Celebrating Living Dialects, Mourning Dying Languages

Four Sundays, March 10, 17, 24 & April 7, 2013 @ 2 p.m.

Expand your mind with four fascinating workshops on language. Four weeks on Sunday afternoons, taught by Darryl Smith (adjunct professor of English, Muhlenberg College, formerly, teacher of English, SAHS).

Register online by clicking here.

March 10 - Idiolects, Dialects and Languages

Who decides when a dialect becomes the Standard? When and where did English really begin? Includes excerpt from “Cry Freedom” film

March 17 - Death of Languages

Why do certain languages die? Is this tragic? How are Yiddish and 550 Native American languages similar? Includes excerpt from “Tightrope of Power” DVD

March 24 - Living Dialects

How has Received Pronunciation in Britain changed? How has the BBC changed its “linguistic” tune? Includes excerpt from “Billy Elliot” DVD

April 7  - The Future of English (Note Date Change)

How and why has English spread over the last 200 years? Will it ever die? What’s the difference between African American vernacular and Standard English? Includes excerpt from a lecture by Leonard Bernstein, “The Unanswered Question” DVD.