SPARK
When:
Monday, November 26th, 2018
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Where
University College, Western University
Click here to download the program
Workshops
A Recipe for a New Language: 5 Simple Steps
Have you ever dreamed of speaking to Tolkien's elves or conversing with Star Trek's aliens? From Esperanto, to Sindarin, Klingon, and Dothraki - this module will teach you about how constructed languages are created, and give you the chance to try your hand at making one yourself.
Solve It!
Language presents all sorts of puzzles to work with, including those featured at the International Linguistics Olympiad. Come to try your hand at some of these puzzles to learn about just how diverse linguistics is!
Explore the World with Language
Canada is home to many languages that are popular all around the world. Four of the common languages spoken in Canada have millions to billions of speakers worldwide. Canada is also inhabited by languages that do not exist anywhere else. What are these languages? What do they sound and look like? How are they all related?
“He said, she said” – Investigating Gendered Speech
Have you ever thought that your female friends talk differently from your male friends? Or that your mom uses different language than your dad? Together, we will identify different words and markers that are seen as “gendered” by society, come up with categories for these words, and discuss why we have certain connotations about these words and where they come from!
Do you hear what I hear? The Ear, the Brain and Auditory Illusions
Have you ever misheard someone? Heard a sound nobody else can hear? Have you ever wondered how? By looking at the physiology of the ear and psycholinguistic phenomena, we will dive into the science of (mis)hearing.
Sounds and Letters: Are They the Same?
How do we produce human language sounds? Do alphabetical letters represent all sounds in English? Let’s solve this mystery together!
