2000 Seminar

Power of Speech
Language and Human Nature
15th - 16th January 2000
The Royal Society of Medicine

A man slips as often with his tongue as with his feet

Language may have been man's first evolutionary revolution. It offered immediate survival advantages: communication brought technological advance, while myths and stories shaped the way our ancestors approached the world. For the first time, man had in his grasp the possibility of continuous and conscious evolution. It set him on the path of unceasing development which he still follows today. Yet, while language is fundamental to every culture and society, relatively little information is readily available to the lay person on some of its central aspects. Has the development of language had an effect on the very structure of our minds? How fundamental is language ability to who we really are? What can the way we use metaphor tell us about how we think? Are there neglected possibilities in spoken and unspoken communication? And do we really use language the way we think we do, as an effective communications tool, or is much of what we say, and the way we say it, mere social grooming? Over the next two days we will hear distinguished speakers discuss these ideas and more. Among other things we will learn how and why language evolved and the effect this has had on spoken communication. The impact of speech on personality will be considered, along with the social uses of language: the significance of accent and dialect, for instance. And the relation between speech and intelligence will be examined, as well as the way our facility with analogy allows us to use myths and stories to encapsulate and pass on information. Our speakers include some of the most respected academic experts in their fields. Yet the approach is not intended to be an academic one, but to shed light for a general audience on how the way we speak, understand and communicate helps shape and define who we are.

PROGRAMME
Saturday, January 15th
Chairman: David Wade

9.45-10.00 am Chairman's introduction

10.00-11.00 am Language: its nature and origin
Professor Jean Aitchison

11.00-11.30 am Coffee/tea

11.30-12.30 pm Language in the mind and in the brain
Professor William Marslen-Wilson

12.30-1.50 pm Lunch

1.50-2.50 pm When words go bad: the impact of brain damage on language
Dr. Rosaleen A. McCarthy

2.50-3.20 pm Tea/coffee

3.20-4.20 pm Garahge? Or garridge? Our changing preferences in pronunciation
Professor John Wells

4.20-5.15 pm Panel questions and discussion, followed by wind-up and dispersal.

Sunday, January 16th

9.45-10.00 Chairman's introduction