[lingtalks] Monday's colloquium -- Derek Bickerton -- 3:00pm in GFS 118

[Karma Dolma]

The USC Linguistics Department proudly presents our next colloquium speaker:


Derek Bickerton
Emeritus, University of Hawaii 

Mar 24, 2008
    3:00-4:30pm (GFS 118)
    followed by dinner in the department


Derek Bickerton is now on tour with his new book, "Bastard Tongues". 
Bastard Tongues is an exciting, firsthand story of scientific discovery in
an area of 
research close to the heart of whjat it means to be human-what language is,
how it 
work, and how it passes from generation to generation, evcen where
historical accidents 
have made normal transmission almost impossible.  The story focuses on
languages so 
low in the pecking order that many people don't regard them as languages at
all-Creole 
languages spoken by descendants of slaves and indentured laborers in
plantation colonies 
all over the world.   The story is told by Derek Bickerton, who has spent
more than thirty 
years researching these languages on four continents and developing a
controversial 
theory that explains why they are so similar to one another.  A published
novelist, 
Bickerton does not present his findings in the usual dry academic manner.
Instead, you 
become ha companion on his journey of discovery.  You learned things as he
learned 
them, share his disappointments and triumphs, explore the exotic locales
where he 
worked, and meet the colorful characters he encountered along the way.  The
result is a 
unique blend of memoir, travelogue, history and linguistics, appealing to
anyone who has 
ever wondered how languages grow or what it's like to search the world for
new 
knowledge.



Please email us at: lingtalk at usc.edu if you have any questions regarding
this colloquium talk.

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