2026* ## Co-authors here 12 of 14 co-authors with a page, the most papers together first. - [Richard Futrell](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/richard-futrell/) ×2 - [Christopher D. Manning](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/christopher-d-manning/) - [Clara Meister](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/clara-meister/) - [Dan Jurafsky](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/dan-jurafsky/) - [John Hewitt](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/john-hewitt/) - [Percy Liang](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/percy-liang/) - [Roger Levy](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/roger-levy/) - [Ryan Cotterell](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/ryan-cotterell/) - [Surya Ganguli](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/surya-ganguli/) - [Thomas Hikaru Clark](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/thomas-hikaru-clark/) - [Tiago Pimentel](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/tiago-pimentel/) - [Vera Demberg](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/vera-demberg/) ## Venues Where their works here were published, the most works first, with the editions of those that have a page. - [Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/emnlp/) ×2: [EMNLP 2020](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/emnlp/2020/) - [Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/tacl/) ×2: [Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL) 2023](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/tacl/2023/), [Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL) 2021](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/tacl/2021/) - [Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/acl/): [ACL 2026](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/acl/2026/) - [Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/eacl/): [EACL 2026](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/eacl/2026/) - eScholarship (California Digital Library) - neural information processing systems ## Cited by Papers of our library cite their works 94 times (of the 149,439 papers whose bibliographies we read); [5 citing papers with a page here →](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/michael-hahn/cited-by/). Updated 1 November 2026