Session Abstract
As human beings, language surrounds us. Our days are full of speech and words, but we rarely pause to ask: what is language? And why are humans unique among animals in having this ability? In this talk I highlight the fundamental discoveries of over 50 years of theoretical work in linguistics: that sentences are not strings of words but complex symbolic structures which are then mapped to sounds and meanings. I make the case for an audacious idea: that despite their incredible diversity, human languages all share these basic principles of language design.
Speaker Bio
Peter Jenks is an Associate Professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley. His research primarily focuses on crosslinguistic variation and the interface of syntax with semantics and phonology. Much of his work focuses on languages of East and Southeast Asia, including Thai and Mandarin, as well as Subsaharan Africa, including small indigenous languages spoken in relatively remote parts of the world. Often these languages have grammatical properties which shed new light on linguistic theory and the nature of language. Professor Jenks also conducts descriptive linguistic research, describing grammatical patterns in understudied languages spoken by small populations of speakers. He has worked for over 15 years on Moro, an endangered Kordofanian language spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. A comprehensive descriptive grammar of the Moro language, coauthored with Moro speakers and collaborators, will be published next year. In Spring 2024 he won the Distinguished Teaching Award at UC Berkeley.