Dr David Hornsby, Senior Lecturer in French and Linguistics and Head of the Department of English Language & Linguistics, has given a lecture entitled ‘Life as a Sociolinguist’, for the University of Kent’s Think Kent series, which is now available on YouTube.
Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between linguistics and society. In his talk, David argues that we cannot keep social information out of the study of language. Every spoken language has been subject to change, and these changes are affected by social structures, such as class and gender. Surprisingly, surveying changes in language, he revealed how languages have become structurally simpler as societies have become more complex.
The Think Kent lectures are a series of TED Talk-style lectures produced with the intention of raising awareness of the research and teaching expertise of Kent academics and the international impact of their work.
The talk may be viewed below or on YouTube via the link:
https://youtu.be/Tic1x-ujgN0