Monday, April 11, 2016

Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4
DK-8000 Aarhus C

LECTURE at 2:15 PM
Building 1481, room 341

RECEPTION at 3:00 PM
Building 1481, room 366

Comparative linguistics examines both differences and similarities between languages.
Comparing English to Danish, German or French, for example, allows us to characterise English
(and also Danish, German or French). An explicitlycomparative angle brings out the specific properties
of each language more sharply than when eachlanguage is treated in isolation. Also interesting is that such comparisons provide indications as to which properties of e.g. English might be particularly problematic (or particularly unproblematic) for Danish or German or French learners of English.
Such comparisons are an important part of a larger enterprise, namely the investigation of which
kinds of variation exist between languages, and which kinds do not exist. Given that only humans
have a capacity for language, such investigations allow for important contributions to be made to our
knowledge about the scope and the limitations of the human brain.

Poster (PDF)