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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><B>The USC Linguistics Department proudly presents our
next colloquium speaker:</B><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><B><FONT size=4><I
style="COLOR: rgb(153,0,0)"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif">Derek
Bickerton</SPAN></I></FONT><BR style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif"><FONT
size=2><I style="COLOR: rgb(153,0,0)"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif">Emeritus, University of Hawaii
</SPAN></I></FONT><BR></B><BR><B><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif">Mar 24,
2008</SPAN></FONT><BR
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif"><SPAN
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif">
3:00-4:30pm (GFS 118)</SPAN><BR
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif"><SPAN
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); FONT-FAMILY: georgia,serif">
followed by dinner in the department</SPAN></B><BR></DIV><BR>Derek Bickerton is
now on tour with his new book, "Bastard Tongues". <BR>Bastard Tongues is an
exciting, firsthand story of scientific discovery in an area of <BR>research
close to the heart of whjat it means to be human—what language is, how it
<BR>work, and how it passes from generation to generation, evcen where
historical accidents <BR>have made normal transmission almost impossible.
The story focuses on languages so <BR>low in the pecking order that many people
don't regard them as languages at all—Creole <BR>languages spoken by descendants
of slaves and indentured laborers in plantation colonies <BR>all over the
world. The story is told by Derek Bickerton, who has spent more than
thirty <BR>years researching these languages on four continents and developing a
controversial <BR>theory that explains why they are so similar to one
another. A published novelist, <BR>Bickerton does not present his findings
in the usual dry academic manner. Instead, you <BR>become ha companion on
his journey of discovery. You learned things as he learned <BR>them, share
his disappointments and triumphs, explore the exotic locales where he
<BR>worked, and meet the colorful characters he encountered along the way.
The result is a <BR>unique blend of memoir, travelogue, history and linguistics,
appealing to anyone who has <BR>ever wondered how languages grow or what it's
like to search the world for new <BR>knowledge.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Please email us
at: <A href="mailto:lingtalk@usc.edu">lingtalk@usc.edu</A> if you have any
questions regarding this colloquium talk.<BR></BODY></HTML>