Accents and Assumptions: Why Do Those People Talk Funny?
Why do those people talk funny? Wait, do I talk funny? And why don’t kids talk properly these days? They don’t even use grammar*. In this talk we’ll dive into the revealing world of how we speak, why it changes, and what it says about us even when we don’t mean it to. Expect dodgy impressions, dodgier stereotypes, and a few truths about language that might just change how you hear the world. (*Spoiler alert: they do really).
Bio
Professor Kevin Watson is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury. He teaches and researches how language works, and he is particularly interested in how our social lives can influence how we pronounce words. He has published widely about language in the real world, from regional accents to the way speech changes over time. He also talks funny.
Event
Tuesday 16 September, 6:30pm @Renegade Brewing Co., 2/105 Orbell Street, Sydenham, Christchurch 8023
Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Dr Ricky Lee
