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lectures > lectures spring 1999

Languages, People and Tongues

Dr. Daniel Nettle
May 14 1999

In its short history as a speaking species, humanity has generated an enormous diversity in the realm of language: some 6,500 living tongues, each with innumerable dialects and registers, not to mention the many languages which have died out. Where does this diversity come from? Why does every significant grouping develop and maintain its own style of speech? This lecture investigates the social processes and psychological instincts which lie behind linguistic diversity, using examples which range from exotic societies to our everyday experiences of different accents and dialects.

Dr. Daniel Nettle received degrees in Psychology from Oxford and in Anthropology from University College London. He is currently Research Fellow in Anthropology at Merton College, Oxford. He is the author of The Fyem Language of Northern Nigeria (Lincom Europa, 1998); Linguistic Diversity (OUP, 1999); and (with Suzanne Romaine) Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages (OUP, to appear).